Testing for potato wart: Tour of the Charlottetown Laboratory
Take a tour of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) Charlottetown Laboratory and get a closer look at how they help control, contain and prevent the spread of potato wart.
Testing for potato wart: Tour of the Charlottetown Laboratory Transcription
Potato wart is an abnormal, cauliflower-like growth that can be found on a potato or a potato stem, and is caused by a soil-borne fungus that attacks the growing points of a potato plant.
It can also be found as spores in the soil, which are invisible to the naked eye.
That's where soil sampling and analysis comes in. Let's take a closer look at the process.
Sampling is when you take small amounts of soil to test and analyze.
Sampling generally occurs in the spring or after harvest in the fall. During the sampling process, a clean zone is set up at the entry of each field. Nothing can enter or leave the field unless it is free from soil.
Soil samples are taken from each field and sent to CFIA's Charlottetown Laboratory for testing.
Once at the lab, the soil samples go through a multi-step testing process. Let's take a look.
Each individual sample receives a unique identifier. This is known as verification.
Quality control procedures, including decontamination practices, are conducted throughout the testing process to prevent cross-contamination.
Once the soil is well mixed, part of the sample is placed into a labelled box for drying. This is known as sub-sampling.
Once dry, it moves to the next step in the process; sieving.
Sieving is when a sieve separates particles of different sizes, similar to a pasta strainer.
The sample goes through a series of six different-sized sieves to create a concentrated sample.
Next, 30 ml of chloroform is added to a tube containing the concentrated sample.
The sample is spun to allow any potato wart spores to float to the top.
The technician pours the top chloroform layer into a flask and uses vacuum suction to pull the sample onto a filter to view under a microscope.
Using the microscope, technicians and biologists then look for any potato wart spores that might be present.
The Charlottetown Laboratory is an ISO-accredited and certified biocontainment facility. The processes are conducted by highly qualified personnel who use reliable products and equipment in a quality-controlled environment.
Sampling and testing can help the CFIA monitor for potato wart to help control, contain and prevent its spread, and maintain confidence in the national plant health system both domestically and abroad.
While potato wart has no impacts on human health and is not a food safety concern, it can have significant negative impacts on plant health, the economy and trade.
End of video.
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