State General Laboratory Annual Report 2018

3 State General Laboratory Annual Report 2018 INTRODUCTORY NOTE by the Director of the State General Laboratory Dear readers, I am very pleased to present to you, the Annual Report of the State General Laboratory (SGL), an assessment of its work, which both the management team and its staff with a deep sense of responsibility completed during 2018. Within the broad scope of the SGL’s activities in 2018, a steady and sustained effort is being made to implement the national strate- gic objectives to protect public health, the environment, citizens’ safety and consumer interests. 2018 was another year for SGL with many challenges and obligations where, amongst other, it managed to:  respond effectively to official control requirements, in the areas of food safety and quality, the environment (including drinking water), consumer products, and forensic chemistry, by conducting a significant number of laboratory controls targeted at prevention,  meet the requests of the Competent Authorities in different Ministries, Governmental Departments and Municipalities dealing with emergencies and other incidents that fall under its competence,  effectively utilise its financial resources, as well as absorb national and European funds for applied research,  exploit all possible forms of cooperation at national and international level with a view to its further development. Furthermore, in the framework of the Public Sector Administrative Reform and the new Public Finance Management System, the SGL prepares both its strategic planning and its budget on the basis of its activities. For this purpose, it cal- culates its performance indicators for better, timely monitoring, implementation and final evaluation of its performance. The SGL, both as a Public Service Department and at the same time as an accredited scientific research center, through the continuous development of innovative and modern methodologies and approaches, in the framework of its strategic objectives and priorities, managed to further upgrade its services, and in parallel, to evolve scientific knowledge and to improve its experience in the areas of its competence. The most important events, amongst others, which marked the work of SGL in 2018, are: (a) the continuation of its participation in EU research projects (e.g. Health risk assessment from combined human exposure to multiple foodborne toxic substances / Human biomonitoring / Detection and identification of biological toxins / Authentication of traditional and local products of Cyprus and the North Aegean, etc.), (b) its active contribution to dietary risk assessment at European and national level by completing the "National Dietary Survey of the Cyprus Population", with the aim to carry out risk assessment studies of the exposure to various chemicals through food of the Cypriot and therefore of the European citizens, (c) the expansion of official control to cover new parameters and/or new categories and products, (d) the further extension of the scope of its accreditation as regards the international standard EN ISO IIEC 17025: 2005 to new parameters and new methods, (e) its contribution to the effective response on food crises (e.g. food poisoning), or other emergencies (e.g. drug cases), the tackle of antibiotic resistance, the standardisation of products, etc,