FOOD SAFETY & QUALITY ASSURANCE LABORATORY

INSTRUCTION FOR CLIENTS

Thank you for choosing the Food Safety and Quality Assurance Laboratory of the Department of Veterinary Public Health & Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine & Animal Science, University of Peradeniya (FSQAL).
The accuracy of analysis depends on the quality of samples. Samples should be submitted to FSQAL as soon as possible after sampling has been done. Delays in submitting samples may compromise the integrity of the samples and subsequently, the laboratory results. The below stated facts are important in ensuring the quality and integrity of samples arriving at FSQAL.
Samples which are NOT submitted in accordance with the below specified quality and packing conditions will be rejected.

Sample Quantity
The required quantities are as follows.

Chicken : about 100g of breast muscle (also, need to send the whole liver, and a kidney with the breast muscle sample)
Shrimp, fish and other meat types: about 300g
Liquid milk: about 250ml in a clean suitable container or the complete packet
Animal Feed : about 200g

Sample Packing

Each sample should be packed in a separate polythene bag to avoid cross contamination.
Each sample must be clearly labelled with the sample identity.

Sample Transportation

Preservative should not be added to the samples
The sample must be frozen (lessthan 15 ͦ C) and transported with freezer packs or ice (exceptions-UHT/ pasteurized milk in un-opened packets) (This condition does not apply to animal feed samples)

Sample Submission

Samples should be submitted between 8.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. during week days, except public holidays.
A request letter should be submitted along with the test samples, including:

Sample No. and/ or batch/ lot No.
Date of sampling
Analyses requested
Name and address of the client
Telephone number to call in case of questions or problems

It is better to send a number of samples at once rather than a few samples at frequent intervals.
Incomplete information and/ or an inadequate number of samples may cause a delay in results.

Test Analysis

A test report will be issued within two weeks after submission of samples.
If the required numbers of samples are not provided for analysis of chloramphenicol or nitrofuran metabolites, the analysis time may be longer than two weeks. This is because the FSQAL will have to combine small sample tests with another set of samples to achieve the optimum batch size for analysis to save resources.

Sample Retention Time

Samples will be disposed after three months. If there is any suspicion about the validity of the results of a particular sample, it can be re-analysed only within three months from the date of test report.

Payments

We appreciate your cooperation in sending the payments at the time of submitting the samples.
Charges for the analytical tests are given in the below table.

All cheques should be drawn in favour of Senior Assistant Bursar, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine & Animal Science and be posted to:

Confidentiality of the client or testing related information

Any client or testing related information will not be shared with a third party or make public without prior customer consent unless required by law.