The fish inspection laboratory of Maputo, belonging to the National Fish Inspection Institute (INIP), just received international accreditation - becoming the 1st lab of a public institution to gain accreditation for the testing of food.
Along with the fisheries sector, agriculture accounts for about 34% of Mozambique's exports. The (INIP) is the authority responsible for the enforcement of all legal provisions related to fish safety. In 2007 INIP received assistance from the ComMark Trust (a DFID funded programme) to implement a number of standards related projects to ensure that Mozambique was not removed from the EU's approved list of suppliers of fishery products. This followed an inspection by the EU, in 2006, in which a number of deficiencies in the food safety system were found.
TradeMark Southern Africa sourced further funding directly from DFID for the expansion of INIP's laboratory in Maputo. Work on the laboratory expansion was completed by the end of 2011 and the laboratory was audited on 1st June 2012 by the IPAC (Portuguese Institute of Accreditation). The accreditation confirms that the INIP laboratory operates according to the standard of ISO 17025:2005, and is competent to carry out their activities safely. For the moment, accreditation is limited to testing for sulphyts. There are plans to expand INIPs accreditation to test for heavy metals and microbiology in Maputo, histamines in Beira, and water in Quelimane. These expansions, however, are still being discussed.
View the latest photos of the completed and accredited INIP Laboratory here:
http://trademarksa.org/resources/gallery/laboratory-expansion-mozambique...
