ISO 17025 Accreditation Maintenance and Sample Collection and Analysis Project for the Nebraska Department of Agriculture Food Laboratory

Nebraska St Department Of Agriculture, Lincoln NE

Investigators

Abstract

RFA-FD-17-010: Maintenance and Enhancement of ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation and Whole Genome Sequencing for State Food Testing Laboratories Competition A: ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation Maintenance and Enhancement Project Summary: Maintenance of ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation for the Nebraska Department of Agriculture Food Laboratory Award Years: 2017-18 and 2018-19 The Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) Food Laboratory earned accreditation to ISO 17025 in November 2015 so that all food testing data are internationally recognized as legally defensible. One of our current missions is to maintain this accreditation. As the only state food testing laboratory in Nebraska, the NDA Food Lab supports the statutory mission of the NDA Food Safety & Consumer Protection (FSCP) program. These two state programs rely on each other to improve public health in the State of Nebraska and to actively participate in building the National Integrated Food Safety System. These ties will be strengthened by the FDA Sample Collection and Analysis Project. The NDA Food Lab will use standard methods under an accredited Quality Management System to examine at least 75 food surveillance samples. These samples will be collected by NDA FSCP Sanitarians and the test results reported to both NDA FSCP and eLEXNET. The eLEXNET database supports the FDA's mission to protect public health as outlined by the Food Safety Modernization Act. The NDA Food Lab has the personnel, expertise, and physical laboratory capacity to participate in the National Integrated Food Safety System. Also, the NDA Food Laboratory has been an active FERN laboratory since September 2005 and continues to participate in surveillance projects and multi-laboratory validation studies. There are three chemists, who will perform microbiological food analyses for the Sample Collection and Analysis Project, and a QA Manager, who will continue oversight of the Quality Management System in order to maintain ISO 17025 accreditation. Lab personnel will travel to annual face-to-face conferences and attend off-site training to learn about upcoming revisions to the ISO/IEC 17025 standards. Further, the NDA Food Lab will continue the annual renewal of service agreements for the preventive maintenance and/or calibration of lab equipment. The NDA FSCP has been enrolled in Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) since 2012 and has a current human food safety inspection contract with FDA. The sampling contract between the NDA Food Lab and FSCP will be revised in the upcoming project year to include the collection and analysis of at least 75 food surveillance samples. These samples will be gathered in addition to routine samples and food samples implicated in foodborne outbreaks. This new sample collection program is viewed as a means of elevating communication and collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies because future advances in food safety for public health lie in the prevention of illness rather than reaction to it.