Proficiency study for the determination of nitrofuran metabolites in shrimps.

A proficiency test for the determination of nitrofuran metabolites in shrimp tissue was organized in the first half of 2003. This test was intended to allow the participants to use their routine method and to assess their competence on this specific analysis. The participation in this proficiency test was offered to all the National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) of the European Union (EU) in charge of the analysis of nitrofurans, to Official Laboratories of the then 10 Candidate Countries for entry in EU and to some countries exporting food to the EU. The participants (20) analysed nitrofuran metabolites in eight randomly coded frozen samples including three blank samples. All participants performed a confirmatory method using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry to detect total nitrofuran metabolite residues. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the results were investigated. Qualitatively, 16 laboratories out of 20 gave the correct interpretation of the results in term of compliant/non-compliant sample. Quantitatively, laboratory performance was evaluated by calculating the z-scores.