A2LA Adds New Veterinary Accreditation Program Requirements

FREDERICK, Md. – The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) announces the re-introduction of the Veterinary Accreditation Program.This program has been completely revised, and applications for accreditation are now being accepted.
 
Veterinary laboratories world-wide may choose to meet the ISO/IEC 17025:2005, General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories as a stand-alone requirement for accreditation or the combined criteria of ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and the OIE Quality Standard and Guidelines for Veterinary Laboratories: Infectious Diseases, 2008. These OIE requirements are introduced in A2LA R216 – Specific Requirements:

Veterinary Accreditation Program now available at www.A2LA.org. This document includes instructions on how to obtain a copy of the OIE Standard aforementioned.   Upon evidence of original OIE and ISO/IEC 17025:2005 Standard ownership, A2LA promptly will send the combined criteria checklist to the applicant facility. 
 
These OIE requirements supplement ISO/IEC 17025:2005 to evaluate diagnostic and clinical veterinary laboratories that conduct commercial, government, academic, and international veterinary testing in the following areas: infectious disease diagnostics, disease surveillance, virology, pathology, microbiology, immunology, screening for growth promoters and drug/chemical residue that includes antibiotics, antihelmethetics, pesticides, metals, organics, DNA/RNA and GMO.
 
Dr. Peter Wright, an Expert Participant on the OIE Biological Standards Commission since 1991, says, “We are hearing more and more credit being given to quality management systems. Both the quality management system and method validation principles must be present together.” A2LA’s new Veterinary Accreditation Program builds upon the ISO/IEC 17025:2005 method validation requirements with the additional OIE specific requirements applicable to veterinary institutions.