Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority

CAFIA is a state administration body subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture. It is a state authority responsible for supervision of safety, quality and labelling of foodstuffs.

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Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic [open in new window]

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CAFIA Laboratory Activities

11/16/2023

CAFIA laboratories

Samples taken by CAFIA inspectors within official inspections are analysed in two own CAFIA laboratories in Prague and Brno accredited pursuant to the reviewed standard ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2018. These laboratories are highly specialized for certain types of analyses. CAFIA also uses Czech and foreign external laboratories designated in compliance with the Official Controls Regulation.

CAFIA laboratory in Prague is specialised in particular in detection of pesticides, mycotoxins, alkaloids, vitamins, anabolic steroids or allergens in foodstuffs or analyses of spirit drinks, beer or tobacco products. CAFIA laboratory in Brno is specialised in particular in analyses of wine, spirit drinks, honey, fruit juices and further in sensory analyses of food commodities, detection of contaminants (heavy metals) in foodstuffs or checking the type size. Besides verification of food safety and quality or checking whether consumers are misled, both laboratories intensively focus on food adulteration (wine, spirit drinks, honey, chocolate, jams, ketchup, plant oils, fish and meat products). These unique workplaces are systematically extended to meet their purpose.

Meeting requirements of the ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17025 in connection with requirements of Regulation of the EP and the Council (EU) 2017/625 on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products is an essential condition for performance of activities of official laboratories for official controls of foodstuffs.

CAFIA laboratory in Brno is equipped with a unique technology for determination of the proportion of stable isotopes of hydrogen, carbon and oxide which enables unusual potential to prove adulteration of wine, spirit drinks, juices or honey. The Isotope Analyses Department is equipped with devices for nuclear magnetic resonance (SNIF-NMR) and isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) including necessary devices ensuring preparation of samples and necessary related processes. The laboratory is also equipped with a new NMR 600 MHz spectrometer increasing the laboratory capacity and extending the portfolio of analyses focused on the authenticity of foodstuffs, and further devices and software extending the potential to use the NMR for introduction of so-called non-targeted food analyses methods.

In a long-term horizon, CAFIA laboratory in Brno closely co-operates on the development of the European Databank of Analytical Data on Wine Isotopes established by the European Reference Centre Wine Inspection operating within the EC Joint Research Centre, which is performed on the basis of Commission Regulation (EU) 2018/273 and Regulation 2018/274. The laboratory has, inter alia, introduced procedures according to the harmonised methods of the International Honey Commission (IHC) and methods of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). The laboratory further uses for example gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for chiral separation of aromatic substances and to prove addition of unauthorised aromas.

CAFIA laboratory in Prague has been appointed already in 2005 the National Reference laboratory (NRL, see the appointment below) for the area of pesticides and mycotoxins and it is the NRL for the area of pesticides detected by single-residue method detection in cereals and pesticides in fruit and vegetables, the NRL for mycotoxins and plant toxins and the NRL for substances contaminating production. Purchasing a liquid chromatograph with mass detection (LC/MS/MS) was a key step for further systematic extension of the spectrum of monitored pesticide residues and contaminants. The laboratory also performs analyses related to nutritional labelling of foodstuffs. In connection with purchasing of a two-dimensional gas chromatograph with time-of-flight mass spectrometer (GCxGC–TOF) and further liquid chromatographs with mass spectrometer (LC/MS/MS), the laboratory also focuses on the analyses of anabolic steroids and hormones in food supplements and on monitoring of further prohibited biologically active substances and medicaments in foodstuffs.