Objective The project proposes to promote the introduction of quality assurance practices in European laboratories by the development of microbiological reference materials, based on artificially contaminated spray-dried milk. Improvements and alternatives to this process will be investigated to produce more stable materials and to expand the range of test strains. Newly developed products will be tested in interlaboratory studies involving participants from all member states. Two studies will be organized for water microbiology and two for food microbiology. The project will also include preparation of four batches of candidate certified reference materials and the execution of certification studies with these materials. The project supports the parameters mentioned in several EC Directives for water and food quality and in multinational (World Health Organization) guidelines for international trade in food products. The work will also cover the preparation and distribution of not-certified reference materials as a spin-off of the project. The project also supports the development of protocols for multilaboratory studies and the statistical analysis of data leading to methods and principles that can directly be applied to improvements in quality assurance of individual laboratories. The project covers the following six major tasks: A. Certification studies B. Development of new (C)RM's C. Improvement of the production process of (C)RM's D. Alternative means of stabilization of microorganisms E. Collaborative studies F. Market survey. Two RM are already certified and two are under progress. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologysocial scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementcommerce Programme(s) FP3-MAT - Specific research and technological development programme (EEC) in the field of measurements and testing, 1990-1994 Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieuhygiëne Address 9,antonie van leeuwenhoeklaan 9 3720 BA Bilthoven Netherlands See on map EU contribution € 0,00 Participants (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Bmt Management en Marketingadviseurs B.v. Netherlands EU contribution € 0,00 Address 3500 BA Utrecht See on map Stichting tot Bevordering van de Volksgezondheid en Milieuhygiene Netherlands EU contribution € 0,00 Address 3720 AL Bilthoven See on map