AOAC, in support of a contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), held a roundtable on September 16, 2009, at the 123rd Annual Meeting and Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, as the first step toward building consensus on the best approach to develop a proficiency testing (PT) program for disinfectant test methods. Chaired by James Agin, Q Laboratories, the Roundtable on Proficiency Testing for Disinfectant Methods included representatives from government, contract laboratories, and industry with an interest and background in PT programs.

“Input from stakeholders will help us plan the best approach to get the process started,” said Stephen Tomasino of the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs Microbiology Laboratory. “The initiative should benefit both regulatory agencies and testing laboratories. It will help EPA to self-monitor and improve the overall quality of data and will also be available for other laboratories to use if they choose to do so.”

EPA seeks a more formalized and standardized PT program to support ISO 17025 accreditation. The PT program will be designed to improve overall laboratory performance and identify training needs.

Kiran Verma, Quality Assurance Officer at EPA, presented a proposed process for developing a PT program using protocol modules, which represent selected aspects within an overall program that will be evaluated individually. The project will examine critical parts of methods to identify where problems in laboratory performance may arise.

Initial examples of possible critical aspects (modules) specific to the Use-Dilution Methods (UDMs) include: (1) Product preparation; (2) titer of the final UDM culture; (3) carrier count determination; (4) conducting UDM; and (5) measurement uncertainty.

Proposed next steps include forming an advisory task force with a balance of expertise, determining and approving technical requirements, identifying modules (modules should be most likely sources of variability), determining acceptable test material providers, examining existing programs to avoid redundancy in effort, initiating discussion on reference standards, and launching a pilot study to be done in phases. Details are to be finalized.

“Initially the project scope focused on proficiency testing for conducting the UDMs, but hopefully the effort will expand to include other test methods,” said Tomasino.

For more information, contact Arlene Fox at afox@aoac.org.

Full coverage of the Roundtable on Proficiency Testing for Disinfectant Methods is scheduled for the November/December 2009 issue of Inside Laboratory Management.

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