Dear Colleagues,
The Swedish National Food Agency (NFA) has run a Food Chemistry Proficiency Testing Programme for many years. Over the last years the number of participants has been gradually decreasing. It has now come to a level where it is difficult to evaluate results with the quality the participants have a right to request. The risk of making wrong decisions has risen to an unacceptable level. Furthermore the low number of participants means that we are now below the financial break-even level. Since the PT-programme receives no external funding we must be financially self-sufficient.
Therefore we have, sadly, arrived at the conclusion that we can no longer sustain the food chemistry PT-programme, and it will be terminated by the end of 2011.
Leonardo Merino
Lars Jorhem
Anders Staffas
Christina Åstrand
Programme secretary