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TBS food and microbiology lab secures SA accreditation
2007-12-18 09:39:56
By Patrick Kisembo
The government has said that small and medium enterprises` ability to lead in the industrialisation process in the country is constrained by their inexperience in industrial and commercial quality management.
The remarks were made yesterday by chairman of the National Task Force on Accreditation (NTFA), Januarius Mrema, at the presentation of an accreditation certificate for the Tanzania Bureau of Standards Food and Microbiology laboratory in Dar es Salaam.
Mrema, who represented the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Marketing, said the situation emanated from the transformation of the Tanzanian economy from public-sector-driven to private-sector-led economy.
``These constraints emanate from lack of knowledge on standardisation, quality assurance, accreditation, metrology and testing and, in particular, in proficiency testing and inter-laboratory comparisons,`` said Mrema.
He said exporters were constantly facing difficulties in achieving access to markets due to failure to meet requirements to have their products tested and assessed in the importing countries to ensure that they meet requirements.
``Efforts have been made through NTFA to train laboratory staff to understand the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 as impetus towards developing their laboratory quality system,`` he said.
TBS Acting Director Leandry Kinabo said the accreditation certificate granted to Tanzania by the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) was a great achievement for TBS and the country as a whole.
SANAS chief executive officer Mike Peet awarded the TBS an accredited certificate on food microbiology laboratory.
Kinabo said accreditation of laboratories was a powerful mechanism for international recognition of laboratory test/ calibration reports.
``TBS has been using their own criteria for ascertaining the suitability of equipment and testing procedures without subjecting the equipments and procedures to international accreditation for a very long time,`` said Kinabo.
He said the weakness has had implication on Tanzania exports and Tanzanian international recognition of her standards.
The TBS food microbiology laboratory has been accredited by an authoritative body, the SANAS as recognition for the technical competency of the Food Micro biology laboratory in Tanzania.
The laboratory has been accredited in the fields of sea food and sea food products like fish, prawns, octopus, and shrimps.
It has also been accredited in areas of water, specifically raw water, treated water and bottled water.
Accreditation is a formal confirmation by a recognized independent third party that a laboratory is competent to perform certain tasks.
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