Maintenance and Enhancement of ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation and Whole Genome Sequencing for State Food Testing Labs

Indiana State Department of Health Maintenance and Enhancement of ISO/IEC 17025 AccreditationPI: Ryan Gentry RFA-FD-19-018 Competition AProject SummaryOne of the primary goals of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), is the establishment of anintegrated national food safety system created by the FDA in partnership with State and localauthorities. The previous FDA Cooperative Agreement ISO/IEC 17025:2005 Accreditation for State FoodTesting Laboratories provided the opportunity for states to lay the foundation for the integrated system.Indiana responded by becoming one of the first non-accredited labs to achieve accreditation during thefunding period.Continued funding through this FOA is critical to Indiana?s sustained growth towards participation in anintegrated national food safety system. Through this funding ISDH Laboratories will continue to improveour QMS, share these improvements with our peers, and maintain our ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation. It isthe goal of the ISDH Laboratories to use this funding opportunity to enhance our accreditation to coveranalysis of additional FDA regulated items and move closer to mutual reliance to assist with laboratorysurveillance for foodborne outbreaks with our FDA partners. These enhancements along withmaintenance of the current Sample Collection and Analysis Project continue to provide a broad base ofsupport for multiple programs and agencies within the State. Communication from these partners totheir agency policymakers about the importance of having laboratory findings supported by ISO/IEC17025 accreditation for regulatory actions drive continued support for accreditation at the State level.