Division 1 Apparatus and reagents

Knife or scissors and tweezers for cutting specimens.

Trays marked off into 50 squares, each of which can hold samples of approximately 2 g of meat, or other tools giving equivalent guarantees as regards the traceability of the samples.

A blender with a sharp chopping blade. Where the samples are larger than 3 g, a meat mincer with openings of 2 to 4 mm or scissors must be used. In the case of frozen meat or tongue (after removal of the superficial layer, which cannot be digested), a meat mincer is necessary and the sample size will need to be increased considerably.

Magnetic stirrers with thermostatically controlled heating plate and Teflon-coated stirring rods approximately 5 cm long.

Glass beakers, capacity 3 litres.

Sieves, mesh size 180 microns, external diameter 11 cm, with stainless steel mesh.

Steel filtration apparatus for 20 μm mesh filters with a steel funnel.

Vacuum pump.

Metal or plastic tanks, capacity 10 to 15 litres, to collect the digestive juice.

A 3D gyratory rocker.

Aluminium foil.

25 % hydrochloric acid.

Pepsin, strength: 1:10 000 NF (US National Formulary) corresponding to 1:12 500 BP (British Pharmacopoeia) and to 2 000 FIP (Fédération internationale de pharmacie), or stabilised liquid pepsin with minimum 660 European Pharmacopoeia units/ml.

Tap water heated to 46 to 48 °C.

A balance accurate to 0,1 g.

Pipettes of different sizes (1, 10 and 25 ml), micropipettes according to the latex agglutination manufacturer's instructions and pipette holders.

20 microns nylon mesh filters of a diameter that fits with the filtration system.

Plastic or steel forceps of 10 to 15 cm.

Conical vials of 15 ml.

A pestle with a Teflon or steel conical tip to fit in the conical vials.

A thermometer accurate to 0,5 °C within the range 1 to 100 °C.

Latex agglutination cards of the Trichin-L antigen test kit validated under the code No EURLP_D_001/2011.

Buffer solution with preservative (sample diluent) of the Trichin-L antigen test kit validated under the code No EURLP_D_001/2011.

Buffer supplemented with preservative (negative control) of the Trichin-L antigen test kit validated under the code No EURLP_D_001/2011.

Buffer supplemented with Trichinella spiralis antigens and preservative (positive control) of the Trichin-L antigen test kit validated under the code No EURLP_D_001/2011.

Buffer with polystyrene particles coated with antibodies supplemented with preservative (latex beads) of the Trichin-L antigen test kit validated under the code No EURLP_D_001/2011.

Disposable sticks.