Ginseng is one of the most important traditional herbal medicines for health care and treatment of diseases. Trading of ginseng and related products is a multi-million dollar business. Four major countries including South Korea, China, Canada and the United States are the biggest producers and account for more than 99% of the total ginseng production around the world (i.e. about 80,000 tons). The Commission Regulation of European Union sets up that the maximum residue level (MRL) for hexachlorocyclohexane (sum of alpha, beta and delta isomers, except lindane) is 0.02 mg/kg and that for lindane is 1 mg/kg in ginseng. The use of reliable methods for measurement of these organochlorine pesticides is important in safeguarding the quality of ginseng and related products and the public health.
The APLAC T106 was concurrently conducted in parallel with the supplementary comparison APMP.QM-S11 "Organochlorine Pesticides in Ginseng Root" using the same test material. It was stipulated in the proposal for the PT programme that the supplementary comparison reference values (SCRV) obtained from APMP.QM-S11 were to be used as the assigned values for evaluating the performance of participants in the APLAC T106. The standard deviation for proficiency assessment was derived from the Horwitz Equation.