Globally recognised provider of proficiency tests, running over 400 tests annually across an extensive range of matrices and analytes
A single sample taken by an ecologist at any time during the newt breeding season can determine their presence or absence, saving you time and money
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years of science
R&D projects
active partnerships
samples per year
Each year Fera staff gather together to share their latest research developments at the annual Fera Science symposium, providing a forum to learn, question and feedback.
Fera has the scientific and regulatory expertise to provide consultancy services to help you with every step of the regulatory framework process. Our experience derives from working in government, industry, contract research organisations and in regulatory consultancies. We have well-established working relationships with many competent authorities, which means we can support you to achieve product registrations effectively and efficiently.
Preparing a detailed and thorough dossier of evidence and data is essential for a hassle-free product approval. We can help to ensure that you provide all the necessary evidence, compliance data and risk assessments to satisfy the requirements of the regulatory authority – whether for BPR or REACH registration.
Fera consultancy services support you through the regulatory processes required to register your chemical products and biocides in the EU.
If you are a company developing veterinary products or plant protection products (PPPs), it’s essential that you fully assess the risks posed by your products to the wider environment and natural ecosystems.
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Our research expertise and scientific resources can help you to test your plant-protection products for their effects on bee survival, development and behaviour – helping you to develop products that are safe for bees and other pollinators.
Chemical Safety Science Lead
Chris has over 15 years of experience in all aspects of chemical safety. He is responsible for the management and delivery of the regulatory environmental risk assessment processes (quantifying risk for pesticides, veterinary medicines and feed additives) of environmental fate and behaviour of chemicals (e.g. movement of chemicals through soils to surface and ground waters) for our customers.
With a large range of testing abilities, our multi-disciplinary approach gives an overall view of any food issue you may be facing, providing you with the complete information you need to make the strong decisions needed to address these issues.
You can now order your routine Food Tests online, making it simpler for you to work with us and meet your future food testing challenges.
Food recalls can cost millions of pounds and can devastate a company's reputation. Consumers, retailers and regulators are now demanding transparency and accountability for the entire ingredient supply chain.
Fera is the UK National Reference Laboratory for Materials and Articles in Contact with Food. Food contact materials testing is used worldwide to make sure that food is not contaminated by any of the products it comes into contact with.
Our experts focus on the scientific research relating to intentionally added food components and to those arising from chemical changes during food processing, bioactive chemicals and natural toxicants
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Missed our food contact testing webinar on Thu 6 Sep, on how Fera is leading the way in the analysis of chemical migration from food packaging, with a focus on can coatings? Why not watch the recording.
Scientific Lead for Food Safety
Emma is an analytical chemist by training and currently leads a team of 120 scientists working on food integrity and safety. She has more than 18 years of experience in the analysis of chemical contaminants in foods and specifically chemical migration from food contact materials and articles.
Fera offers a suite of crop health services, resources, testing facilities and expertise to help farmers, growers and the food industry to improve yields, reduce costs and develop sustainable solutions.
You can now order your routine Crop Tests online, making it simpler for you to work with us and meet your future crop testing challenges.
Initial assessment typically includes visual examination of your sample by our plant pathologists to assess the most probable cause and appropriate method of testing. We will report back to you within 5 working days of receiving your sample, giving our initial examination findings and if appropriate, a time-scale for completion of the work.
Pests and diseases present a major challenge to both agriculture and our natural environment, with around one third of the global harvest lost to weeds, pests and diseases every year. Fera provides a host of targeted research and development services to help governments, policymakers, agricultural and horticultural businesses, farmers and growers tackle these threats.
The Fera insect monitoring service helps growers to target insecticide applications more accurately to reduce costs and waste, optimise resources and improve yields.
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We want to work as hard for your business as you do, so we’re introducing online ordering and payments, making it simpler for you to work with us and meet your future food and crop testing challenges. You can now set up your account with us and buy your tests online, giving you time to focus on the more important things.
Principal Plant Virologist
As lead virologist, his role is to deliver a high-quality virology diagnostic service to a wide range of UK and overseas government and commercial clients. Adrian has participated as an external expert on working groups for European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Established in 1990, Fapas is a globally recognised provider of proficiency tests, running over 400 tests annually across an extensive range of matrices and analytes for the food and water, environmental chemistry and microbiology sectors.
Proficiency testing is an essential part of laboratory quality procedure and participation is a mandatory requirement of ISO 17025 accreditation. Fapas proficiency testing provides an independent assessment of your laboratory performance and compares your results to laboratories worldwide.
Surplus test materials from the batch used for the PT may be available for purchase as quality control (QC) samples. These QC samples may be used for troubleshooting poor performance in the PT, training of new staff, method development or generating QC charts.
Reference Materials (RMs) are also available from Fapas for some analyte/matrix combinations. RMs have a much higher degree of characterisation than PT or QC materials with a defined chain of traceability
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The results from our new extensive wine proficiency testing programme have been published, in this webinar we discussed the findings and share the learnings on how to demonstrate best practice & understand more about wine analysis.
Scientific Advisor to Fapas
Mark’s principal role is to provide expert advice on all aspects of Fapas proficiency tests and to investigate difficult datasets and their underlying scientific problems. Mark is also responsible for new product development in proficiency testing and developing bespoke schemes.
Translating research into real-world solutions across the agri-food supply chain
We live in a changing world, one that faces global challenges such as climate change, increasing globalisation and population growth. In turn, these all affect our food security. Learn how we are meeting these challenges within our Science Strategy.
As an organisation our focus is translating research into evidence and science-based products and services. As we move forward, we encourage an approach that is more entrepreneurial, internationally-focused and integrated into cross-cutting, interdisciplinary programmes that are underpinned by our strategic partnerships and driven by the needs of our customers.
The aim of the partnership is to deliver innovation in research across the agri-food supply chain, and provide sustainable solutions to problems facing Fera’s diverse customer base in both the agricultural and food sectors. The Institute for Agri-Food Research and Innovation (IAFRI) is a joint venture between Newcastle University and Fera Science Ltd (Fera).
We are no ordinary people. We are original thinkers and problem solvers. Are you part of our solution?
Read about our science
Our success is built on our ability to solve problems. Over 100 years of our accumulated original thinking sets us apart from the rest. If you love change, a challenge and the opportunity this brings, Fera could be right for you.
Principal Plant Pathologist
Phil Jennings has over 25 years of experience in fungal plant pathology, especially epidemiology, disease control, experimental/field trial designs and investigative research approaches.
His main areas of research are risk prediction for Fusarium ear blight and associated mycotoxins and control of downy mildews with a particular emphasis on impatiens, basil and aquilegia downy mildew.
The BRC Global Standard for Food Safety now focuses more on the transparency of the supply chain. HorizonScan can help you keep ahead of the game by daily monitoring of emerging, new and novel issues in the commodities you use, wherever you might source them. The system can also provide you with the data needed to complete your vulnerability assessments for BRC in the prevention of food fraud from adulteration, substitution, fraudulent documentation to expiry date changes, production in unapproved premises, production with inspection and unsuitable means of transport.
To learn more about 'Global Food Integrity and Risk System' request to download our report today.
We have launched a new multi-analyte, cross-series test for processed food,
this new test allows you to cover many parameters for a finished product for a wide range of possible analytes.
The analytes cover a range of nutritional components, illegal dyes, metallic contaminants and allergens, intended
to simulate a real-world challenge, allowing official control laboratories to test finished product food samples
that arrive without warning. Combining several analytes into one multi-analyte PT material can offer time savings
for the laboratory as well as cost effectiveness.
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"Original Thinking...Applied to Food Safety."
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