Laboratory activities and scientific support
The Swedish Food Agency performs analyses to ensure that food and drinking water are safe and that everyone is informed about what the food contains.
The Swedish Food Agency works with method development and has the equipment and competence to meet new needs. We are involved as expert support for both laboratory analysis competence and risk assessment and risk management. We accept samples for analysis by agreement.
The Swedish Food Agency has both chemical and microbiology accredited laboratories. Some 8,000 analyses are carried out in these laboratories every year. The analyses are performed for investigations, surveys and official controls.
The Swedish Food Agency acts as the national reference laboratory for 21 areas. The Swedish Food Agency is also a European reference laboratory for foodborne viruses.
Below are some of our laboratory services and projects presented. All other are presented in the meny to the left.
Natural toxins
The Swedish Food Agency analyses various toxins – for example, biotoxins in mussels, cyanotoxins in water, glycoalkaloids in potatoes and mycotoxins and bacterial toxins in many different types of food.
Unknown contamination in drinking water
Sometimes water treatment plants experience situations in which they may suspect that a sample has been biologically or chemically contaminated. It is not always obvious what has ended up in the water. This is why non-target analytical methods (in which we look for ‘everything’) are needed, instead of targeted analytical methods aimed solely at the classic pollutants.
