ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) Accredits Global Standards S.C. (GSSC) to Certify Foreign Food Supplies under U.S. FDA-FSMA Program

NEW YORK, Sept. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American National Standards Institute, has accredited Global Standards S.C. (GSSC) in accordance with the international standard, ISO/IEC 17065, Conformity assessment—Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes, and services, and pertinent certification scheme requirements and regulations under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA.

GSSC is accredited to conduct food safety certification for the following programs: a) 21 CFR Chapter 1, Subchapter A Part 1, Subpart M - Third-Party Accreditation (TPA) Final Rule; and (b) Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals.

The FSMA empowers the FDA to take proactive steps to prevent the sale, distribution, and consumption of tainted food products by recognizing accreditation bodies such as the ANSI National Accreditation Board to assess the competence of food safety product certification bodies according to ISO/IEC 17065 and FDA regulations. The goal is to create a food safety system that supports the prevention of contamination—rather than reacting to contagions that have already occurred.

"We're happy to announce GSSC's accreditation under the FDA's accredited third-party certification program of the FSMA," said Lane Hallenbeck, executive director of the ANSI National Accreditation Board. "This is accreditation reflects another step to ensure food safety practices meet essential requirements on a universal level throughout the supply chain."

The ANSI National Accreditation Board Accreditation for Food Safety
Through its product certification accreditation program, the ANSI National Accreditation Board  currently accredits 36 certification bodies that operate under a number of certification schemes dedicated to assure food safety, in accordance with ISO/IEC 17065, General requirements for bodies operating product certification systems. The ANSI National Accreditation Board is also recognized by the FDA, in the FSMA program, as an accreditor of management systems certification bodies under ISO/IEC 17021-1, Conformity Assessment -- Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems.

Laws in California, Illinois, Arizona, West Virginia, Texas, and New Mexico, as well as some local jurisdictions, require food handlers within their limits to have a food-handling training certificate from an ANSI National Accreditation Board-accredited certificate program, demonstrating compliance with ASTM E2659, Standard Practice for Certificate Programs, an American National Standard (ANS). Twenty-six states have adopted food-protection manager certification requirements, which the ANSI National Board accredits under the Conference for Food Protection's Standard for Accreditation of Protection Manager Certification Programs.

Read more about ANSI National Accreditation Board for Food Safety, and watch a brief video to learn how the ANSI National Accreditation Board provides food safety assurance.

For more information, contact Reinaldo Figueiredo, senior program director, product/process/services accreditation programs ([email protected]).

About ANSI
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) coordinates the U.S. voluntary standards and conformity assessment system, serving the diverse interests of more than 270,000 companies and organizations and 30 million professionals worldwide. ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

About ANAB
The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) is the largest multi-disciplinary ISO/IEC 17011 accreditation body in North America, with comprehensive signatory status across the multilateral recognition arrangements of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). The ANAB accreditation portfolio includes management systems certification bodies, calibration and testing labs, product certification bodies, personnel credentialing organizations, forensic test and calibration service providers, inspection bodies, police crime units, greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies, reference material producers, and proficiency test providers.  

SOURCE American National Standards Institute