Evaluation of food emergency response laboratories’ capability for 210Po analysis using proficiency test material with verifiable traceability

Measurement capability and data comparability are essential for emergency response when analytical data from cooperative laboratories are used for risk assessment and post incident decision making. In this study, the current capability of food emergency response laboratories for the analysis of ²¹⁰Po in water was evaluated using a proficiency test scheme in compliance with ISO-43 and ILAC G13 guidelines, which comprises a test sample preparation and verification protocol and an insightful statistical data evaluation. The results of performance evaluations on relative bias, value trueness, precision, false positive detection, minimum detection limit, and limit of quantification, are presented.