Directorate General Laboratories

Analyses are carried out to back up the controls in order to correctly ensure safety and quality. Within this view, the Directorate General Laboratories (DGL) has five ISO 17025 accredited laboratories: Federal laboratories for Food Safety in Gembloux, Gentbrugge, Melle, Tervuren and Wandre.

Central administration services

The Central administration department coordinates a network of some 50 external partner laboratories (private, university and public), including laboratories specialising in the screening of animal diseases. It approves external laboratories and entrusts them with analyses on behalf of the FASFC. It also monitors deadlines and the cost of analyses and ensures that the provided results are accurate and reliable and that the used analysis methods comply with the current standards. The different analytical possibilities of the laboratories can be found on the FASFC website.

This network of laboratories receives the scientific and technical support of reference laboratories that specialise in well-defined fields. An audit unit checks the services of the national reference laboratories and particular attention is paid to the development of new techniques.

FASFC laboratories

The Federal laboratories for food safety in Gembloux, Gentbrugge, Melle, Tervuren and Wandre are accredited to carry out analyses (ISO 17025), organise inter-laboratory tests with FASFC-approved laboratories (ISO 17043) and calibrate thermometers and pipettes (ISO 17025). They are also responsible for dispatching samples between laboratories from the Provincial Control Units.

The five laboratories carry out a number of analyses of foodstuffs, packaging materials, the environment, animal foodstuffs, water, blood plasma, fertiliser and soil improvers:
• microbiological and virological analyses,
• phytopathology and phytopharmacy analyses,
• tests for residues of veterinary medicines and prohibited substances,
• tests for contaminants,
• analyses of organic chemistry and wet chemistry,
• GMO tests,
• tests for allergens, colourants, preservatives and sweeteners,
• quality analyses (trans fatty acid content, vitamins, control of formulation guarantees, presence of recycled fats), etc.
• quality analyses (trans fatty acid content, vitamins, control of formulation guarantees, presence of recycled fats), etc.
• tests for mycotoxins,
• analyses of metal migration and certain specific migrations from contact materials,
• microscopic analyses: bone meal and rye ergot.