Iso 17025 Accreditation Maintenance and Sample Collection and Analysis Project For The Nebraska Department of Agriculture Food Laboratory

RFA-FD-17-010: Maintenance and Enhancement of ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation andWhole Genome Sequencing for State Food Testing LaboratoriesCompetition A: ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation Maintenance and EnhancementProject Summary: Maintenance of ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation for the NebraskaDepartment of Agriculture Food LaboratoryAward Years: 2017-18 and 2018-19The Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) Food Laboratory earned accreditation to ISO17025 in November 2015 so that all food testing data are internationally recognized as legallydefensible. One of our current missions is to maintain this accreditation. As the only state foodtesting laboratory in Nebraska, the NDA Food Lab supports the statutory mission of the NDAFood Safety & Consumer Protection (FSCP) program. These two state programs rely on eachother to improve public health in the State of Nebraska and to actively participate in building theNational Integrated Food Safety System. These ties will be strengthened by the FDA SampleCollection and Analysis Project. The NDA Food Lab will use standard methods under anaccredited 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 bothNDA FSCP and eLEXNET. The eLEXNET database supports the FDA's mission to protectpublic health as outlined by the Food Safety Modernization Act.The NDA Food Lab has the personnel, expertise, and physical laboratory capacity to participatein the National Integrated Food Safety System. Also, the NDA Food Laboratory has been anactive FERN laboratory since September 2005 and continues to participate in surveillanceprojects and multi-laboratory validation studies. There are three chemists, who will performmicrobiological food analyses for the Sample Collection and Analysis Project, and a QAManager, who will continue oversight of the Quality Management System in order to maintainISO 17025 accreditation. Lab personnel will travel to annual face-to-face conferences andattend 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 thepreventive 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. Thesampling contract between the NDA Food Lab and FSCP will be revised in the upcoming projectyear to include the collection and analysis of at least 75 food surveillance samples. Thesesamples will be gathered in addition to routine samples and food samples implicated infoodborne outbreaks. This new sample collection program is viewed as a means of elevatingcommunication and collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies because futureadvances in food safety for public health lie in the prevention of illness rather than reaction to it.