Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation Gets Approval to Offer Accreditation Services

The Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC) has been recognised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an accreditation body under the Accredited Third-Party Certification Program for a five-year period.

This follows the FDA's extensive review of its application and on-site assessment, which confirmed that it meets the set minimum requirements for accreditation. The FDA recognizes accreditation bodies with the authority to accredit third-party certification bodies. Once accredited, these certification bodies can conduct food safety audits and issue certifications to foreign food facilities, including farms, and the foods they produce (both human and animal).

Importers must use these certifications to establish eligibility for participation in the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program, which allows for expedited food review and entry. Furthermore, those certifications may be used in situations where the FDA may require that imported products be certified before entering the United States.

JANAAC is recognized as having the authority to accredit certification bodies capable of conducting 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) accreditation scopes.

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 will also be auditable.

JANAAC is Jamaica's national accreditation body and the only international accreditation body in the English-speaking Caribbean. It offers accreditation to Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs), which are made up of Laboratories Inspection Bodies and Certification Bodies.

Since its inception in 2008, the Agency has been facilitating trade between Jamaica and its trading partners by enabling Jamaica's Conformity Assessment System to meet international standards and the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.

This it has been accomplished by becoming a signatory to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Mutual Recognition Arrangement, which allows goods and services to be accepted across national borders. 

According to JANAAC, membership in a number of the most highly respected accreditation organizations helps to strengthen its regional and international partnerships. The FDA announced the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board, North America's largest multidisciplinary accreditation body, as the first recognised accreditation body under the Accredited Third-Party Certification Program in January 2018.