What DidWe Achieve Through VALITEST, an EU Project on Validation in Plant Pest Diagnostics?

Ensuring the reliability of diagnostic activities is an essential cornerstone of plant health
strategies to reduce the risk of entry and spread of plant pests in a region and ultimately
their impacts. Diagnostic tests should be validated to ensure that they are fit for purpose.
Validation is usually done by diagnostic laboratories, although companies commercializing
diagnostic kits also produce validation data for their products. Due to the high number of
pest,matrix, and method combinations and given the significant resources required to validate
tests, it is essential that validation data are shared with the entire diagnostic community
and produced in a harmonized way to facilitate their use by different stakeholders. Indeed,
the selection of tests to be used in specific contexts is not the sole responsibility of diagnostic
laboratories but also involves national plant protection organizations.The VALITEST
EU project (2018 to 2021) was established to tackle all these issues.New validation data for
tests targeting important pests for the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization
region were produced. Guidelines to improve and harmonize the validation framework
were developed. Sharing of validation data and experience was ensured through the
development of new or existing databases, the organization of training courses, and the
dissemination of the project outputs in scientific publications and standards. Finally, the
involvement of researchers, diagnosticians, policy makers, inspectors, and industries and
the establishment of the European Plant Diagnostic Industry Association were important
actions to strengthen the interactions between plant health stakeholders