Alaska Environmental Health Laboratory enhancing capacity and capability of food testing to support an integrated food safety system.

ASEHL Project Summary-Overall SFY21By maintaining and enhancing ISO/IEC 17025 for food testing, the Alaska StateEnvironmental Health Laboratory (ASEHL) will continue to deliver both scientifically validand legally defensible data to its clients. The clients, including the Alaska Food Safetyand Sanitation (FSS) Program and U.S. FDA, will benefit by receiving enhancedcustomer service, consistent turnaround times, and little to no down time. Accreditationallows ASEHL to satisfy Standard 10 of the Manufactured Food Regulatory ProgramStandards (MFRPS) as the primary designated testing facility for the Food Safety andSanitation Program (FSS). FSS is in full conformance to MRFPS standards.The following are for consideration to enhance our ISO scope for year 1: STEC/?Big 6? E.coli, Inorganic Arsenic, and Gamma Radiation Screening to further support ourmanufactured food testing program beyond pathogen surveillance to better support thefood regulatory program and manufactured food producers.ASEHL has had QC programs which produced scientifically valid data for many years.ISO accreditation and applying ISO across all programs brings all operations, from topmanagement down and from other State divisions, together in a single direction:improvement toward total quality management. These fundamental, cultural changes areessential to ASEHL's ability to continue and excel in its service to the State of Alaska.