New food certification body in operation

A NEW regional certification body is now available to Caribbean exporters of food products through the accreditation of TSL Certification Services International Limited (TSL-CSI), an affiliate of Jamaican science-based services company, Technological Solutions Limited (TSL).

ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) on July 29, 2021, granted accreditation to TSL CSI making it the only private sector Food Safety and Quality Systems certification body in the Central American and Caribbean region that is accredited to grant Safe Quality Food (SQF) certifi cation, a September 1 release states.

This comprehensive certification system addresses food safety and quality management.

The Safe Quality Food Institute indicated that the pedigree of TSL-CSI affiliate, TSL, its accomplishments and its years of service to the regional productive sector were important factors in agreeing to grant an exclusive licence to TSLCSI for SQF Certification in the region.

“This designation allows us to grant Safe Quality Food (SQF) certifi cation to companies operating in food and ingredient, food packaging, dietary supplements, animal feed and pet food manufacturing, as well as consumer products packaging, storage, distribution, transportation, logistics, catering operations, farming and agricultural packing houses,” noted Lisa Grant, TSL-CSI’s Executive Director. The Safe Quality Food (SQF) Program is a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)-benchmarked food safety standard based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP).

ANSI (The American National Standards Institute), located in Washington D.C., is a founding member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

“ANSI standards have crucial value to the programmes used in a variety of industries world-wide. Although consumers are not always familiar with ANSI standards, they protect products, the environment and people’s health and safety,”Grant added. Certification bodies accredited by ANSI are accepted world-wide as credible for certifying food safety and quality-based systems.

The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) is a non-governmental organization that provides accreditation services and training to public and private-sector organizations, serving the global marketplace. It is the largest multidisciplinary accreditation body in the western hemisphere, with more than 2,500 organizations accredited in approximately 80 countries. ANAB facilitates international trade by providing accreditation and training and serving as architects for the conformity assessment structure of industry- specific programs.

It is a signatory of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC) multilateral recognition arrangements. This makes TSL CSI’s status as the only ANAB-accredited private sector certification body in the Caribbean.