Dear Colleagues,

As we have informed you at the recent annual workshops, the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements of the EC Joint Research Centre  (JRC/IRMM, Geel) envisages to develop Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) for somatic cell count (SCC) in milk, in collaboration with us.

In a first step, IRMM needs to have an estimation of the needs of such CRMs. For that purpose, the IDF/ICAR Project Group on Reference System for Somatic Cell Counting in Milk, in collaboration with us, launches the enclosed enquiry to assess the needs (type of use and amounts needed) of CRMs for SCC in milk.

I would appreciate if you could transmit this questionnaire to the network of milk labs you coordinate at national level, asking them to reply to this enquiry by 15 May. Your own replies are also awaited by the same date.

All replies shall be sent to referencesystemscc@gmail.com, with a copy to Véronique DEPERROIS (véronique.deperrois@anses.fr) and myself.

Thanking you by advance for your cooperation,

With best regards,

Bertrand

-----------------------------------------------------

Dr Bertrand LOMBARD
Sub-director in charge of reference activities, manager of European Union-Reference Laboratories Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococci and Milk

ANSES (French agency for food, environmental and occupational health safety)- Maisons-Alfort laboratory for food safety
23 avenue du Général de Gaulle - 94706 Maisons-Alfort, France
Tél: +33 1 49 77 26 96 - Mobile: +33 6 15 54 19 94 - Fax: +33 1 43 68 97 62 - e-mail: bertrand.lombard@anses.fr
web: www.anses.fr