Efficient production of GMO certified reference materials in compliance with ISO 17034 requirements

Certified reference materials (CRMs) play a crucial role in ensuring the quality of analytical measurements. Their regular use is therefore essential for ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratories. CRMs can also be essential for implementation of EU legislation. The EU labelling legislation on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and feed products relies on having a validated quantitative and event-specific method and GMO CRMs available. GMO CRMs and validated method together form the EU reference system for the quantification of GMO events in food and feed products. Together, they ensure that a common GMO labelling threshold for in the EU authorized GMOs is implemented. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission produced GMO CRMs under ISO 17034 accreditation on request of biotech companies. These GMO CRMs play a crucial role in the EU authorization process. This article summarizes the measures taken to improve the efficiency of the production of GMO CRM, while ensuring the requirements of ISO 17034. An outlook is given on how GMO CRM production could, based on JRC’s experience, be further streamlined. This information may be useful for reference material producers (RMPs) in general and more specifically if they produce CRMs according to ISO 17034. It may help them to make CRMs available in a timely manner.