EQAs in FWD-Net
The External Quality Assessments (EQAs) in Food and Waterborne Disease Network (FWD-Net) encompass EQAs in molecular typing of Listeria, STEC and Salmonella, as well as EQAs in antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Salmonella and Campylobacter.
The Section for Foodborne Infections has been the contractor of External Quality Assessment programmes for the ECDC in these areas since 2012. Find out more about the ongoing rounds of EQAs:
CAMP-EQA10-AST
The overall purpose of the EQA exercises coordinated by the ECDC is to uphold the quality and comparability of the surveillance data reported to the European Surveillance System (TESSy/EpiPulse cases) in order to ensure proper outbreak and emerging diseases detection. This is done by promoting implementation of the harmonised protocol through the EQA exercises.
In 2025, the National Reference Laboratory for Foodborne and Gastrointestinal Bacteria won a contract from the ECDC for the organisation of the tenth round of EQA for Campylobacter spp. for antibiotic susceptibility testing.
Aim of the CAMP-EQA10-AST:
- to support the implementation of the EU protocol for harmonised monitoring of antimicrobial resistance in human Campylobacter isolates
- to enable an assessment of the quality of AST data from NRLs that report data to ECDC
- to assess the laboratories’ ability to perform clinical interpretation of the phenotypic AST data using clinical breakpoints
- to assess the laboratories’ ability to identify resistance genes and point mutations, as well as to predict phenotypic resistance from genotypic data
The antimicrobials for which reporting is mandatory include:
- Ciprofloxacin
- Erythromycin
- Tetracycline
Additionally, it will be possible to report values for Gentamicin.
Important dates:
- Invitations sent out: 8th of May 2025
- Shipment of strains from SSI: 16th June 2025
- Deadline to report the results: 18th of August 2025
Please note: Participants using E-test for MIC determination will be asked to convert their measured values using a provided conversion file and report the obtained MIC values. The file will be available for download from the survey.
For any questions, please contact ast.eqa@ssi.dk
CAMP-EQA9-AST
The overall purpose of the EQA exercises coordinated by the ECDC is to uphold the quality and comparability of the surveillance data reported to the European Surveillance System (TESSy/EpiPulse cases) in order to ensure proper outbreak and emerging diseases detection. This is done by promoting implementation of the harmonised protocol through the EQA exercises.
In 2024, the National Reference Laboratory for Foodborne and Gastrointestinal Bacteria won a contract from the ECDC for organisation of the ninth round of EQA for Campylobacter spp. for antibiotic susceptibility testing.
CAMP-EQA9-AST has officially started on the 10th of July 2024, when invitations to contact points in the FWD Network were sent out.
In this round the participants will be able to report antibiotic susceptibility either measured with disk diffusion or MIC determination methods (microbroth dilution or E-test). Campylobacter species identification will be a compulsory task.
The antimicrobials for which reporting is mandatory include:
- Ciprofloxacin
- Erythromycin
- Tetracycline
Additionally, it will be possible to report values for Gentamicin.
The current deadline for registration for the exercise is the 16th of August.
Important dates:
- Shipment of strains from SSI 16th of September 2024
- Deadline to report the results 14th of October 2024
Please note: Participants using E-test for MIC determination will be asked to convert their measured values using a provided conversion file and report the obtained MIC values. The file will be available for download from the survey.
All relevant files can be found here:
- Invitation letter (pdf)
- Reporting form (pdf)
- Satisfaction survey results (pdf)
For any questions, please contact ast.eqa@ssi.dk
LIST-EQA-11
The overall purpose of the EQA exercises coordinated by ECDC is to uphold the quality and comparability of the surveillance data reported to the European Surveillance System (TESSy/EpiPulse cases) and ensure proper outbreak and emerging diseases detection. This is done by encouraging the Member States to participate in the ECDC funded molecular typing EQA.
In 2021, the National Reference Laboratory for Foodborne and Gastrointestinal Bacteria again won a contract from ECDC for organisation of three – four rounds (2022-2025) of EQA scheme for Listeria monocytogenes typing.
STEC-EQA-13 has officially started on the 1st of April 2024, when invitations to contact points in the FWD Network were sent out.
In this round, the participants will be able to report serotyping (conventional or genotypic) and conduct a molecular typing-based cluster analysis (7 test strains and ten additional provided genomic sequences).
The registration deadline was the 29th of April 2024 and shipment was conducted between 21st and 31st of May 2024.
Important date:
Deadline to report the results 30th of August 2024
Submission protocol was sent out just after the shipment and the provided sequences can be downloaded as described.
All relevant files can be found here:
LIST-EQA-11 Invitation letter (pdf)
LIST-EQA-11 Submission protocol (pdf)
LIST-EQA-11 Empty submission form (pdf)
STEC-EQA-13
The overall purpose of the EQA exercises coordinated by ECDC is to uphold the quality and comparability of the surveillance data reported to the European Surveillance System (TESSy/EpiPulse cases) and ensure proper outbreak and emerging diseases detection. This is done by encouraging the Member States to participate in the ECDC funded molecular typing EQA.
In 2021, the National Reference Laboratory for Foodborne and Gastrointestinal Bacteria again won a contract from ECDC for organisation of three – four rounds (2022-2025) of EQA scheme for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli typing.
STEC-EQA-13 has officially started on the 1st of April 2024, when invitations to contact points in the FWD Network were sent out.
In this round, the participants will be able to report serotyping (conventional or genotypic), virulence profile determination (stx1, stx2, eae, esta, and aggR genes) and subtyping of stx genes (stx1a, stx1c, stx1d, stx2a, stx2b, stx2c, stx2d, and stx2e) and conduct a molecular typing-based cluster analysis (12 test strains and eight additional provided genomic sequences).
The registration deadline was the 29th of April 2024 and shipment was conducted between 21st and 31st of May 2024.
Important date:
Deadline to report the results 15th of October 2024
Submission protocol was sent out just after the shipment and the provided sequences can be downloaded as described
All relevant files can be found here:
STEC-EQA-13 Invitation letter (pdf)
STEC-EQA-13 Submission protocol (pdf)
STEC-EQA-13 Empty submission form (pdf)
Reports from the previous rounds
Below, you will find the published reports from completed EQA rounds in the area of molecular typing and antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
Molecular typing
The Salmonella typing EQAs, conducted in years 2012-2021, covering several different typing methods over the years, such as PFGE, MLVA, phage typing and WGS (molecular typing-based cluster analysis).
The Listeria typing EQAs, conducted in years 2012-2023, covering several different typing methods over the years, such as PFGE and WGS (molecular typing-based cluster analysis) and serotyping (conventional or genotypic).
The STEC typing EQAs, conducted in years 2012-2023, covering several different typing methods over the years, such as PFGE and WGS (molecular typing-based cluster analysis) and serotyping (conventional or genotypic). Additionally, it included virulence profile determination and subtyping of stx genes.
Salmonella
External quality assessment scheme for Salmonella typing:
Salmonella EQA-11
Salmonella EQA-10
Salmonella EQA-9
Salmonella EQA-8
Salmonella EQA-7
Salmonella EQA-6
Salmonella EQA-5
Salmonella EQA-4
Listeria
External quality assessment scheme for Listeria monocyetogens typing:
Listeria EQA-9
Listeria EQA-8
Listeria EQA-7
Listeria EQA-6
Listeria EQA-5
Listeria EQA-4
Listeria EQA-3
Listeria EQA-2
Listeria EQA-1
STEC
External quality assessment scheme for typing of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli:
STEC EQA-12
STEC EQA-11
STEC EQA-10
STEC EQA-9
STEC EQA-8
VTEC EQA-7
VTEC EQA-6
VTEC EQA-5
VTEC EQA-4
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing
The EQAs on antimicrobial susceptibility testing, conducted in years 2014 - 2022, included determining phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility (reported as MIC or zone mm values) of Salmonella to a minimum of five mandatory antimicrobials and of Campylobacter to a minimum of three mandatory antimicrobials.
Additionally, the EQAs included determining Salmonella serotype, Campylobacter species, phenotypic and genotypic detection and confirmation of ESBL-, acquired AmpC and carbapenemase-producing Salmonella, as well as submitting DNA based results on antimicrobial susceptibility.