External testing at the Animal Health Laboratory

Tim Pasma, Jennifer Zoethout

Animal Health Laboratory, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON.

AHL Newsletter 2024;28(3):3.

The AHL has over 1000 tests available to meet the needs of our clients. However, in some situations, the AHL sends samples to external laboratories for subcontracted or referral testing.

A test can be subcontracted when the AHL is unable to run a test for which it is accredited. For subcontracted tests, the AHL ensures that the external laboratory meets the accreditation of either the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians or the ISO/IEC 17025 standard (General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories). The AHL contacts the subcontracted laboratory in advance to assess its quality program and competency as a laboratory.

In some circumstances, a client requests a test that is not offered at the AHL, or requests that a specific test be conducted at another laboratory. In these cases, the AHL can locate testing at another laboratory, and will send samples to that laboratory as a referral. For referral tests, the onus is on the submitting client to determine the quality of the external laboratory, and the AHL assumes no liability for the test results.

If you are looking for a test that is not listed in our test catalog, please contact the AHL and we will do our best to locate a laboratory that can perform the test for you.   AHL