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New Zealand perspective on ISO 17025 accreditation of a plant diagnostic laboratory 1
Author(s) -
Alexander B. J. R.,
Flynn A. R.,
Gibbons A. M.,
Clover G. R. G.,
Herrera V. E.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
eppo bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.327
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1365-2338
pISSN - 0250-8052
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2338.2008.01217.x
Subject(s) - accreditation , christian ministry , agriculture , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , library science , political science , medicine , medical education , computer science , ecology , law
Four plant diagnostic laboratories in New Zealand have obtained ISO 17025 accreditation since 2001: Linnaeus Laboratory; PestLab, AsureQuality Ltd; Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd; and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's (MAF) Plant Health and Environment Laboratory (PHEL). The challenge of pursuing ISO 17025 accreditation for PHEL emerged in late 2003 when a review of a MAF diagnostic standard made ISO 17025 accreditation a mandatory requirement for approval. The accreditation project took three years from initiation to accreditation in 2007. The scope of PHEL's accreditation covers tests (e.g. PCR, RT‐PCR, or ELISA) for the Carlavirus group, High plains virus , Iris yellow spot virus , Pepino mosaic virus , Plum pox virus , Raspberry ringspot virus , phytoplasmas, Potato spindle tuber viroid , and Xylella fastidiosa and morphological identifications of fungi and invertebrates. This article provides a brief overview of ISO 17025 accreditation of plant diagnostic laboratories in New Zealand, describes PHEL's scope of accreditation, and discusses some of the issues and challenges PHEL faced during the process of attaining accreditation and still faces post‐accreditation.