Nigeria has passed prescribed tests of International Standard Organisation (ISO) accreditation and has gotten certification to carry out quality assessment to ensure that crops being exported are free from insect infestations, moulds and chemical contaminants.
This was disclosed yesterday by the executive director of Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), Patricia Pessu in Abuja.
With this development, Nigeria can now boast of a laboratory where analysis can be done with quality assurance to ascertain credible, reproducible, robust, and globally accepted results on food produce where food exports from the country certified to have successfully passed NSPRI’s quality assurance tests will face less risks of rejection in global export markets.
Presenting the ISO certificate to the minister of state for agriculture and rural development, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, Dr Passu noted that NSPRI can now reconnect with contributions to food quality and safety of food in Nigeria, adding that accreditation process for other laboratories in Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt zonal offices has commenced.
She said, “Today we are here to share the joy of the accreditation of our laboratory at the headquarters, Ilorin as an ISO certified laboratory (ISO 17025:2017)… with this we seek to ensure that farmers and agripreneurs can access our laboratories and services with increasing convenience, regardless of wherever they are located in the country.
The institute is now on the global map of food analysis which will further increase our reach and impact, also local food exporters will also face fewer challenges at the Nigerian ports with proving the quality of their food exports as NSPRI’s food quality certification is globally-recognised”.
Receiving the certificate, Hon Shehuri said that the will be useful for various testing procedures, sampling, and calibration to instIll confidence in the research output.
He added that the accreditation was a proof that the ministry now has a laboratory that is acceptable for quality management system in place with the ability and competence to provide testing and calibration results.
