Diagnostics
Algal-toxin services
Our algal-toxin related services are grouped into four subject
areas:
- humans affected by marine toxins
- marine biotoxin reference materials
- phytoplankton identification
- end-product (industry) testing.
For information about these services, please visit our toxin
services and advice page.
Proficiency testing
Food microbiology testing must be carried out to the highest
standards and consistency required across the industry, often to
meet food hygiene laws. Many laboratories have implemented formal
quality systems that include accreditation to internationally
recognised standards, e.g. ISO/IEC 17025, ISO 9001, EN 45002.
Our proficiency-testing service can support customers hoping to
gain or maintain accreditation, and provides internal quality
assurance. Our testing demonstrates that laboratory analysis is
being carried out to a sufficiently high standard and shows a
commitment to continuous performance improvement.
For more information about our proficiency-testing service, contact us.
Fish health
We advise on a wide range of health and disease-related issues
in both farmed and wild stocks.
Fish kills
We have experience in investigating unexplained mortalities
in:
- commercial and non-commercial fish stocks
- wild and farmed fish populations
- small and large-scale situations.
Our scientists can help establish the cause of fish kills
- whether through disease, pollution, toxins or other factors
- and provide advice on future management and prevention.
Disease management
We advise on disease-control programmes for aquaculture
operations, including:
- implementing and managing monitoring programmes
- assessing the incidence, prevalence and significance of
diseases
- contingency planning for disease outbreaks
- risk assessment and mathematical modelling techniques
- predicting the spread and transmission of disease between
farmed and wild species
- disease prevention and eradication measures
- the application of controls to stop disease import and
spread.
Fish-health diagnosis
We have an extensive disease diagnosis capability and a wide
range of resources for use in diagnostic testing and technique
development. These include:
- expertise in the isolation, cultivation and identification of a
wide range of fish pathogens
- specialists in virology, bacteriology, parasitology and
histopathology
- state-of-the-art experimental aquaria, allowing the impact of
any pathogen from anywhere in the world to be studied in
safety.