All laboratories must be accredited by the end of 2005 to achieve uniform quality standards throughout the industry, according to the new chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).
Ms Ann Westby made her appeal today at the first FSAI international laboratory conference held in Ireland. She said laboratories dealing with the FSAI must be accredited to the international standard, the ISO 17025.
"It is important that laboratories are resourced sufficiently to achieve the highest standards of operation and I am urging all laboratories to be fully accredited by 2005 when the next round or service contracts are agreed with the FSAI," Ms Westby said.
Ms Westby told the conference that over 63,000 samples of food are analysed in offical laboratories every year in an effort to reduce the incidence of food-borne illness.
She said: "While a lot had been done to date to develop food laboratory structures in Ireland, there is still a lot more areas that require development and investment to achieve an optimum level of efficiency and effectiveness."
"Industry has a clear legal responsibility to place safe foods on the market and those found in breach will feel the force of the full arm of the law and the consequential penalties," Ms Westby concluded.
The FSAI also unveiled their first edition of a Laboratory Guide, which provides an overview of each of the food laboratories working under service contract to them. The guide details the main areas of each organisation's work and the type of analysis done.