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Topic pillar

Quality Control

Quality control in imported food is decided long before anything is tested. The specification defines what is acceptable, the sampling plan defines what is examined, and the laboratory routing defines whose result counts. This pillar collects all three.

  • ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation is granted against a scope of methods and matrices, not to a laboratory as a whole
  • Cross-border recognition of accredited results runs through the ILAC mutual recognition arrangement, under which accreditation bodies are peer-evaluated against ISO/IEC 17011
  • Inspection bodies are accredited to ISO/IEC 17020, which is a different activity from testing
  • Source-referencedEvery specification names the standard or authority behind it
  • Kept currentEach entry carries a visible last-reviewed date
  • Export-focusedImport requirements written for EU and global buyers
  • Documentation-readySpecifications, certificates and paperwork in one place

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Tell us the product, the destination market and the certification you have to satisfy. If it is not published yet, we research it and send you the answer directly.

What this pillar covers

Most quality disputes in imported food are not analytical disputes. They are disputes about what was agreed, what was sampled and whose result governs, argued after the fact because none of the three was written down in advance. The material here is arranged to close those gaps before a consignment moves.

Testing and laboratories

Laboratory testing: what, where and how sets out which parameters matter for which product groups, which belong at origin and which on arrival, and how to build the plan.

In-house against third-party testing draws the line between the two, explains what ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation actually covers, and sets out how to draft the umpire analysis clause before you need it.

The short answers cover accreditation, frequency and reading a certificate of analysis.

Specification and standards

A control programme rests on a product specification that states parameters, limits, units, basis, method and sampling plan. Understanding food safety standards covers the scheme landscape that sits above it, and the standards library holds the individual scheme records.

Packaging as a quality control

Packaging is part of the control programme rather than a separate topic. Food contact compliance is a documentary control, and film selection is a shelf-life control. Where a specification sets a shelf life, the packaging is part of what makes it achievable.

How to use this

Write the specification first, with the sampling plan and the method inside it. Decide the laboratory routing parameter by parameter rather than as a policy. Keep a sealed retention from every lot. Name the dispute procedure in the contract while everyone is still cooperative.

Vorezan is an information platform. We are not a laboratory, an inspection body or a certification body, and we do not issue, verify or interpret certificates for a specific consignment.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an accredited laboratory?

For results used against a legal limit, a contractual limit or in a dispute, yes. For process control, screening and routine release of physical parameters, a calibrated in-house bench with written methods is normally sufficient and much faster.

How often should I test?

Frequency is risk-based rather than prescribed for most parameters. Tighter on a new supplier and on parameters with legal limits, reduced against a documented history, and reset whenever the supplier, origin, process, packaging or applicable limit changes.

Why do two laboratories disagree?

Usually sampling rather than analysis. A laboratory reports on the sample it received, and sampling is the largest source of variability in most food testing programmes. Where analysis really does differ, measurement uncertainty and method differences explain most of the gap.

What makes a certificate of analysis usable?

Lot identity that matches the goods, the sampling basis, the method by standard reference, the accreditation status of that method for that matrix, units and basis, the limit of quantification, and the decision rule used for any statement of conformity.

Vorezan provides informational and analytical content about agricultural products, markets, logistics and standards. We do not act as a seller, broker or guarantor of product quality or transactions.

Last updated: August 22, 2026