State General Laboratory Annual Report 2018

27 State General Laboratory Annual Report 2018 N. Completion of its participation to the grant agreement " DATA QUALITY ", funded by EFSA, and preparation of the final report describing the Cyprus deliverables, which was published on EFSA’s website. The main objec- tive of the grant agreement was the establishment of the data governance, coordination and improvement of the quality of the data submitted to EFSA, in the four domains of: Chemical occurrence, Zoonoses, Pesticide Residues and Veterinary Medicinal Product Residues by means of (a) measurement of quality and (b) data governance at the national level. Standard operating procedures and Key Performance Indicators were pro- duced by the SGL in order to improve data quality and allow EFSA to use the data for food risk assessments. Furthermore, the persons responsible to reply to requests for data release, in frame of the "Public Access to Documents" EU Regulation, were appointed. O. Continuation of the coordination at national level of the five-year Joint Research Programme " European ini- tiative on Human Biomonitoring - HBM4EU (2017 - 2021) " and being the national focal point as well as the representative of the Ministry of Health at its Management Board. The SGL also has the role of the contact point at European level to prepare communication materials for the participants and the partner for the preparation of a sustainable HB programme in Europe. In 2018, the SGL was elected as the "Chemical Group Leader for mercury and its organic compounds (= 2nd round priority substances) of the HBM4EU". P. Continuation of the collection and transmission of information on new psychoactive substances to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs (EMCDDA), for the purpose of risk assessment of new psychoactive substances. Q. Publications (four in total) in reputable international journals of the results of research projects on the following subjects: (a) the use of FTIR spectroscopy and Chemometrics to classify the carob origin, (b) the results of the official control of acrylamide in food and its exposure assessment through food in Cyprus, (c) the multi-residual analysis of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables using Gas and Liquid Chromatography- Mass spectrometry, and (d) the presence of nitrates in vegetables and the exposure assessment of Cypriot adolescents to them, through food. R. Participation in 16 research programmes: Six programmes were funded by the EU (FP7, Horizon 2020, the Research Promotion Foundation and Interreg), and five by EFSA, three pilot research programmes were funded by the Ministry of Health and two from other national sources. RECOGNITION In 2018, in the content of the SGL’s participation to the "European Joint Research Programme on Human Biomonitoring for Europe (HBM4EU)" (2017-2021), a member of its scientific staff was elected as the "Chemical Substance Group Leader for mercury and its organic compounds (=2nd round priority substances)" of the HBM4EU. By reviewing current knowledge and policies, identifying knowledge gaps, outlining key policy ques- tions on mercury and proposing future research activities that can address these gaps and questions in the area of mercury, the HBM4EU will provide a better understanding of actual exposure of European citizens to mercury and support the evaluation of current policies.