ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) Accredits Auditing Operation Services to Certify Foreign Food Supplies under U.S. FDA-FSMA Program

The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American National Standards Institute, has accredited JS Regulatory Ag Services, Inc. d.b.a. Auditing Operation Services (AOS) in accordance with the international standard, ISO/IEC 17065, and pertinent certification scheme requirements and regulations under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA.

AOS 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.

“ANAB is pleased to announce AOS’s accreditation under the FDA’s accredited third-party certification program of the FSMA, assuring food safety practices meet essential requirements throughout the supply chain,” said Lane Hallenbeck, ANAB Executive Director.

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 ANAB to assess the competence of food safety product certification bodies according to ISO/IEC 17065, Conformity assessment—Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes, and services, or ISO/IEC 17021-1, Conformity Assessment — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems, and FDA regulations. The goal is to create a food safety system that supports risk-based preventive controls—rather than reacting to contagions that have already occurred. ANAB is also recognized by the FDA, in the FSMA program, as an accreditor of management systems certification bodies under ISO/IEC 17021-1.

ANAB Accreditation Programs for Food Safety
Through its product certification accreditation program, the ANSI National Accreditation Board currently accredits 38 certification bodies that operate under a number of certification schemes dedicated to assuring food safety, in accordance with ISO/IEC 17065.

Laws in California, Illinois, Arizona, West Virginia, Texas, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Georgia, as well as some local jurisdictions, require food handlers within their limits to have a food-handling training certificate from an ANAB-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 ANAB accredits under the Conference for Food Protection’s Standard for Accreditation of Protection Manager Certification Programs.

Management systems certification bodies can gain ANAB accreditation based on ISO/IEC 17021-1 to offer certification for ISO 22000, which specifies requirements for a food safety management system that combines interactive communication, system management, prerequisite programs, and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles to ensure food safety along the food chain. ANAB also offers accreditation for FSSC 22000, a Global Food Safety Initiative-benchmarked food safety management systems certification scheme.

About ANAB
The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), a wholly owned subsidiary of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), 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.  

About ANSI
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance both the global competitiveness U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems, and safeguarding their integrity. Its membership is comprised of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations.

The Institute represents and serves 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). For more information, visit www.ansi.org.