3. Level 1 Outcomes

The level 1 outcomes that are currently in use are:

Level 1 Outcome	Comments
A – Additive	Applied to any determination of an ingredient present in a food that has been added to serve a technological function. In most case the use of additives in foods is controlled by the appropriate statutory regulations
B – Constituent	Applied to any determination of the main compositional ingredients of a food. This should not be applied to ingredients of a food that are present more appropriately to serve the function of an additive or to enhance the nutritional value of the food.
C – Nutritional Component	Applied to any determination of an ingredient added to a food specifically to add to its nutritional value or to components of a food which relate directly to its nutritional quality.
D – Undesirable Substances	Applied to any determination of a component of a food that should not be present at any level or which should only be present at an acceptably low level.
E – Substitution	Applied to any determination which identifies the nature of the major component of a food such as the type of meat or fish present. This should not be applied to alcohol samples where the incorrect brand name has been used or where an inferior brand are being passed off as being a premium one.
L – Labelling	In most laboratories labelling is not treated as a determination that is performed on a sample but consideration of the labelling information provided with a sample is evaluated as a specific activity. For this reason labelling outcomes are recorded at the sample level. When labelling information is being considered its compliance with statutory requirements is considered in its entirety. It is not normal practice to consider, for example, whether or not the name of the food complies with requirements but not to consider whether or not the QUID declaration is satisfactory or not. For this reason specific labelling outcomes should normally only be recorded for aspects which do not comply with statutory requirements. It is to be inferred that all other labelling aspects have been considered and found to be satisfactory. Where the labelling of a sample has been evaluated and all aspects have been found to comply with statutory requirements there is a single outcome to record this fact.
M – Microbiology	Applied to any microbiological examination performed on a sample.
X – Radiation Monitoring	Radiation monitoring of food falls into two categories. The first is where the sample is examined for the level of radiation “naturally” present in the food and the second is to determine whether the food has been subjected to either a lawful or non-permitted irradiation process.
P – Additives – Animal Feed	Applied to the determination of an ingredient present in an animal feed that has been added to serve a technological function.
Q – Composition – Animal Feed	Applied to the determination of the main compositional ingredients of an animal feed. This is generally equivalent to the “Constituent” outcome for food but in order to record the information in the form required for the statistical examination of the analyses conducted on animal feed it requires to be a separate outcome.
R – Undesirable Substances – Animal Feed	Applied to any determination of a component of an animal feed that should not be present at any level or which should only be present at an acceptably low level. This is generally equivalent to the “Undesirable Substances” outcome for food but in order to record the information in the form required for the statistical examination of the analyses conducted on animal feed it requires to be a separate outcome.
Z – Other miscellaneous outcomes	This is to be used for determinations either on food or animal feed samples which cannot be more appropriately allocated to another outcome. This should be used for reportable “determinations” that record information on the sample such as nitrogen factor, date analysis started etc. However, apart for the information determinations this outcome should be used very sparingly as it should be possible to choose a more specific outcome. If it is thought that an analytical determination cannot be categorised other than as this outcome then this should be brought to the attention of the database administrator and either guidance will be provided or a new outcome may be created if appropriate. This outcome must not be used as a “rubbish bin”!