Legislation – Standards

Certifications

The Environmental Microbiology Unit of the Laboratory of Hygiene of the Department of Medicine of the University of Patras has ISO 17025 accreditation (ESYD, no. 550-2) in the following areas:

Materials/Products to be tested Types of tests/Types of properties measured Methods used/Techniques used
Water and wastewater Detection and quantification of Adenoviruses, Noroviruses and HAV Internal TaqMan Real-Time PCR method, Stratagene Mx3005P, based on protocols of the European Environment Virology Programme VIROCLIME
Drinking water, surface water and seawater Detection and enumeration of total coliforms and E.coli ISO 9308-1:2014
Detection and enumeration of enterococci of intestinal origin ISO 7899-2:2001
Detection and enumeration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ISO 16266:2006
Enumeration of total aerobic micro-organisms at 22 ± 2 °C and 36 ± 2 °C ISO 6222:1999
Detection and enumeration of Legionella spp. spp. ISO 1173:2017
Food and animal feed Measurement of coagulase-positive staphylococci ISO 6888-1:1999
Enumeration of β-glucuronidase-positive Escherichia coli ISO 16649-2:2001
Detection and enumeration of Enterobacteriaceae ISO 21528-2:2017
Detection of Salmonella spp ISO 6579-1:2017
Detection and quantification of Adenoviruses, Noroviruses and HAV Internal TaqMan Real-Time PCR method, Stratagene Mx3005P, based on protocols of the European Food Virology VITAL programme and ISO/TC 34/SC 9 N 1065, CEN/TC 275/WG 6 N465

Legislation

  1. Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety..
  2. Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 of 15 November 2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs.
  3. Council Directive of 8 December 1975 concerning the quality of bathing water (76/160/EEC).
  4. Directive 2006/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 February 2006 concerning the management of bathing water quality and repealing Directive 76/160/EEC.
  5. KYA 8600/416/E103/2009 (Government Gazette 356B’/26-2-2009), on the management of bathing water quality and the repeal of Directive 76/160/EEC.
  6. KYA Y2/2600/01 on the quality of water intended for human consumption in compliance with Directive 98/83/EC [Government Gazette 892/11-7-01].
  7. Quality of water intended for human consumption in compliance with the provisions of Directive 98/83/EC of the Council of the European Union of 3 November 1998 as amended by Directive (EU) 2015/1787 (L260, 7.10.2015). (Government Gazette 3282 2017)
  8. Amendment of the Decree Y2/2600/01 on the quality of water for human consumption (No. ΔYΓ2/Γ.Π. οικ 38295 [Government Gazette 630/26-4-07]).
  9. Circular of the Ministry of Health (ΔYΓ2/OIK.70777/12-7-2012), on the Prevention of Legionnaires’ Disease
  10. MINISTRATIVE DECISION: C1/443/1973 on swimming pools with instructions for their construction and operation (Government Gazette 87/B/24-1-73)
  11. Joint Ministerial Decision Γ1(δ)/ΓΠ οικ.67322/2017 – Government Gazette 3282/B/19-9-2017 Quality of water for human consumption in compliance with the provisions of Directive 98/83/ΕΚof the Council of the European Union of 3 November 1998 as amended by Directive (EU) 2015/1787 (L260, 7.10.2015)
  12. Directive 2009/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 on the exploitation and marketing of natyral mineral waters. 
  13. Directive  (EU) 2020/2184 of the European Parliament and of the  Council of 16 December 2020 on the quality of water intended for human consumption 

CEN/WG6/TAG4

IWaterFood as a member of the CEN/WG6/TAG4 Committee for the development of an ISO protocol for virus testing in food and water samples will participate in an inter-laboratory virus testing scheme (Norovirus, HAV) under the guidance of CEFAS

“Αs you may or may not know, the European Commission in December 2010 decided to fund the validation under mandate M/381 of the new ISO/TS 15216-1:2013 Microbiology of food and animal feed — Horizontal method for determination of hepatitis A virus and norovirus in food using real-time RT-PCR — Part 1: Method for quantification, developed by CEN/TC 275/WG6/TAG4. When M/381 was originally released in 2007 Cefas, as the nominated project leader for the validation of work item 1 “Detection of food borne viruses in food based on PCR technique” submitted a proposal to CEN for a two-stage validation (method characterization in single expert labs followed by collaborative trial). We are currently carrying out the method characterisation element of the validation, and are due to carry out the collaborative trials later on in 2013”