food safety
ISO / IEC 17025:2005 accreditation in laboratories across the US
Public Health Laboratories Gear Up for Accreditation by Robyn Pyle, MS, specialist, Food Safety
When the Food Safety Modernization Act( FSMA) was enacted in 2011, the Food and Drug Administration( FDA) was charged with improving public health protection and strengthening an integrated food safety system. Achieving a level of standardization in laboratories across the country allows for the seamless acceptance and use of laboratory data across federal, state and local jurisdictions.
ISO / IEC 17025:2005 accreditation helps provide that national level of standardization, which is why FDA has invested millions of dollars into cooperative agreement programs aimed to help food and feed laboratories across the country achieve ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation. In 2012, FDA awarded 5-year cooperative agreements( ISO CAP) to 31 laboratories that perform testing for regulatory programs participating in the Manufactured Food Retail Programs Standards( MFRPS) program to achieve( 23 laboratories at $ 300,000 each), maintain and / or enhance( eight laboratories at $ 150,000 each) their ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation. In 2015, FDA awarded funding to an additional six food laboratories, as well as 20 animal feed laboratories that perform testing for regulatory programs participating in the Animal Food Regulatory Program Standards( AFRPS) program. These laboratories plan to achieve or expand their accreditation by 2020.
Through a cooperative agreement with FDA, APHL partnered with the Association of American Feed Control Officials( AAFCO) and the Association of Food and Drug Officials( AFDO) to create resources for all laboratories to use on their accreditation journeys. These include a document repository that houses sample documents and templates that laboratories can use to comply with the ISO standard, and a members-only discussion board for open discussion of issues laboratories are facing. APHL’ s Accreditation Trainings website offers a current list of the ISO 17025 trainings available, as well as a list of archived webinars that include topics such as measurement of uncertainty, control charting and trend analysis, and document and record control. The associations provide this support for all laboratories working towards achieving ISO accreditation.
Several food and feed laboratories have achieved accreditation without the ISO CAP funding. Marion County Public Health Department Laboratory first became accredited back in 2005. Montana Department of Agriculture was accredited by another institution and used knowledge and paperwork from that process to become ISO / IEC 17025 accredited within 10 months. Arizona State Public Health Laboratory became accredited in 2015, utilizing the knowledge and experiences of other laboratories to help in their ISO journey. With the first round of cooperative agreements ending in 2017, laboratories
APHL offers consultation services with an ISO / IEC 17025:2005 subject matter expert to help laboratories like Arizona achieve accreditation without dedicated federal funding.
across the country are preparing for their accreditation assessments in the coming months. Several states have already achieved their accreditation goals. Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Nebraska Department of Agriculture, State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa, Kansas Department of Agriculture, Indiana Department of Health, South Carolina Department of Health and Environment, Massachusetts State Public Health Laboratory, Texas Department of Health Services and Rhode Island State Health Laboratory have either achieved accreditation for the first time or expanded their scope of accreditation. The remaining laboratories are on track to become accredited by August 2017.
The landscape of laboratory accreditation is expanding as laboratorians, regulators and legislators realize the value and importance of ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation. A reliable and capable laboratory network will advance public health protection and greatly improve the safety of the United States food supply.
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Summer 2016 LAB MATTERS 15 |