Changes to Accreditation of Non-Federal Analytical Testing Laboratories

FSIS is revising the regulations prescribing the statistical methods used in measuring the performance of chemistry laboratories in its voluntary Accredited Laboratory Program (ALP) and expanding the scope of accreditations offered by the program. Currently, participants in the ALP are accredited for the analysis of food chemistry (moisture, protein, fat, and salt), specific chemical residues, and classes of chemical residues. FSIS also is providing for the ALP to accredit non- Federal laboratories for microbiological indicator organisms and pathogen testing. FSIS is changing the statistical method the ALP uses to evaluate laboratory proficiency testing (PT). Additionally, FSIS is making various minor edits and changes to the regulation for the sake of clarity and to incorporate all sample types under the jurisdiction of FSIS.