ASISTEC in Singapore
LABORATORY OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, OF THE PONTIFICAL CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF VALPARAÍSO, WAS CHOSEN BY SERNAPESCA TO REPRESENT CHILE IN TRAINING IN SINGAPORE..
On September 3, 4 and 5, 2019, a training was held in Singapore on “Detection of mercury for fish and fishery products by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometry (CV-AAS) and methylmercury by liquid induction chromatography of plasma coupled masses (LC-ICPMS) "dictated by" Global Food Safety Partnership (GFSP) ", which have the direct collaboration of" Singapore Food Agency "and" The World Bank Group ". These organizations are mainly dedicated to the dissemination of lessons learned and best practices, to inform future food security capacity development, to improve public health, facilitate market access and contribute to improved food security worldwide.
SERNAPESCA selected the Technical Assistance Laboratory (ASISTEC), among all the official verification laboratories it has (5 in total), to attend such training and draw on the knowledge that a developed country like Singapore can offer. As representative of ASISTEC, the chemical analyst Margarita Farías Muñoz, a professional with almost 10 years of experience in related instrumental techniques, participated.
ASISTEC has been an official verification laboratory for SERNAPESCA CHILE since 1999, as a result of an agreement generated to ensure the quality of export fishery products from companies from different parts of the country. In this way, with 20 years of service, ASISTEC has managed with hard work and dedication to earn a privileged place in the field, after obtaining excellent results and wide praise in its process of renewal of the NCh-ISO 17025: 2017 accreditation, granted by the National Institute for Standardization (INN).
The call was made in the Jurong Industrial Zone, Singapore, at the GFSP laboratories. It was attended by countries such as Brazil, Bhutan, Chile, Guyana and Paraguay, which actively participated in the analytical development of the methodologies of total Mercury and Methylmercury, sharing experiences, learning new techniques and visualizing improvements for the tests already implemented, being able to also , meet and work with the respective teams for each analysis, obtaining a result to be discussed with the participants on the last day.
The training was very complete and above all dynamic, allowing professionals to nurture and develop in their work environment, bringing new ideas and improvements, which not only benefits an institution, but also an entire country. Courses like these, without a doubt, open up a wide range of possibilities for all professionals who aspire to improve their abilities and empower them in pursuit of knowledge and science. ASISTEC and its participant, Margarita Farías, hope that this experience has been the first of many opportunities that can be generated for its laboratories and its professional staff.
