NJ Labs: “ISO accreditation is not enough”
The requirement has created high demand for ISO certification from testing laboratories, and as a result, NJ Labs recently earned its accreditation of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 from Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation, for its chemistry and microbiological laboratories.
However, during an interview at SupplySide East, Sandra Lee, CEO of NJ Labs, cautioned manufacturers that certifications alone are not enough to guarantee product safety and quality.
“The problem with ISO certification is they're so broad and they're so focused on the customer that it's not bulletproof in the way that your product should be verified by the methods their using, because you don't want to come back six months later, [with the] same product and the results are totally different. There's no consistency or reliability and that's super important in the GMP world. So ISO is just the beginning,” said Lee. She added that companies need more than ISO, because ISO does not look at the formulation of each unique product, but rather it’s a template approach to verification.
Most recently, NJ Labs entered new territory by starting to test CBD, cannabis, and hemp. Lee said that the most challenging part of this new venture is staying on top of the everchanging regulations and state-by-state variations.
“Definitely getting into the cannabis industry is huge for us, because we want to be at the forefront of it. We want to participate in setting standards, understanding and educating,” said Lee.
