Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Institute of Statistical Studies and Research - Department of Statistical Quality Control and Quality Assurance

Decisions by official authorities based on the analytical results of pesticide residues can have a paramount impact on public health, food trade, and other socioeconomic aspects. Official food testing laboratories are required to be accredited with a wide testing scope to determine routinely a several hundred different pesticide residues with valid, reliable, and credible testing results. Many national and international regulatory bodies issued guidelines on different aspects of quality assurance and testing method validation to ensure the compliance of food with the international food standards. The main purpose of this study is to review the global scientific and technical international standards and requirements for testing method performance that employed in the official testing laboratories. The validation requirements of CAC, ISO, IUPAC, AOAC, OECD, Eurachem, CITAC, EU DG-Santé, and US FDA protocols with their critical characteristics and acceptability criteria were exhaustively studied and systematically elaborated and applied to QuEChERS test method followed by triple quadrupole GC/MS for the determination of a range of pesticide residues in plant-origin food. It is intended to introduce a novel harmonized, quality-based, and simple-to-use single laboratory validation SOP with its elaborated method performance parameters to the official food testing laboratories for the compliance with pesticide MRLs as a crucial component of the regulatory food control system

Issued also as CD