In line with the Cooperation Agreement between the European Section of AOAC and EUROLAB, both organizations are committed to fostering technical excellence and knowledge sharing within the European laboratory community.

As part of this ongoing collaboration, we are pleased to support and promote the initiatives of our partners that drive innovation in our sector. In this context, we invite our members to participate in the upcoming focus group meeting for the “Lab of the Future” project.

Event Announcement: Lab of the Future

European Focus Group Meeting (Online) Date: 26 March 2026

Time: 11:00 – 13:00 CET

The Lab of the Future project is co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme and seeks to promote practical training in digital tools for laboratory technicians and students in VET centres across Europe, while accelerating the digital and green transition of the laboratory sector. Among the key project deliverables, there will be 6 training modules and sessions in the five partner countries, shaping a European Qualifications Framework for digital laboratory technicians, drafting digitalisation strategies and creating a European Digitalisation Working Group.  

To gather feedback at European level, consortium partners EUROLAB and EfVET are organising an online European focus group meeting, where lab technicians, VET trainers and teachers, as well as formal and non-formal training providers can share their views on the challenges to implement digitalisation practices in their training environment and suggest their recommendations for improvement.

Participants will gain insights in innovative digitalisation practices to possibly replicate in their context, allowing them to explore synergies and partnerships with lab centres and training providers.

In interested, you can register here: Lab of the Future Erasmus+ Project – European focus group meeting – Fill in form

As part of the project activities, we are also collecting real-life case studies of digitalisation practices implemented in laboratories and VET centres. If you wish to share your experience and best practices, we kindly ask you to complete the questionnaire here: Digitalisation practices in EU laboratories and VET Centres

https://www.icmss.net

AOAC Europe is pleased to highlight the strong involvement of its leadership in the International Conference on Molluscan Shellfish Safety (ICMSS). Dr. Andrew Turner, member of the AOAC Europe Section Board and scientist at CEFAS (UK), is serving as Conference Chair, playing a central role in shaping the scientific programme of this important international meeting.

In addition, Dr. Ana Gago-Martínez, President of AOAC Europe, is a member of the Scientific Committee of the conference, contributing her expertise in analytical chemistry and marine biotoxins to the development of the technical agenda.

The ICMSS brings together leading experts from around the world to address current challenges and advances in shellfish safety, marine toxins, and analytical methodologies. The active participation of AOAC Europe leadership in both the scientific and organizational structure of the conference reflects the Association’s commitment to excellence, international collaboration, and science-based standards.

AOAC Europe congratulates Dr. Turner and Dr. Gago-Martínez on their leadership roles and looks forward to the success of the ICMSS meeting.

Best Wishes message.

2025 has been a fantastic year for @AOACEUROPE! Some of our Members have received important AOAC Awards… and our Section has also received the AOAC Section of the Year Award! In addition, we have been involved in different activities, including the last presentation concerning Artificial Intelligence and allergens detection in Jordan (29th November 2025, Amman and Al-Salt) and the next satellite workshop concerning Best Practices for Bioassay Testing of Food and other Complex Mixtures (23rd January 2026, Wien). We have to organize more activities in 2026  – stay tuned and connected.

When:

– on August 23-28, 2024 at the AOAC (138th Annual Meeting), in Baltimore, MD.

– on November 5-8, 2024 at the RAFA (11th International Symposium on Recent Advances in Food Analysis), in Prague, Czech Republic.

We are presenting on both conferences:

• At AOAC International Annual Meeting in a specific scientific session and at the European Section Meeting.

• At RAFA we will organize on Nov 4th a satellite workshop (see the program below) – you can get registered sending a message to our info@aoaceurope.com address.

Updated program (21 OCt 2024)

Link to the AOAC International website

When: 17:00 – 18:30 CET (11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST) on January 16, 2024

AOAC Europe section is organizing a virtual follow-up session on “Best Practices for Bioassay Testing of Food and other Complex Mixtures”, which will provide main outcomes of a recent AOAC workshop and discuss next steps related to the development of a best practices document. Please participate in this session at 17:00 – 18:30 CET (11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST) on January 16, 2024 and share your ideas and needs in this interesting area.

The preliminary agenda covers the following topics:

• Summary of the presentations from the Kick-Off Meeting on November 20^th in Amsterdam.
• Summary of the working groups from the Kick-Off Meeting on November 20^th in Amsterdam.
• Discussion of the proposal for next steps – proposal will be provided upfront beginning of 2024.
• Forming working group(s) to create a Best Practice Guidance.

DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATIONS

1. “Best Practices for Bioassay Testing of Food and other Complex Mixtures” (Summary of Amsterdam Workshop)
2. Follow-up of the Workshop “Best Practices for Bioassay Testing of Food and other Complex Mixtures” and “AOAC WORKING GROUP PROPOSAL”

Express your interest being part of the AOAC Working group “Best Practices for Bioassay Testing of Food and other Complex Mixtures” by sending an e-mail to:  info@aoaceurope.com

LINK TO THE PROGRAM

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT

Our collaborators, AOAC Europe and Eurachem, just announced an upcoming workshop in non-targeted methods. If of interest, please follow this link to register for free before 7 Nov 2022:

Workshop aims

The event will aim to give an overview of the subject by presenting the following themes:

• The concept of NTMs (terminology and possible approaches)
• Quality markers (performance characteristics) for NTMs
• Data handling and data mining in relation to NTMs
• Application of NTMs in food analysis
• Application of NTMs in environmental analysis
• Application of NTMs in material analysis

Programme

• Opening, welcome
  • Lorens Sibbesen [Eurachem]
• The concept of NT (terminology and possible approaches)
  • Stephan Walch [Chemisches und Veterinär-untersuchungsamt, Germany]
• Quality markers (performance characteristics) for NT analysis
  • Martin Alewijn [Wageningen Food Safety Research, The Netherlands]
• Data handling and data mining in relation to NT
  • Ilka Haase [National Reference Centre for Authentic Food, Germany] *
• Session 1 discussion
• Break
• Application Example 1: NTMs in food analysis
  • John Szpylka [Food Safety Net Services, US]
• Application Example 2: Environmental Forensics – An analytical challenge
  • Luc De Ren [SGS, Belgium]
• Application Example 3: NTMs in material analysis
  • Thomas Gude [SQTS, Switzerland]
• Session 2 discussion
• Closing discussion – Wrapping up and pointing forward to coming events

* To be confirmed