Full Site | Mobile Site
NJDA ANIMAL HEALTH DIAGNOSTIC LAB RECIEVES INTERNATIONAL ACCREDITATION

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2017
PO Box 330
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0330   

Contact: Jeff Wolfe
P: (609) 633-2954
C: (609) 433-1785
E: jeff.wolfe@ag.state.nj.us

Becomes one of 18 ISO accredited veterinary labs in U.S.

(TRENTON) – New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher announced today that the department’s Animal Health Diagnostics Lab (AHDL) has received the ISO 17025:2005 accreditation from the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation, making it one of only 18 such labs in the U.S. and the only New Jersey lab with this accreditation.

 The AHDL will now be able to conduct more types of tests and significantly reduce the time it takes for results to become official, especially important when responding to disease outbreaks and other emergency situations.

 “Gaining this accreditation makes the New Jersey Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory one of the premier animal diagnostic labs in the nation, enabling us to provide enhanced services,” Secretary Fisher said. “Reaching this prestigious standard is a great accomplishment for our Division of Animal Health leaders and staff who have worked a tremendous amount of hours to gain this accreditation.”

  The accreditation will bring many benefits to the AHDL’s service. Among those will be more animal feed testing for pet foods and farm animals with a quicker turnaround for results since the tests will now not have to be sent to an accredited lab to be considered official. The accreditation means the AHDL follows standards in place at all other American Association for Laboratory Accreditation accredited labs.

 “The accreditation adds a new level of trust to the everyday laboratory results making them even more reliable and defensible,” said Dr. Manoel Tamassia, NJ State Veterinarian and Animal Health Division Director.  “The changes needed and implemented to acquire accreditation will allow our Animal Health Laboratory to be more responsive to disease outbreaks and urgent situations. Gaining this accreditation is a result of the lab staff’s dedication and professional growth.”

 The accreditation also makes the lab eligible to receive more federal funding that will be used to ensure the staff is using the latest equipment and testing procedures. The lab expects to begin receiving more federal funds in 2018 or early 2019.

 “Technology has and will continue to play a key role in what we do,” said AHDL Lab Director Dr. Amar Patil. “I am very excited for the future of our laboratory.”

The accreditation also came about due to coordination between the Divisions of Animal Health and Marketing and Development. The accreditation will play a key role in keeping pets, livestock and people healthy through enhanced pet foods testing.

 The NJ AHDL’s mission is to enhance the economic vitality and life quality for all residents by promoting healthy livestock and companion animals, enhancing the safety of animal derived consumer products, protecting wildlife resources through timely disease detection, and enhancing understanding of diseases.

 To learn more about the NJ AHDL visit www.jerseyvetlab.nj.gov

####

 To learn more about the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NJDeptofAgriculture and www.facebook.com/JerseyFreshOfficial or Twitter @NJDA1 and @JerseyFreshNJDA.