Istituto Superiore di Sanità - European Union Reference Laboratory VTEC

Proficiency Tests - Proficiency tests on detection, identification and typing methods

Proficiency tests on detection, identification and typing methods are conducted for the NRLs for E. coli. The anonymized overall results of the studies are available in this section. Participants download their own individual reports from the Restricted Area of the web site. The EU DG SANCO has access to the results of the single EU NRLs.

Laboratory methods - Laboratory methods for VTEC detection and typing

To have access to the RT-PCR based method for the detection of VTEC in food, POMIZA01.00n, accredited by the EU-RL VTEC and to the Validation Report containing the performance characteristics, go to the Italian National Reference Laboratory page by clicking here (available only in Italian)

EU-NRLs for VTEC - PORTUGAL

Instituto de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária (INIAV)
Animal Production and Health Unit - Bacteriology Laboratory
Estrada de Benfica 701, 1549-011 Lisboa, Portugal
Coordinator of the Production and Animal Health Unit: Miguel Fevereiro
e-mail: Miguel Fevereiro
Head of the Bacteriology Laboratory: Ana Botelho
e-mail: Ana Botelho
Contact person: Patricia Themudo
Tel: +351 21 711 5281;
Fax: +351 21 711 5282;
E-mail: Patricia Themudo

EU-NRLs for VTEC - UNITED KINGDOM

Public Health England
FW&E Microbiology Network, PHE - Colindale
61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ, UK
Head of NRL: Jim McLauchlin
Phone: +44 208 327 6530;
Fax: +44 208 327 6542;
e-mail: Jim McLauchlin
Contact person: Kathie Grant
Phone: +44 20 8327 7117;
Fax: +44 20 8905 9929;
e-mail: Kathie Grant
Contact person: Shona Neal
Phone: +44 20 8327 7160;
e-mail: Shona Neal

About EU-RL-VTEC - About EU-RL-VTEC

Welcome to the official website of the European Union Reference Laboratory (EU-RL) for Escherichia coli, including Verotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC), hosted by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. The EU-RL-VTEC website is primarily meant to inform the participating National Reference Laboratories (NRLs), but is also of interest to the laboratories dealing with pathogenic E. coli detection and control.
The Istituto Superiore di Sanità was designated as Reference Laboratory for VTEC by the European Commission starting from the 1st July 2006.
The EU-RL-VTEC will mainly focus its activity on VTEC. However, EU-RL-VTEC will deal with any pathogenic E. coli infection that will have either a foodborne or a zoonotic origin.

The Unit of Foodborne Zoonoses has been accredited as part of the Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety since December 2007 by ACCREDIA, the italian accreditation body, according to the ISO/IEC 17025 international standard. The accreditation (certificate No. 0779) refers both to fixed scope of accreditation (list of accredited tests available at www.accredia.it) and to flexible scope (list of accredited tests available at (www.iss.it/spva/) and it is submitted to a convention and recognises the technical competence of the laboratory to perfom specific analytical methods. Nevertheless, the accreditation body doesn't assume any responsability related to the results of the assays or their interpretation.

EU-RLs - EU-RLs

The EU-RLs in the areas feed and food law and animal health, designated according to the Commission Regulation (EC) No 776/2006, are listed in this section.

EU-NRLs for VTEC - EU-NRLs

According to Council Directive 2003/99/EC each EU member state shall designate National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) for the zoonoses and zoonotic agents. In this section you will find the lists of adresses of the NRLs by clicking on the NRLs button.

OTHER NRLs for VTEC - OTHER NRLs

This section provide informations about Reference laboratories for E. coli located in non-EU countries

Annual Workshops - Annual Workhops

The workshops of the EU-RL-VTEC are held every year, with the participation of representatives from the NRLs of the European countries. The workshops aim at facilitating the relationships among the NRLs and discussing:

- the main issues related with VTEC infections in Europe - the methods currently available for the detection and quantification of VTEC in food, feed and animals; - the planning and the results of inter-laboratory comparison studies; - the planning and the results of baseline studies on VTEC in animals and foodstuffs, pursuant to Directive 2003/99/EC; - the training programme for the benefit of NRLs.

Annual Workshops - 7th Annual Workshop: November 9 Presentations and Photogallery

The EU-RL-VTEC 7th workshop was held in Rome at ISS, on the 8-9 November 2012.