-as PTCCB anticipates ISO certification soon

GUYANA will soon be able to test local produce for chemical residue and determine the safety of fertilisers, as the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board (PTCCB) gears up to open its state-of-the-art laboratory in April.

The lab, which was initially scheduled to be opened last year, had to undergo further infrastructural development, said Registrar of the PTCCB Trecia David, during an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Monday.

She said that not opening the facility last year was one of the few shortfalls of the board, but procurement of the furnishings took some time. In addition, the project was also halted because of an ongoing Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) project which seeks to certify and accredit labs which play a key role in food safety management.

“We had to do a lot of infrastructural changes to ensure we can be certified and accredited…the infrastructure which existed had to be upgraded, so we took a step back and invested in laboratory, chemical grade furnishing,” said David, adding, that sourcing the materials for the lab was a challenge because they were not available in the Caribbean.

The board nonetheless managed to get the equipment but for now, the focus is on quality management and preparing the lab for certification and accreditation. David said a consultant from the IDB has already audited the facility, so they hope to be ISO certified by July although the facility will be fully operational by April.

Once certified, she said, that rice millers, for instance, will be able to test their produce here instead of having it tested in Europe. “We will be able to do more for agri exporters because we will be able to test the produce that is going out,” said David.

The facility was initially designed to test produce for chemical residue but, the board has taken on the mandate to also do fertiliser analysis in order to ensure that fertilisers which are imported are not substandard.

The laboratory is located next to the PTCCB headquarters at Agriculture Road, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD).