D1.3.6 Prepare draft guidance document on QA for food consumption laboratories and national database compilers
Creators: name: National Institute of Health
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2005
Subjects: NoE and NEXUS Projects
The EuroFIR Food Platform
EuroFIR

description: 1. INTRODUCTION 

EuroFIR WP 1.3 establishes the vital quality infrastructure necessary for the long-term viability of the EuroFIR network. One of the main objectives is to ensure a common understanding and mutual confidence by EuroFIR partners of implemented quality requirements, quality control and quality assurance for food composition data.

For a successful development of the EuroFIR database, it is essential that EuroFIR partners have confidence in the quality of food composition data entering the database. Food composition data, whether old or new, should fulfil minimum quality requirements. The building of this “confidence” is the major task of WP 1.3, which requires the development of a quality framework for food composition data. Discussion about this quality framework was the starting point of work. During the first WP 1.3 meeting in Delft in January 2005, the members of WP 1.3 exchanged information about national quality practices. Extensive brainstorming took place about possibilities, wishes, restrictions etc. concerning how to proceed. It was clear that the development of such a quality framework is required to assure the quality of food composition data within EuroFIR. On the basis of the brainstorming, a concept about the quality framework to be developed was agreed upon during the second WP 1.3 meeting in Lisbon in March 2005 (see chapter 3).

Based upon the quality framework concept, two questionnaires were developed and distributed in the end of June 2005. It concerned one questionnaire for laboratories analysing food products and one questionnaire for compilers of food composition tables. The aim of the questionnaires was to determine currently practised quality activities and aspects as well as future required and/or desired quality aspects. On the basis of the outcome of the questionnaires (see final report on questionnaire results), the above mentioned quality framework has been further detailed during the third (York, December 2005) and fourth meeting of WP 1.3 (Cork, April 2006) and this will be the basis for achieving the objectives during month 19-60. In particular quality requirements, required quality assurance and quality control and guidelines for the quality management systems (QMSs) to be implemented by EuroFIR partners were determined and these are incorporated in this document. During month 19 – 60 of the EuroFIR project, QMS-presentations by EuroFIR partners are foreseen (within WP 1.3) in order to provide confidence that well-established QMSs are implemented and operational according to the elaborated quality criteria and guidelines and that the requirements of the quality framework are met. The process and scheme for these quality management system presentations are elaborated in this document. Further, a plan for the initiation of PT-schemes has been developed and a list of gaps with regard to required reference materials has been elaborated.