Pressure is growing to require accreditation of US food testing labs. The FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act could require such accreditation, but a proposal addressing the issue has yet to be released. The US has around 25,000 food testing labs, including 5,000 third-party labs, but less than 5% are accredited. Accreditation organizations and some food industry representatives advocate accreditation, stating that it makes good business sense. Others argue that cost is prohibitive as accreditation can cost a lab between $7,000 and $15,000, in addition to the costs of preparation and reaccreditation. Reinaldo Figueiredo, program director for product certification accreditation at the American National Standards Institute, expects that, regardless of FDA policy, more labs will seek accreditation in order to accommodate industry demands.

Source: foodsafetynews.com