The Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center Analytical Services, located on the Oklahoma State University campus, has been accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) in the chemical field of testing.

“This prestigious accreditation enhances credibility for the FAPC analytical services and allows us the opportunity to provide the same quality services as always; but, now with the recognition from A2LA, FAPC clients will have the assurance of the quality of services,” said Guadalupe Davila El-Rassi, FAPC analytical services manager. “We believe the accreditation will serve as catalysis to broaden and promote our services to clients across the state of Oklahoma.”

El-Rassi said the analytical services team worked together for several months to complete all necessary requirements for this accreditation. Although it was a rigorous challenge, the team combined the necessary skills to meet the objective.

The analytical services is now accredited to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 17025:2005 based on internationally accepted criteria for technical competence and management system requirements necessary to consistently deliver valid test results.

The certificate and the scope of accreditation can be found in the database of accredited laboratories Website at:

www.a2la.org/scopepdf/2790-01.pdf.

“It was hard work, but we were enthusiastic, and now we are very proud of the success of our team,” said Veneta Banskalieva, senior research specialist for the FAPC analytical services laboratory.

Very few laboratories in the state have been accredited by A2LA, said Angie Lathrop, FAPC analytical services laboratory senior research specialist.

“There is only one other chemical testing laboratory in Oklahoma that has been accredited by A2LA, and we are the only A2LA accredited university laboratory in the state,” Lathrop said. “There may be labs in Okla. that obtained their ISO 17025 accreditation from another organization. However, according to research, I only found one other university in the U.S. that has an accredited chemical laboratory through A2LA.”

The accreditation scope granted is to perform the following tests on food, dairy and plant products. These tests include percent moisture/loss on drying; percent ash; determination of crude protein by Leco Combustion Method; percent fat of meat, animal feeds, grains, plant tissues, butter and margarine, yogurt, and nuts and seeds by Soxtec; and percent carbohydrates by subtraction.

“The food industry in Oklahoma is progressive and demands service providers be third party accredited,” said Roy Escoubas, FAPC director and professor. “The ISO is an international gold-standard accreditation, and our ISO accreditation for analytical services allows the FAPC to best serve our Okla. food industry clients.”

For more information about the Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center or FAPC analytical services, please visit www.fapc.biz.