Accreditation
Following assessment by inspectors from the Department of Health and the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) we maintained our accredited laboratory status for scientific operations related to:
- Certification to the Environmental Management System ISO 14001:2004
- Safety testing of veterinary medicines at our Weymouth Laboratory under the Good Laboratory Practice Regulations 1999
- Radioanalytical testing on environmental samples to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 at Lowestoft
- Microbiological Food Safety to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 at our Weymouth Laboratory.
- Fish Health Service to ISO to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 at our Weymouth Laboratory
- Aquatic Health and Hygiene Inspection Service to ISO/IEC 17020:1998
- Applied Technology Certification to EN ISO 9001:2000
- Cefas is also committed to the continual improvement of the quality of its science and complies with the Joint Code of Practice sponsored by Defra, the Food Standards Agency (FSA), BBSRC and NERC.
- EU Directive 91/492 (laying down the health conditions for the production and the placing on the market of live bivalve molluscs) requires laboratory testing of bivalve molluscs as part of a package of food safety measures. The European Council adopted a Decision (1999/313/EC) which establishes a framework for a network of Reference Laboratories for monitoring bacteriological and viral contamination of bivalve molluscs. The framework includes a Community Reference Laboratory (CRL) with a National Reference Laboratory (NRL) in each member state. Further information may be found on the following websites. The Cefas Weymouth Laboratory has been designated as the both the European Community Reference Laboratory and the UK National Reference Laboratory for monitoring bacteriological and viral contamination of bivalve molluscs.
In progress:
- Cefas is committed to improving quality and is currently working towards accreditation to ISO 17025:2005 for both phytoplankton analysis and chemical analysis. Certification to MCERTS for DTA methods at the Burnham Laboratory. In addition, the scope of the existing accreditations and certifications are also being expanded.
