sampling

Accurate GM testing: important to know how many samples are being tested but also how they have been taken

/ Cami Ryan, PhD / Leave a comment

Demand growing for accurate GM testing

T. V. Padma

7 July 2010
Sci.Dev.Net

“Countries worldwide are increasingly calling for reliable and comparable testing and approval processes, which are difficult to achieve, experts said at the meeting.

“The theory of GMO testing has been developed but its actual practice is proving to be challenging,” Guy van den Eede, a researcher at the EU’s Joint Research Council, told /SciDev.Net/.

Claudia Paoletti, a senior scientist at the GMO unit of the European Food Safety Authority, said that more research is needed on the genetic variations that can occur within samples of specific GM products, which requires complicated sampling protocols which themselves create various sampling errors.”

Full article at:
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/demand-growing-for-accurate-gm-testing.html?utm…

Planting Farm Saved Flaxseed this Spring?

/ Cami Ryan, PhD / Leave a comment

Guidelines for Testing for Producers
March 26, 2010
Flax Council of Canada

Procedures for testing Farm Saved Seed:

* To ensure the highest confidence in the testing procedures, a sample of seed must be drawn across the entire lot of seed. This may be done a number of ways; however the best and most preferred method is to sample directly from a clean seed stream. This includes but is not limited to sampling as the clean seed is:
o coming off the cleaners,
o being loaded into a truck,
o being transferred from the truck into a seed bin on farm.

* A minimum 4 subsamples per 1 metric tonne (1 sample per 10 bu) must be drawn and mixed thoroughly. e.g. a 5 mt lot will require 20 subsamples
* A lot may not be any larger than 20 mt.
* A representative 2 kg sample is to be submitted to a lab on the FCC’s list of approved testing labs for Triffid testing (4×60 g).
* ONLY SEED TESTING NEGATIVE WILL BE ACCEPTABLE FOR PLANTING.
* At harvest or delivery of the 2010 crop, the grower will be asked to provide a certificate of laboratory analysis that verifies the planting seed tested negative.

A list of ISO approved laboratory is provided as well. http://www.flaxcouncil.ca/files/web/NEWS%20RELEASE%20-%20Flax%20Council%20of%20Canada%20Announces%20Industry%20Stewardship%20Program%20for%20Farm%20Saved%20Planting%20Seed%2003.26.10%20FP1%20rev.3.pdf

Farm_save_seed_fcc

Update to the Domestic Triffid Stewardship Program

/ Cami Ryan, PhD / 1 Comment

The Flax Council of Canada announces changes to the existing Stewardship Program

(as of March 12, 2010 )

“The new stewardship option allows producers to use their own non-pedigreed seed for planting provided it first undergoes the same intense sampling and testing procedures as those used for certified seed being tested for Triffid. A representative 2 kg sample must be submitted to an approved laboratory for seed testing purposes. Each sample must represent a lot not exceeding 20 metric tonnes. The submitted sample must be clean of all weed seeds, chaff and straw.

Once received, the approved lab will follow the testing protocol requiring 4×60 gram grinds to be tested with positive results being defined as the detection of the presence of Triffid and negative being defined as no detection of any level of Triffid. There will be no threshold level of Triffid acceptable for planting seed. Only planting seed that has been tested negative is to be used for seeding purposes for 2010.”

NEWS RELEASE – Flax Council of Canada Announces Industry Stewardship Programfor Farm Saved Planting Seed 03.12.10 F.pdf
Download this file