The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), the UK’s national accreditation body for organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection, and calibration services, has approved 61 new tests of the UAE’s National Laboratories Department of the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCAE).

Currently, the department offers 410 globally accredited laboratory tests for animal diseases, crop pests, pesticides and their residue in food products, veterinary products, water, soil, and fertilisers. Moreover, for the 17th consecutive year, UKAS has renewed the National Laboratories’ ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation.

Saif Al Shara, Assistant Under-Secretary for the Sustainable Communities Sector and Acting Assistant Under-Secretary for the Food Diversity Sector at MoCCAE, said, “Food safety and security are top priorities for MoCCAE. In this context, the Ministry’s National Laboratories Department works diligently to raise the efficiency of technicians and equipment at its laboratories.”

“International accreditation of laboratory tests is instrumental in ensuring the safety of traded foods and veterinary products. We constantly coordinate and follow up with international accrediting bodies to assess the compliance of existing tests for accreditation renewal and new tests for approval,” he added.