Lab Services, University of Guelph

Laboratory Services, University of Guelph is an ISO 17025 accredited test laboratory recognized by the Standards Council of Canada. Furthermore, the quality management system is also ISO 9000 registered. The laboratory offers a full range of agriculture and food testing services.

Lab Services has been the primary plum pox virus test lab in Canada since the summer of 2001. The volume of samples since that time has exceeded 2,000,000. Last summer alone marked a monumental 950,000 samples tested. This was accomplished through the dedicated technicians and students that work on a team that has become known as Team Sharka.

Plum Pox Virus

Plum pox virus (or sharka) is an organism that causes blemishes on stone fruit (such as plums, peaches, and nectarines). Fruit tends to be less sweet and the virus causes fruit to drop prematurely from trees.