Quality Assurance
Spring 2012
ANBP is currently moving toward new approaches for Quality Assurance standards. Past work on producing standards for use with commercially produced natural enemies are listed below. In the meantime, we encourage the use of standards published by the International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC). For a link to their Guidelines, and an explanation about how they were developed, go to:
http://users.ugent.be/~padclerc/AMRQC/guidelines.htm
ASTM - and ANBP's past work on standards
ASTM International is a non-profit international organization with the purpose of "the development of standards on characteristics and performance of materials, products, systems and services; and the promotion of related knowledge."
Subcommittee E35.30 on Natural Multi-Cellular (Metazoan) Biological Control Organisms
The scope of subcommittee E35.30 is the development of standard definitions, classifications, appropriate test methods, and recommended practices for quality, handling, distribution and use of natural multi-cellular biological control organisms.
Stakeholders working with natural enemies have joined ASTM Subcommittee E35.30 on Natural Multi-Cellular (Metazoan) Biological Control Organisms, and are active in creating, commenting on, and voting on standards for commercial natural enemy products. Currently standards have been adopted for 10 species. To date, quality standards have focused on methods of evaluating whether numbers received by the buyer meet the numbers that were claimed by the seller. Our latest work will add an evaluation of vigor to the quality specification.
Active standards under the jurisdiction of E35.30
Each standard must be reviewed and re-voted every five years. The number after the hyphen denotes the year last ratified. For example, the latest version of the P. persimilis standard was last voted in 2010. It will come up for review again in 2015 unless someone moves to revise it before that time. If you are interested in revising any standard or participating in its review, please contact the
E2198-10 Specification for Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot (Acarina:Phytoseiidae)
E2199-08e1 Standard Specification for Encarsia formosa Gahan (Hymenoptera:Aphelinidae)
E2360-04(2010) Specification for Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)
E2615-08 Standard Specification for Aphidoletes aphidimyza (Rondani) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)
E2643-09 Standard Terminology Relating to Natural Multi-Cellular Biological Control Organisms
E2644-08 Standard Specification for Podisus maculiventris (Say) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)
E2645-08 Standard Specification for Feltiella acarisuga (Vallot) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)
E2646-08 Standard Specification for Amblyseius cucumeris (=Neoseiulus) Oudemans (Acarina: Phytoseiidae)
E2753-10 Standard Specification for Eretmocerus eremicus Rose and Zolnerowich (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae)
E2754-10 Standard Specification for Delphastus catalinae (Horn) (Coleoptera:Coccinellidae)