Page 58 - 40th Summit Brochure 2020

ACCREDITATION: IMPROVING FOOD SAFETY

Accreditation: Improving food safety is the theme for accredited certification in Australia
2020 World Accreditation Day which was celebrated through the PrimeSafe scheme for
worldwide on 9 June 2020. This theme highlights the meat and seafood supply; to the
role of accreditation in improving food safety. European Union using the
Accreditation has a crystal-clear objective: it aims to accreditation of laboratories to support
assure businesses, end users and regulators that a food security in Europe; to accredited
conformity assessment body (CAB), such as a testing, inspection to help commercial catering
calibration or medical laboratory, certification or establishments deliver safer food in
inspection body, has the required technical France.
competence and operates impartially. This
competence is assessed by accreditation bodies World Accreditation Day 2020 whose
against international standards and requirements. theme is Accreditation Improving Food
Safety, sets out to illustrate how in just
Simply applied to food, accreditation helps improve the one area, food safety, accreditation
food safety. Building on World Accreditation Day contributes to the Sustainable
2019 which highlighted the role of accreditation in Development Goals, in particular SDG
adding value to supply chains, the 2020 World 3 of Good Health and Well-Being.
Accreditation Day spotlights accreditation’s role in World Accreditation Day 2020 comes
improving food safety. It does this across the whole just two days after the second ever
of the food supply chain from farm to fork, through World Food Safety Day which aims to
food production, processing and packaging, storage highlight the need for safe food 55
and transportation, to retail and catering, helping https://www.who.int/news-room/initiatives/world-
build layers of assurance in the supply chain. food-safety-day-2020. Through accreditation bodies
and subsequently accredited certification bodies,
Accreditation bodies assess CABs in a variety of inspection bodies and laboratories, the conformity
different key functions, assessing them against assessment community continuously strives to help
standards which have been developed by the global deliver safer food.
community through the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) and International Electro World Accreditation Day 2020 enables the
technical Commission (IEC). These standards cover International Accreditation Forum (www.iaf.nu), the
functions such as inspection, certification and testing. International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation
With inspection bodies, certification bodies and (www.ilac.org) and their members to highlight how
laboratories accredited to these standards, they have accreditation is improving food safety. IAF and ILAC
been independently checked as being able to deliver provide a range of information to explain
competent and impartial inspection, certification and accreditation’s role in improving food safety,
testing services in all parts of local, national and including further illustrations of its use
international food chains. https://publicsectorassurance.org/topic-areas/food-
safety-agriculture/
In April 2019, a Joint Statement issued by the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), The Southern African Development Community
the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Accreditation Service (SADCAS) services the
Trade Organisation (WTO), highlighted the toll on accreditation needs of 14 SADC Member States
humans of foodborne diseases. Accreditation aims to namely: Angola; Botswana; Comoros; Democratic
help support the reduction of these incidences through Republic of Congo (DRC); Eswatini; Lesotho;
enhancing the performance of organizations in the Madagascar; Malawi; Mozambique; Namibia;
food supply chain. Accreditation is used across the Seychelles; Tanzania; Zambia; and Zimbabwe.
globe to help meet this goal: from the use of

For more informa!on please visit the SADCAS website www.sadcas.org
OR Contact
The Na!onal Accredita!on Focal Point in your country