Sample Diagnosis

FeraScience Ltd. is the National Reference Laboratory for plant and bee health in England and Wales, providing high quality, reliable diagnostic capability. Accurate and timely identification of suspect quarantine pest/disease is crucial to enable prompt and decisive action to protect UK biosecurity. 

Fera Plant Clinic receives over 32,000 samples from APHA’s Plant Health & Seed Inspectorate (PHSI) every year. Samples are very often time critical, and the lab ensures that diagnoses are carried out as quickly as possible.  

Recently expanded labs are equipped with a comprehensive range of diagnostic equipment from state-of-the-art microscopes through to the latest platforms for high throughput sequencing.  The number of diagnosticians and the size of laboratory facilities provide capacity to deal with significant surges in sample numbers, such as during an outbreak response. 

The time taken to provide a final diagnosis can vary depending on the nature of the problem, condition of the sample, the type of organism found, sample volumes and the methods required to confirm its identity. When PHSIs detain a consignment due tothe suspected presence of a pest or disease during inspections, in most cases this if confirmed through the diagnostic testing performed by Fera. Consequently, it is uncommon for consignments to subsequently be released after a ‘negative’ diagnosis. 

Turnaround times start when a sample is receipted into a lab. For common issues such as sampling consignments for individual pests, turnaround times are 3-5 days. For less common tests, such as screening for bacteria, turnaround times can be up to 20 days. However, this is often when a new pest is found, which is quite rare. The reason for this extended timeframe is that specimens will need to be either cultured (e.g. bacterial or fungal pests) or reared on (e.g. eggs/larvae from an insect pest).Where a sample requires multiple tests to determine a causative agent, several different testing methods may be needed in order to guarantee an accurate diagnosis. Most samples will be reported between 1-5 days from receipt. 

Since 2008, Fera has met its service level agreements and often exceeded expected turnaround times by delivering test results for common pests in under 3 days upon receipt. As new requirements come in for EU goods, Fera has increased its capacity to ensure there are minimal disruptions to trade while continuing to meet target turnaround times. Defra and Fera work together on an ongoing basis with the aim of further reducing diagnostic times by putting trials in place to test new technologies, update diagnostic protocols and review best practices. 

In cases where Fera requires additional specimens (e.g. cases where the received sample is degraded to the point that it will not be possible to provide a diagnosis) and/or additional information from the inspector is needed to aid or expedite the diagnostic process (e.g. host or country of origin), the customer will be contacted by phone, email or via DIAG/DOMERO (or Dynamics) as soon as practically possible after the sample is received.