Accredited food laboratory
Dear Al;
Is it necessary to get the accreditation for our inhouse laboratory ? we are not analysing any samples from any of our clients , just only doing the daily samples through out our production area or from the goods store area , so please advise
Hygienic
Good question for thought. If you are using the lab for finished product, water, environmental testing, etc. as COA to an end user then I would suggest your practices be accredited to ISO 17025.
If you are using an external lab for COA, then no I can't find any reason why it would be necessary.
I think the following is of interest from the ISO 17025 Handbook.
"It is not uncommon, however, for organisations with laboratories used purely for internal
Sub ISO 9001 for whatever GFSI system you are working towards.
You should at a minimum validate your results by sending replicate samples to an accredited lab to demonstrate your results are comparable.
That's what we have done for critical tests in the past I don't think the labs I've worked with were "accredited". Use proper documented testing standards and send some tests out for duplicate testing.
The above advice is good. It really depends on what the test data is used for and the requirements of any certified standards, customer requirements you operate under.
The BRC Issue 6 requirements are very interesting in this area:
“Where the company undertakes or subcontracts analyses which are critical to product safety or legality, the laboratory or subcontractors shall have gained recognised laboratory accreditation or operate in accordance with the requirements and principles of ISO 17025. Documented justification shall be available where accredited methods are not undertaken”
From my reading the standard is not completely clear. it states the laboratory (internal and external) "shall have gained recognised laboratory accreditation" for analyses critical to food safety etc. However it goes on to say "or operate in accordance with the requirements and principles of ISO 17025" the use of the term "or operate in accordance with" is not the same as "must be accredited to ISO 17015". Does the laboratory simply need to operate to the requirements and principles without accreditation? I'm not sure. Maybe the BRC are simply trying to reflect some practical and economic realities of product testing while covering themselves in the process.
One final note, if you intend to use the test data as a legal defence and the laboratory is not accredited I suspect the test results could be easily challenged by even an incompetent lawyer.
George
It seems that you are referring to a quality control laboratory in a manufacturing set-up.
No, its not necessary at all to get it "accreditated".
Accreditation are approvals of your testing competence from a regulatory body which enhances your credibility for your clients.
For your internal clients you can adopt system of ISO 17025 and need not get it accreditated from accreditation body. A properly planned internal audit + outsourcing certains sample analysis for verification purposes can monitor the efficiency of your system.
It seems that you are referring to a quality control laboratory in a manufacturing set-up.
No, its not necessary at all to get it "accreditated".
Accreditation are approvals of your testing competence from a regulatory body which enhances your credibility for your clients.
For your internal clients you can adopt system of ISO 17025 and need not get it accreditated from accreditation body. A properly planned internal audit + outsourcing certains sample analysis for verification purposes can monitor the efficiency of your system.
Dear Meena,
You may be correct but IMEX it can also depend on the product and/or location which are unfortunately here unknown.
Some products/some locations require food manufacturing premises to have approval by local regulatory bodies. Just to produce.
Some of the related authorising bodies hv started to copy the BRC-type format and require to see evidence of, for example, lab managers having taken/passed "courses" based on something "equivalent" to ISO 17025.
Life used to be so simple. Before smartphones. :smile:
Rgds / Charles.C
Thanks for the information. Not a requirement for QC labs in Indian industries (as far as I know)....only verification is a must !!
In that case one has to be "standard specific" then !
Rightly said about smartphones - This tech savvy era has taken life out of life...now we don't live...we maintain schedules and systems !! :unsure: ..the phones have become smart and the brains have become "google dependent" :biggrin: !! (just on a lighter note)