EC asks fish quality control labs to acquire ISO accreditation by next month
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Doulot Akter Mala
A European Commission (EC) inspection team of food and veterinary office (FVO) has found none of the major fish inspection and quality control (FIQC) laboratories in Bangladesh is internationally accredited.
Setting target December 2008 for achieving the ISO accreditation, the EC mission said: "According to the competent authority (CA), arrangements are already in place to gain ISO accreditation for the FIQC laboratories under the umbrella of an EU-funded UNIDO-delivered project on strengthening FIQC activities."
The EU mission noted this in an inspection report after visiting the country's fish processing laboratories in October.
The FVO of EC has forwarded 13 queries to the department of fisheries regarding ensuring standard laboratory facilities for testing.
The government last week sent a reply to the FVO assuring it to take immediate steps to resolve those shortcomings.
The commission found that three government laboratories -- FIQC, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) and Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) -- involved in testing as per revised 2007 plan submitted to the EC in July 2007.
The mission team noted manpower shortage in FIQC laboratory in Dhaka to operate antibiotic detecting machine LC-MS-MS.
The two-member team of the EU has witnessed lack of coordination between the central and the regional authorities engaged for ensuring quality standards of fish products.
The team members, John MC Evoy and Raj Patel, have found that lack of coordination exists among the government's entities based in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna.
The team, which arrived in the country on October 16, also found inconsistencies between aquaculture laboratories and drug and veterinary administration.
They reviewed some basic quality control steps in the laboratory and found lack of temperature control of fridges and freezers and procedural complexities to test samples.
"The equipment for detection of HPLC with both UV-Vis and fluorescence installed in 2003 has never been operational in the FIQC," they noted in the observation report.
A European Commission (EC) inspection team of food and veterinary office (FVO) has found none of the major fish inspection and quality control (FIQC) laboratories in Bangladesh is internationally accredited.
Setting target December 2008 for achieving the ISO accreditation, the EC mission said: "According to the competent authority (CA), arrangements are already in place to gain ISO accreditation for the FIQC laboratories under the umbrella of an EU-funded UNIDO-delivered project on strengthening FIQC activities."
The EU mission noted this in an inspection report after visiting the country's fish processing laboratories in October.
The FVO of EC has forwarded 13 queries to the department of fisheries regarding ensuring standard laboratory facilities for testing.
The government last week sent a reply to the FVO assuring it to take immediate steps to resolve those shortcomings.
The commission found that three government laboratories -- FIQC, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) and Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) -- involved in testing as per revised 2007 plan submitted to the EC in July 2007.
The mission team noted manpower shortage in FIQC laboratory in Dhaka to operate antibiotic detecting machine LC-MS-MS.
The two-member team of the EU has witnessed lack of coordination between the central and the regional authorities engaged for ensuring quality standards of fish products.
The team members, John MC Evoy and Raj Patel, have found that lack of coordination exists among the government's entities based in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna.
The team, which arrived in the country on October 16, also found inconsistencies between aquaculture laboratories and drug and veterinary administration.
They reviewed some basic quality control steps in the laboratory and found lack of temperature control of fridges and freezers and procedural complexities to test samples.
"The equipment for detection of HPLC with both UV-Vis and fluorescence installed in 2003 has never been operational in the FIQC," they noted in the observation report.