Approach for Standard Enhancement of Quality System Certification for Pesticide Residues Monitoring in Fresh Vegetables and Fresh Fruits

Abstract

Bureau of Laboratory Standards, Department of Medical Sciences has been promoting and certifying the pesticide residues monitoring in fresh vegetables and fresh fruits since 1999. According to the results of data analysis of 33 laboratories, several non-conformities to the requirements of this quality system certification were observed especially those related to documenting system and record. The requirements contained insufficient detail; some sentences duplicate each other and are sometimes imprecise. For Check sample, results showed that only 21.2% of the laboratories passed the acceptance criteria. This study aimed to develop an approach to enhance the standard of the quality system certi­fication for pesticide residues monitoring in fresh vegetables and fresh fruits. The research framework contained three parts: (1) standard improvement and enhancement of the certification to be collateral with ISO/IEC 17025:2017; (2) competency assessment by proficiency testing and; (3) training of scientific and quality control personnel. As a result of the study, the certification process was now conformed with the international standard, and contained the specific requirements which supported Thai entrepreneurs. Since proficiency testing was used for competency assessment, all tests had same level of standard and could be compared among different laboratories. The percentage of participating laboratories that passed the criteria increased from 66.7 in the first round to 93.9 in the second round. This was attributed to the training of the personnel consisting of technical skills, critical testing points, and root cause analysis to prevent repetition of mistakes. Therefore, this standard enhancement of the quality system certification for pesticide residues monitoring in fresh vegetables and fresh fruits could create economic impacts for entrepreneurs and health impacts for consumers. This aligns with the national public health strategy which aims to strengthen the protection of consumers.