U.S – Brakebush Brothers, a provider of “further processed chicken” has announced its microbiology food testing laboratory has attained ISO 17025:2017 accreditation in conjunction with American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA).

ISO/IEC 17025 is developed and published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and is the highest globally recognized quality standard in the world for calibration and testing laboratories.

To earn the accreditation, a laboratory is assessed in its ability to consistently produce precise and accurate tests and have implemented a rigorous quality management system. This also requires personnel to be highly competent to perform all testing on the scope of accreditation.

The scope of accreditation covers 4 qualitative and 6 quantitative methods utilized in the analysis of Brakebush Chicken Products.

The lab accreditation project was undertaken by Associate Microbiologist Ashley Rosanske, Lab Operations Supervisor Cheryl Schwersinske, and Lead Technician Kristy Stephens.

Tom Scola, the Director of Microbiology commended the entire Microbiology Team for their hard work and commitment to attaining this accreditation.

“Being awarded this accreditation shows our customers that we operate a highly competent lab that is now recognized for high standards and product safety. For over 90 years, customers have chosen Brakebush because of our unwavering commitment to produce safe wholesome food products.

“ISO accreditation was just the next logical step in demonstrating our competency and commitment to best practices in food safety testing,” said Jon Brakebush, Vice President of Technical Services.

According to BrakeBush, their chicken raw materials come from suppliers that operate slaughter facilities under validated HACCP plans in compliance with the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS’) regulations.

In addition, they claim that their products are antibiotic free as they are made from chicken fed an all-vegetarian diet and raised without antibiotics.

“At Brakebush, we refer to our antibiotic-free chicken as NAE (Raised With No Antibiotics Ever). Why? It’s simple… the USDA regulates withdrawal periods to ensure that no chicken meat contains antibiotics or antibiotic residue.

“That means that at some point, those “antibiotic-free” chickens, may have received antibiotics. While antibiotics are minimally used among chicken producers, they are sometimes necessary to maintain the health of the flocks,” reads the company’s website.

BrakeBush’s suppliers participate in third party animal welfare audits and follow the National Chicken Councils guidelines for Animal Welfare and husbandry practices, hence are American Humane Certified.

This is a 3rd party independent verification that certifies the growers care and handling of farm animals meet the science-based welfare standards of the American Humane Association.

“ISO accreditation was just the next logical step in demonstrating our competency and commitment to best practices in food safety testing,”

Jon Brakebush, Vice President of Technical Services

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