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The laboratories’ research activities

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Reference activities

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ANSES’s services

To carry out its research and reference missions, ANSES relies on a network of nine laboratories on 16 sites across the country, in close contact with France’s agricultural and food production centres.

These laboratories undertake work in three major areas, covering animal health and welfare, chemical and microbiological food safety, and plant health. They have achieved international recognition in their various fields of expertise, including epidemiology, microbiology, antimicrobial resistance and physico-chemical contaminants and toxins.

The laboratories play a vital role in qualifying health hazards through their expert appraisals, epidemiological surveillance, alerts and technical and scientific support, and by coordinating networks of laboratories conducting field analyses, through which they collect data. In particular, the 600 scientists and technicians from ANSES laboratories are engaged in research to identify major pathogens in animal health and plant health and to develop approaches for identifying biological, physical and chemical contaminants in food and water.

These reference and research activities position ANSES at the heart of institutional networks focused on animal health and welfare, plant health and food safety. The Agency entertains direct links with the field, which are essential for carrying out surveillance and issuing alerts, enabling it to respond more rapidly during the resurgence or emergence of new pathogens and contaminants in France.

>> See ANSES’s scientific priorities for 2019–2022 to guide its research and reference activities (PDF, in French)

Laboratory news

Making cheese to study health risks
Fromage
13/12/2023

Making cheese to study health risks

Several teams from ANSES are going to make cheese in a laboratory, in order to study the risk of pathogenic organisms being transmitted via cheese consumption. This will be a complex task, due to the precautions that will need to be taken to avoid any external contamination by the micro-organisms under study.
Bee health: new data uncovered by the PoshBee project
Santé des abeilles
07/12/2023
News

Bee health: new data uncovered by the PoshBee project

The aim of the European PoshBee project was to better understand the factors driving the decline in pollinating insects, particularly the impact of plant protection products. At a scientific meeting that it convened on 7 December 2023, ANSES reviewed the project’s contributions to assessing current and future threats suffered by pollinating insects.
Bumblebees affected by pesticide use
Bourdons
30/11/2023

Bumblebees affected by pesticide use

A study to which ANSES contributed has revealed the adverse effects of the use of plant protection products on bumblebee populations. It found that on sites where the highest quantities of product residues were measured, colonies had fewer offspring and lower weights. The study's findings were published in the journal Nature on 29 November 2023.
Antimicrobial resistance in animal health: 2023 review
17/11/2023
News

Antimicrobial resistance in animal health: 2023 review

ANSES’s work contributes to the fight against antimicrobial resistance. To mark World Antibiotic Awareness Week, the Agency is publishing the data collected in 2022 from: the monitoring of sales of veterinary medicinal products containing antimicrobials the French surveillance network for antimicrobial resistance in pathogenic bacteria of animal origin (Resapath) the European scheme for monitoring antimicrobial resistance in the food chain The Agency is also offering another look at its expert appraisal work on the transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from animals to humans.
Listeria monocytogenes: a surprisingly adaptive bacterium
Listéria bactérie
11/09/2023

Listeria monocytogenes: a surprisingly adaptive bacterium

Listeria monocytogenes is a ubiquitous bacterium found in food, livestock and wild animals, soil, water and vegetation. The European ListAdapt project focused on the ability of strains of this bacterium to adapt to these different environments. It found that this ability is independent of the strains' environments of origin or their belonging to a given sub-group.