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    Globally recognised provider of proficiency tests, running over 400 tests annually across an extensive range of matrices and analytes


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Delivering world-class science for our partners, for the future

  • 100

    years of science

  • 600

    R&D projects

  • 1,000

    active partnerships

  • 100,000

    samples per year

Delivering world-class science for our partners, for the future

What's happening with us right now?

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FERA SCIENCE LTD

Mesocosm Studies

As Plant Protection Products are developed and registered, there is a need to ensure that they are safe for the aquatic environment. The new E-Flows mesocosm provides a unique test-bed to provide robust data to demonstrate safety. Crop Health & Protection's (CHAP) ground breaking project, supported by Innovate UK and developed, designed, managed & operated by Fera will provide a facility that is a realistic, but closely controlled, facsimile of edge-of-field surface waters that can be exposed to novel products in a real-world scenario to ensure the safety of our aquatic habitats. This unique facility represents a leap forward in the support of Higher Tier Risk Assessments.

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How we can help...

  • Chemical and crop protection companies

    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.

    Chemical Services
    Regulatory risk assessment

    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.

    Consultancy services

    Fera consultancy services support you through the regulatory processes required to register your chemical products and biocides in the EU.

    Ecotoxicology

    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. 

    See all Chemical services
    Bee Ecotoxicology
    MOST POPULAR SERVICE
    Bee Ecotoxicology

    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.

    Find out more
    Meet the scientists...
    Chris Sinclair

    Chris Sinclair

    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.

    Read full bio

  • Food manufacturers and retailers

    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.

    Food Services
    Food safety and support tools

    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.

    Food packaging analysis

    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.

    Contaminant testing

    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

    See all Food services
    Polyphosphates
    MOST POPULAR SERVICE
    Polyphosphates

    To aid in the declaration of polyphosphates we have developed a test that detects the amount of 'added' phosphates in prawns, distinguishing between the naturally occurring levels of phosphates and the level of added phosphates.

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    Meet the scientists...
    James Donarski Headshot

    James Donarski

    Scientific Lead and Project Manager for Food Authenticity

    James is the scientific lead and project manager for work relating to food authenticity at Fera. Currently, his primary research interests are identification of biomarkers and where applicable, the subsequent development of rapid and/or portable tools for their detection.

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  • Growers, farmers and agronomists

    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.

    Growers, Farmers and Agronomist Services
    Diagnose my crop problem

    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.

    Crop R&D services

    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.

    Insect monitoring

    The Fera insect monitoring service helps growers to target insecticide applications more accurately to reduce costs and waste, optimise resources and improve yields.

    See all Growers, farmers and agronomist services
    Bee Ecotoxicology
    MOST POPULAR SERVICE
    LIAISON

    LIAISON provides instant online access to a wealth of information on all UK pesticide approvals, label information and Maximum Residue Levels.

    Find out more
    Meet the scientists...
    Adrian Fox Headshot

    Adrian Fox

    Principle 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).

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  • Proficiency Testing

    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 Services
    Proficiency tests

    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.

    Quality control materials

    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

    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

    See all Proficiency Testing services
    Fapas
    MOST POPULAR SERVICE
    Bespoke PTs

    Bespoke schemes from Fapas give customers a variety of ways of commissioning proficiency tests to their own specification.

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    Meet the scientists...
    Mark Sykes Headshot

    Mark Sykes

    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.

    Read full bio

  • Governments and academia

    Translating research into real-world solutions across the agri-food supply chain

    Government and Academia Services
    Science strategy

    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.

    Areas of Expertise

    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.

    IAFRI Partnership

    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).

    See all Government and Academia services
    Active R&D
    MOST POPULAR SERVICE
    Active R&D

    We collaborate and partner with many industry and government organisations in order to aid in the safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy.

    Find out more
    Meet the scientists...
    Rick Mumford Headshot

    Rick Mumford

    Director of Science

    Rick is the Director of Science at Fera, leading on science strategy and head of profession for over 350 scientists. Rick has extensive experience of working with both government and industry, across agriculture, horticulture and into the wider environment.

    Read full bio

 

Food Safety Integrity Report - Hot Source Q2 2017

Fera's Hot Source series is built on HorizonScan - Fera's powerful global food safety and risk system. This report covers risk mitigating insights into the global food supply chain to expert analysis of the 2017 Q2 findings from the Fera Team as well as the key emerging issues to look out for in the year ahead.  Learn more about HorizonScan and take advantage of our 2 week free trial which is available.

Click here
Hot Source Q2 2017

Fera develops 'traceback' service to aid product recall and contamination market as new risks come to light

Based on the increasing accessibility of Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) data, policy decisions by regulators such as FDA and FSA and interest from the food industry, Fera  have developed a dedicated WGS service for the food industry. We are combining our expertise in food microbiology, DNA sequencing and analysis to provide an end-to-end service that will help the industry to rapidly identify and understand sources of contamination. 

This new service, OriGen is designed to help a business identify the source of any bacterial contaminations tracing the bacteria back to the original source ultimately protecting you from any future product recalls and brand reputation.

How we can help


"Foodborne disease is a problem which DNA sequencing is well-positioned to tackle - thanks to the increasing availability of sequence data and the simultaneous decreasing cost of generating new data, whole genome sequencing (WGS) has become an important tool for outbreak investigation. "

Dr. Edward Hayes
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY, FERA SCIENCE LTD
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