Agriculture, Food and Consumer Health Protection Information about this sector
Role of accreditation in this sector
Not visible, but nevertheless essential for all of us as consumers – an apt description of the role of DAkkS in its agriculture, food and consumer health protection sector.
Accreditation plays an important role in the selection of everyday commodities such as food and water. It increases the level of confidence that consumers have in laboratory tests, inspections or certified test and quality seals for products in these sectors.
Not in all, but in many of these sometimes sensitive areas, accreditation is an obligatory requirement for market approval as a verifier or certifier. This creates confidence in the reliability of their work and pursues the goal of guaranteeing safe food and consumer products and preventing health hazards.
Without accreditation, laboratories that examine drinking water quality, for example, would not be subjected to a professional review of their competence, and safety and quality potentials would therefore not be recognised.
The areas of food and agriculture also include the accreditation of statutory certifications in organic production or the protection of regional designations of origin in accordance with the relevant European regulations. Accredited bodies also carry out testing for the control of feedstuffs.
In the forestry and wood sector, accreditation supports the quality of forest and wood certifications in the area of sustainability.
Our technical units in the Agriculture, Food and Consumer Health Protection sector
Food and Agriculture | Forestry and Wood | Textile and Clothing Industry
The Food and Agriculture | Forestry and Wood | Textile and Clothing Industry technical unit manages accreditations in accordance with DIN EN ISO/IEC 17065, DIN EN ISO/IEC 17021-1 and DIN EN ISO/IEC 17020.
Consumer Health Protection | Veterinary Medicine
The Consumer Health Protection | Veterinary Medicine technical unit accredits in accordance with DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025, DIN EN ISO/IEC 17020, DIN EN ISO/IEC 17043 and DIN EN ISO 17034.
Certification of Persons and Management systems (cross-sector)
The Certification of Persons and Management Systems (Cross-Sector) technical unit manages the accreditation of certification bodies for management systems in accordance with DIN EN ISO/IEC 17021-1 for various management system certification standards and for persons in accordance with DIN EN ISO/IEC 17024.
Water | Drinking Water | Water Supply
This technical unit covers a wide range of activities relevant to accreditation and relating to the characterisation, use and protection of water. Accreditations in accordance with for example DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025, DIN EN ISO/IEC 17043, DIN EN ISO/IEC 17065, DIN EN ISO 17034 and DIN EN ISO/IEC 17020 are possible.
Application examples of accredited services in this sector
- Process control tests in food processing
- Tests to determine the composition and properties of foodstuffs
- Tests to monitor the products and substances used in the feeding of animals
- Tests to determine the quality of specific products such as oil or wine
- Monitoring of the Protection of animals for the purposes of food quality and safety
- Certification of food safety management systems in accordance with the ISO/IEC 22000 standard
- Phytopathological analysis of plant and other materials from agriculture and horticulture
- Analysis of seeds
- Analysis of drinking water in accordance with the requirements of the German Drinking Water Ordinance (TrinkwV)
- Certification in the area of “organic farming”, sustainable forest management and fair trade