JAMAICA – Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC) has received the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recognition as an accreditation body under the Accredited Third-Party Certification Program for a period of five years.

This follows extensive review of their application and on-site assessment by the FDA which verified that it meets the set minimum requirements to be accredited.

Accreditation bodies recognized by the FDA have the authority to accredit third-party certification bodies.

Once accredited, these certification bodies can conduct food safety audits and issue certifications of foreign food facilities including farms, and the foods — both human and animal — that they produce.

Those certifications are required to be used by importers to establish eligibility for participation in the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program which offers expedited review and entry of food.

In addition, those certifications may be used in certain circumstances where FDA can require that imported products be certified before entering the United States.

JANAAC is the national accreditation body of Jamaica and the only internationally recognized accreditation body in the English-speaking Caribbean.

JANAAC is being recognized as having the authority to accredit certification bodies with the ability to conduct food safety audits under the Acidified Foods (AF), Dietary Supplements, Juice Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (Juice HACCP), Low-Acid Canned Foods (LACF), and Medicated Feed Current Good Manufacturing Practices (Medicated Feed CGMPs) scopes of accreditation.

It will also be able audit Preventive Controls for Animal Food (PCAF), Preventive Controls for Human Food (PCHF), Produce Safety, Seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (Seafood HACCP) and Shell Eggs.

JANAAC is the national accreditation body of Jamaica and the only internationally recognized accreditation body in the English-speaking Caribbean. It provides accreditation services to Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) which are constituted of Laboratories Inspection Bodies and Certification Bodies.

Established in 2008, the Agency has been carrying out its mandate of facilitating trade between Jamaica and its trading partners by enabling Jamaica’s Conformity Assessment System to meet international standards and the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.

This, it has accomplished through linking with over 70 countries across the world as a signatory to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Mutual Recognition Arrangement, which enables the acceptance of goods and services across national barriers.

JANAAC says that it continues to strengthen its regional and international partnerships with membership in a number of the most highly respected accreditation organizations.

In January 2018, FDA announced ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board, the largest multi-disciplinary accreditation body in North America, as the first recognized accreditation body under the Accredited Third-Party Certification Program.

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