State General Laboratory Annual Report 2019

28 State General laboratory Annual Report 2019 F. Continuous contribution, through the systematic microbiological monitoring of marine waters it carries out, towards the classification of Cyprus waters among the cleanest bathing waters in the EU in recent years, within the framework of Directive 2006/7/ΕΚ and the "Blue Flag" EU Programme. Especially in 2019, Cyprus continued for a second year to be first in the European rankings. G. The effective expansion of ammunition controls by the accreditation National Guard Laboratory, which has been set up and scientifically supported by the SGL since 2014, resulted to the completion of over 2,558 sam- ple controls (2014-2019). H. Continuous expansion of the "Isotopic Mapping of Cyprus Food and Drinks" to create databases, in order to certify their authenticity which contributes to their registration and promotion and facilitates the control of local and imported products in the Cyprus market. I. Continuation of its participation in the project "AGROFOOD" (INTERREG) aiming to highlight traditional and local products of Cyprus and the North Aegean through identification of their authenticity, and enhance their competitiveness. J. Continuation of its participation in the project "Black Gold: Analysis of carobs and carob-based products", of the University of Cyprus which aims to boost carob production growth in Cyprus and to promote carob products with nutritional added value. K. Alongside with the above project, the SGL started the elaboration of the research project "Black Gold: When Science meets the Industry", funded by the Research and Innovation Foundation and coordinated by the University of Cyprus with the collaboration of other bodies, to highlight the special properties of the Cypriot carobs that can be used in its production and processing, for the benefit of producers and consumers. To this end, it contributes to the standardisation of traditional carob products (e.g.carob syrup) as well as new products (e.g. alcoholic beverages and carob liqueur) through the study of their physical, chemical, isotopic and organoleptic characteristics, and the gathering of evidence proving the link with their geographical origin. L. Substantial contribution to EFSA actions, within the context of Dietary Risk Assessment in particular. More specifically the SGL: a) using its "Improrisk" deterministic model for dietary risk exposure of the population at individual level, conducted dietary risk assessment for the Cypriot population (adolescents) exposure to chemi- cals, and b) contributed to the "Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF)" of the EU on "Chemical Risk Assessment'' issues. M. Continuation of the processing and evaluation of the nutritional data of the Cypriots after the completion of the "National Dietary Survey of the Cyprus population" in 2018, according to EFSA’s requirements. This survey is the first official national Cypriot survey on the diet of Cypriots from infancy to the age of 74 and aimed at the harmonised collection of food consumption data in all EU Member States for the purpose of exposing the