The Inter-European Union Reference Laboratories (EURLs) Working Group (WG) has been established by the European Commission with the aim to promote the use of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) across the EURLs' networks, build NGS capacity within the EU European union  and ensure liaison with the work of the EURLs and the work of EFSA and ECDC on the NGS mandate sent by the Commission. The WG includes all the EURLs operating in the field of the microbiological contamination of food and feed and is coordinated by the EURL European Union Reference Laboratory for E. coli.   The documents are meant to provide guidance to the laboratories in the area of application of NGS and have been produced by the working group with the aim of being diffused to all the networks of NRLs National Reference Laboratories.   Links to these documents at the respective curators' websites will be added below as soon as the documents become available: Overview of conducted and planned PTs – curated by EURL-Antimicrobial Resistance Reference Whole Genome Sequencing collection  – curated by EURL-Salmonella NGS laboratory procedures – curated by EURL-Parasites Bioinformatics tools for basic analysis of Next Generation Sequencing data  – curated by EURL-E. coli Guidance document for cluster analysis of whole genome sequence data  – curated by EURL-Campylobacter Guidance document for NGS-Benchmarking  – curated by EURL-Listeria monocytogenes Inventory of training supports – curated by EURL-Coagulase-Positive Staphylococci Survey on the use of NGS across the NRLs networks – curated by EURL-E. coli

The EURL for Bee Health held its 10th annual workshop on 21st and 22nd October 2020 by video conference. This first remote EURL workshop was a success with up to 54 participants connected at the same time. This year, the discussions focused on exotic diseases with presentations on the small hive beetle (SHB) and Tropilaelaps spp. mites, whose a ring test for morphological identification that the EURL organised was presented. Dr. Franco Mutinelli, Head of the Italian NRL, presented a state of play of the occurrence and surveillance of SHB in Southern Italy. Dr. Orlando Yanez presented a subject on international beeswax trade and small hive beetle invasions. The participants had also the pleasure to listen to presentations from two NRL representatives. Dr. Marc Schäfer, head of the German NRL and Dr. Gunita Deksne, representative of the Latvian NRL, gave a talk on their activities and the honey bee health status in their respective countries. We thank all the speakers for their interesting presentations and all the contributors for the fruitful discussions. Practical information and documents for the NRL network can be found here.

Further to the event organised by the EURL E. coli with the EURL working group on NGS : Modern technologies to enable response to crises: Next Generation Sequencing to tackle food-borne diseases in the EU, we would like to inform you that the slides presented at the conference published on the EURL for E. coli website (link bellow).   The online magazine food safety news wrote an article on our conference. This magazine is sponsored by Marler Clark, a Food safety law firm in the USA.  

The Entomology and Invasive Plants Unit of the ANSES Plant Health Laboratory, in collaboration with CIRAD, INRAe, French Ministery of Agriculture and the Royal Museum of Central Africa (Belgium) organised the 4th TEAM meeting (Tephritid workers of Europe, Africa and Middle-East) from 5 to 9 October at the Palais des Congrès in La Grande-Motte (France). Fruit flies (Tephritidae) are the pests with the biggest economic impact on the world production and trade of fruit and vegetables. For this 4th meeting, the Scientific Committee decided to include in the programme the invasive species Drosophila suzukii (Drosophilidae) which share same biological characteristics with Tephritidae. Despite the sanitary context, this event was maintained in this International Year of Plant Health thanks to the combination of face-to-face meetings for about twenty participants and a free webinar for participants unable to travel to France. Participation in this webinar exceeded all expectations with over 500 registered participants from more than 70 countries and sessions with more than 300 connections! The TEAM meeting allowed scientists from all continents to attend high-level presentations and to exchange, despite the distance, their questions and considerations. Those present on site enjoyed a technical and cultural visit to the French Institute of Vine and Wine and the Aigues-Mortes saltworks. The organisers were assisted by the company Alphavisa, which made it possible to carry out this planetary direct in optimal conditions. Within the organising committee, special thanks go to Valérie Balmès and Raphaëlle Mouttet (ANSES Plant Health Laboratory - EURL for Insects and Mites) for their enormous commitment and energy put in the organisation of the event!   Among the topics covered, the speakers talked about microbiome and its potential effects on species behaviour and invasive potential; phylogeography and space-time distribution dynamics in orchards; cases of invasion, interspecific competition and ecological niche shift; Integrated Pest Management methods, including monitoring methods through drones and electronic traps, and control through sterile male technique, parasitoids, the use of dead-end plant hosts; innovative studies on semiochemistry and olfactory preferences. The Book of abstracts of the meeting is available at the bottom of this page.   To underline the importance of fruit flies at an international level, space was dedicated to the presentation of the FF-IPM project, financed by Horizon 2020, aimed at introducing "in silico" supported prevention, detection and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approaches for both new and emerging fruit flies, based on spatial modelling across a wide range of spatial levels, novel decision support systems, and new knowledge regarding biological traits of the target species, fruit trading and socioeconomics. More information about the project can be found on the FF-IPM webpage   More information about the event can be found on the official 4th TEAM meeting webpage. 

In collaboration with the EURL for Coagulase Positive Staphylococci (CPS), we organised a training session on the implementation of colony-count technique according to the Standard EN ISO 7218 for the enumeration of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) and CPS dedicated to laboratory technicians from NRLs. 11 trainees participated to this session online on 22 September 2020 from 13:30 to 16:30 (CEST).

The Kick-off Meeting took place on February 26-27 2020 in Billund-Denmark. Each partner presented his team and the preparation of each activity was discussed.  It was also the opportunity to discuss with European Commission and start to work all together in a friendly environment.    

In October 2019, the European Commission has designated a second Reference Centre dedicated to the welfare of poultry and other small farmed animals (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1685). The European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare for Poultry and other small farmed animals (EURCAW-Poultry-SFA) aims at improving the enforcement of the EU legislation applicable to those animals, such as laying hens, chickens for meat production, and other small farmed animals, including their transport and killing operations.

We are glad to announce the publication of this article: Comparison of the ISO method and three modifications of it for the enumeration of low concentrations of Listeria monocytogenes in naturally contaminated foods. This project conducted in the frame of the EURL Lm mandate in collaboration with different NRLs in particular from Cyprus, Czech Republic and Norway.

The First Meeting between the European Reference Centre for Animal Welfare for Poultry and other small farmed animals and the competent authorities was organized on September 16th-19th 2020 in Mandelieu (France). This meeting was the occasion to present the Centre’s objectives, activities and work program and retrieve from every participant their main topic of interest, concerns, needs and questioning regarding the implementation of the legislation regarding the welfare of poultry and small farmed animals and about the functioning of the Centre. The work of the Centre is fully dedicated to fulfilling the need of the competent authorities in the field of implementation of animal welfare legislation.  

The European Reference Centre for Animal Welfare for Poultry and other small farmed animals (EURCAW-Poultry-SFA) has been launched on February 1st 2020. This Centre is composed of Anses (France, coordinator), IRTA (Spain, deputy), IZSLER (Italy) and Aarhus University (Denmark). EURCAW-Poultry-SFA was designated by the European Union on October 4 2019  through Regulation (EU) 2019/1685, in accordance with Articles 95 and 96 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625,  to support the European Commission and member states in the applications of legislation regarding poultry and other small farmed animals welfare. The Centre covers farming, transport and slaughter of poultry, rabbits, and other small farmed animals. The Centre will: 1) offer technical and scientific assistance to competent authorities (and their supporting bodies) of all members states, regarding all aspects of welfare legislation implementation; 2) work on establishment and validation of welfare indicators for official controls; 3) perform some specific scientific studies; 4) provide specific training for inspection services; 5) disseminate innovation and knowledge. ​For more details, read work programme 2020.