EPPO Workshop on the Maintenance of Nematode Collections - Wageningen, the Netherlands, 5 to 6 September 2017

The ability of National Plant Protection Organisations (NPPOs) to quickly and reliably detect and identify nematodes is critical for effective phytosanitary measures to be taken and to ensure safe transnational movement of plants and plant products. Laboratories are increasingly working under quality assurance systems (including accreditation) and need to have access to validated tests. In order to enable the development, validation and use of tests for the detection and identification of nematodes, it is essential that reference materials be well maintained and accessible. From 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2015, an EU project named Q-collect was funded by the EU Commission. The project aimed to improve the status of reference collections that are important to plant health, and the objectives of the project were to: make an inventory of existing plant pest collections in the European and Mediterranean region, and of their content, develop guidelines for quality standards, develop guidelines to improve the accessibility of these collections, design and build a network of reference collections, develop an info-portal on the internet to provide information on the outcomes of the project, disseminate results to stakeholders. [...]http://euroreference.mag.anses.fr/e