Bangladesh has got approval from two major international certification agencies, helping the country's mostly food products enter 100 countries without further tests.
Officials concerned and businesses Monday said the recognition from the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) will help widen the country's export basket and increase foreign exchange earnings.
This was disclosed at a meeting of Bangladesh Food Safety Laboratory Network (BFSLN), held at the industries ministry.
The meeting was organised by the Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB), aiming to form a national laboratory conclave in the country. The meeting was told that the BAB got recognition from the ILAC and APLAC early this year.
The discussants said inter laboratory coordination in the country is inevitable to further upgrade the national quality infrastructure.
They said upgradation of the infrastructure will help enhance exports by removing technical barriers to trade.
Director General of the board Md Abu Abdullah said after achieving regional recognition, the board was accredited by ILAC in March this year. It also got approval from strategically important regional agency like APLAC in January this year.
He said the BAB-certified products can now enter more than 100 countries and 131 laboratories under the two agencies will recognise Bangladesh authority's certification.
Mr Abdullah said American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA), National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) USA, United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), Dubai Accreditation Department (DAC), United Arab Emirates, Japan Accreditation Board (JAB), Japan are members of ILAC.
NATA Australia, AAC Analitica Russian Federation, HKAS Hong Kong (China) are the members of APLAC, he said.
He said local businesses will have to work with the BAB to enhance export of the country and to ensure safe food for local consumers.
Mr Abdulla expressed his optimism that within July they will form a national laboratory platform to ensure modern lab facilities for all.
He identified man, machine and method as key pillars of modern testing or compliance process.
Director of the newly formed Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) Mazeda Begum said the internal coordination among the laboratories of public and private sector is needed to ensure standards of inspection or testing.
She said laboratories should be categorised and one lab should not do all kinds of testing.
Prof Nazrul Islam, of the department of chemistry at Dhaka University (DU), said the students of the universities should be allowed to get access to sophisticated laboratory equipment to develop their expertise.
He, however, said the trained and expert academicians, students and professionals are migrating abroad, while global companies are attracting them with higher remuneration.
The government will have to take steps so that laboratory experts do not migrate on a large scale, he said.
Prof Md Altab Uddin of Department of Genetic Engineering in DU, Fish Inspection and Quality Control Officer at the Department of Fisheries Md Serajul Islam, seniour scientific officer at Bangladesh Atomic Energy Centre Tasrina Rabia Chowdhury, FAO national advisor Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury, FAO consultant Prof Dr Md Kamrul Hassan among others also spoke on the occasion.
Meanwhile, Mr Abdullah, of BAB, announced the programme on the upcoming World Accreditation Day 2015 themed on 'supporting the delivery of health and social care'. The Day will be observed on June 9.
tonmoy.wardad@gmail.com
