1. ACCREDITATION IN FOOD SECTOR Emerging Scenario
Anil Jauhri
Director (NABCB)
QUALITY COUNCIL OF INDIA
New Delhi

2. INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO
International trade governed by WTO agreements
Rules for Standards and Conformity laid down in TBT/SPS agreements
Regulations on health and safety grounds – Food sector highly regulated – standards enforced by law – product requirements, system approach – GMP/GHP/HACCP
Voluntary regime – ISO 9000/22000, number of retail driven initiatives in Europe/USA – BRC, IFS, SQF, GFSI etc
Indian food industry to prepare for both

3. IMPLICATIONS
Common to both regimes - Requirements (Regulations/standards) prescribed –to be complied with – need for checking compliance
Checking compliance to prescribed standards – conformity assessment – inspection, testing, certification
Confidence in conformity assessment
International acceptability for facilitating trade - Need for recognition of inspection/testing/ certification across borders
Accomplished through accreditation

4. WTO AGREEMENTS
SPS Agreement - Equivalence-allows use of different standards & different inspection methods for same level of protection-encourages members to enter into bilateral/multilateral recognition agreements (Article 4)
TBT Agreement - Mutual recognition of conformity assessment in other countries – Accreditation (Article 6)

5. PROVISION IN TBT AGREEMENT
“Members shall ensure, whenever possible, that results of conformity assessment procedures in other Members are accepted…adequate and enduring technical competence of the relevant conformity assessment bodies in the exporting Member, so that confidence in the continued reliability of their conformity assessment results can exist; in this regard, verified compliance, for instance through accreditation, with relevant guides or recommendations issued by international standardizing bodies shall be taken into account as an indication of adequate technical competence”
Article 6

6. ACCREDITATION
Third-party attestation related to a conformity assessment body conveying formal demonstration of its competence to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks – ISO 17000
Conformity assessment bodies – Certification bodies/ Inspection bodies/Labs
QCI – responsible for national accreditation structure
International Accreditation Forum (IAF) – Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) - NABCB member from India
International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) – Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) - NABL member from India
Basis of accreditation – generally international standards on conformity assessment developed by ISO/ IAF or ILAC guidance documents

7. ACCREDITATION STANDARDS
ISO CASCO - ISO's policy development committee on conformity assessment
ISO Requirements for Management Systems CBs
ISO Requirements for CBs for FSMS - basis for operation of CBs as well as their accreditation – cross refers to ISO 17021
ISO Requirements for Testing labs
ISO Guide 65 Requirements for Product CBs – covers Products, Process or Service certification
ISO Requirements for Inspection Bodies

8. CODEX STANDARDS
Codex Committee on Food Inspection & Certification (CCFICS)
CAC/GL 20 Principles for Food Import and Export Certification and Inspection
CAC/GL 26 Design, Operation, Assessment and Accreditation of Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems
CAC/GL 27 Guidelines for the Assessment of the Competence of Testing Laboratories Involved in the Import and Export Control of Foods
CAC/GL 28 Food Control Laboratory Management: Recommendations
CAC/GL 34 Judgement of Equivalence Agreements Regarding Food Imports and Export Inspection and Certification Systems
New subject – National Food Control Systems

9. EMERGING REGIME
Regulatory regime – Regulatory bodies increasingly seeking accredited CABs – more prevalent in non-food sectors – growing in food - e.g. HACCP accreditation in Australia on Victorian Meat Authority’s request in 1997 – UK DEFRA to use accredited micro labs
Voluntary standards – market driven - ISO 9001, ISO generally retail industry driven – Globalgap, GFSI, SQF – prescribe accreditation to international standards as requirement for CBs and Labs
EC Regulation – legislation on accreditation in July 2008 – wef 1 Jan 2010 – single national accreditation body – impact worldwide

10. Emerging Structure Government
(to enact legislation)
Regulatory Bodies – may be sector specific like Food, Drugs
(to enforce the law)
Accreditation Body
(technical competence of CABs)
Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs)
(support regulation – voluntary certification/quality assurance)
Manufacturers and Service providers
Common man – recipient of goods and services

11. INDIAN SCENARIO Integrated food law – FSSA, 2006
Prescribes NABL accreditation for food labs (Section 43)
Provision for food safety audit agencies (Section 44)
To use NABCB accredited bodies for MMPO
Cognizance of voluntary certification – draft licensing rules
QCI framing regulations for notifying testing/ referral labs - recognizing certification/ inspection bodies based on accreditation
Voluntary initiatives – CWG initiative for eateries – NABCB accredited certification bodies – currently 3 CBs approved

12. INDIAN SCENARIO(contd)
Financial assistance
DCSSI – subsidy for ISO 9000/14000/ NABCB accreditation;
APEDA – CBs for HACCP to be NABCB accredited for ISO 22000
MFPI – financial assistance for HACCP implementation – NABCB accredited certification
Others
UNWFP – suppliers to have ISO certificate from NABCB accredited CBs

13. ABOUT QCI
Established in 1997 by a Cabinet decision – in partnership with CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM
Autonomous body – regd as society - Chairman appointed by PM (Ratan Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Dr. R.A.Mashelkar)
Provide accreditation structure in the country
Spread quality movement in India – assigned National Quality Campaign funded by Govt
Provide right and unbiased information on quality & related standards
Represent India’s interest in international fora
Help establish brand equity of Indian products and services

14. STRUCTURE OF QCI
National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) – inspection/certification bodies
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) – currently society under DST – testing/calibration/medical labs
National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET) – auditors/consultants/training programmes
National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare providers (NABH) – hospitals, blood banks,
National Board for Quality Promotion (NBQP)
Quality Information and Enquiry Service

15. INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
Accreditation Bodies to comply with ISO – Peer Assessment – signatory to MRAs
NABCB - Signed PAC MLA for QMS – Aug 2002;IAF MLA for QMS – Sept Signed PAC MLA for EMS – July IAF MLA for EMS – Oct 2007
NABCB accreditation equivalent worldwide and certificates with NABCB logo acceptable internationally
No equivalence yet in FSMS/HACCP certification
NABL – signatory to ILAC/APLAC MRAs for Testing and Calibration Labs since 2000; APLAC MRA for medical labs Dec 2008
Sum up – India has world class accreditation infrastructure

16. BENEFITS OF ACCREDITATION
Recognition of certification/inspection/ testing by Indian conformity assessment bodies in other countries – NABCB signatory to IAF MLA on QMS certification – NABL signatory to ILAC MLA – certificates/test reports issued by accredited CABs accepted worldwide
Reduces risk for government, business and customers - ensures through regular surveillance that Conformity assessment bodies are both independent and competent – ensure AB logo on your certificates
Lower cost of accreditation – in turn lower cost of certification/inspection/testing for industry – enhances competitiveness

17. INFORMATION ON ACCREDITATION
Quality Council of India
2nd Floor, Institution of Engineers Building 2, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg New Delhi INDIA
Tel : /9260/0567/8057
Fax:
Website :

18. Thank You .