Tree heath lab tests receive ‘gold standard’ accreditation

Forest Research has been awarded the ISO/IEC 17025 certification by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS).

“It’s the gold standard for laboratory tests in the UK,” said Dr Christine Wilson, Head of the Forest Protection at Forest Research. “It demonstrates our testing is accurate, robust and trustworthy.”

Being awarded the accreditation has been the culmination of over three years of hard work from the tree health lab team.

The accreditation process is rigorous and covers assessments of the tests themselves through to the management of the lab.

For example, all the lab’s equipment – from PCR machines to fridges and freezers – was calibrated and checked regularly to make sure that it was within the correct parameters.

Policies and processes were put in place for everything from data protection requirements to risk assessments to quality control measures.

“You’re building evidence over time,” said Christine, “it’s not a quick process.” But the results are worth it, “with this accreditation, decision-makers know that our results are reliable.”

The accredited tests are:

• Morphological identification of bark beetles suspected to be Ips species: SOP0263 Laboratory examination and morphological identification of Ips species by microscopy
• Detection of Phytophthora pluvialis DNA: SOP0300 with manual DNA extraction SOP0206 and real time PCR using Thermal cycler LC480
• Detection of Xylella fastidiosa DNA: SOP0421 DNA extraction using KingFisher and real-time PCR using Thermal cycler LC480
• Detection of Cryphonectria parasitica DNA: SOP0420 with manual DNA extraction SOP0206 and real-time PCR using Thermal cycler LC480