Standards Council of Canada

SCC Accreditation Program for Testing and Calibration Laboratories Scope

Cannabis

SCC offers accreditation for cannabis testing labs in Canada and beyond. The applicable standard is ISO/IEC 17025:2017 – General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. During the accreditation process, we can assess competence to perform multiple tests important to the cannabis industry, including but not limited to:

  • Quantification of multiple types of cannabinoids, including THC, CBD, CBN, etc.
  • Pesticide residue screening
  • Analysis of loss due to drying
  • Identification of male and female cannabis plants
  • Microbial analysis of cannabis samples
  • Determination and profiling of terpenes

Accredited laboratories typically operate more efficiently and produce more accurate test results. Accreditation also sends an important signal to customers that testing is based on the latest, most accurate, validated methods.

U.S. FDA Laboratory Accreditation for Analyses of Foods

The Standards Council of Canada is the only Canadian organization recognized to grant accreditation under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Laboratory Accreditation for Analyses of Foods (LAAF program). This program aims to improve the accuracy and reliability of certain food testing through the uniformity of standards and enhanced FDA oversight.

Under the fully implemented program, only LAAF-accredited laboratories will be able to conduct food testing for the U.S. market in certain circumstances that are defined in the Food Safety Modernization Act final rule on Laboratory Accreditation for Analyses of Food.
 

Agriculture and Food

This accreditation program provides formal recognition of competence of laboratories providing testing services that include, but are not limited to:

  • Allergens analysis
  • Organic and inorganic chemistry analysis
  • Plant protection: bacterial, fungal, viral, viroid, and nematode, presence of disease and seeds analysis
  • Qualitative and quantitative microbiological analysis
  • Veterinary analysis for animal health testing   
Calibration

SCC provides formal recognition of competence for laboratories calibrating measuring instruments and reference standards for areas of metrology, including:

  • Acoustics and vibration
  • Dimensional
  • Electrical
  • Frequency and time
  • Ionizing radiation
  • Mechanical
  • Photometric and radiometric
  • Temperature
  • Other
Environmental

The Standards Council of Canada’s (SCC) Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program provides formal recognition of competence for laboratories carrying out environmental tests, and enables laboratories to better meet their obligations to regulators.

Approximately 120 parameters can be accredited within the following environmental fields of testing:

  • Inorganics - water and soil
  • Microbiology - water
  • Occupational health - air filters
  • Organics - water and soil
  • PCB - oil
  • Toxicology - water
  • Other

SCC also offers accreditation to laboratories conducting drinking water testing under the Ontario Safe Drinking Water Act. Under the terms of its agreement with the Ontario provincial government, SCC assesses the ability of laboratories to perform drinking water tests, and is solely responsible for approval of their accreditation.

Fasteners

This program specialty area (PSA) applies to the accreditation of laboratories conducting tests and measurements on threaded fasteners and providing services that support fastener production, such as plating, producers of material destined for fastener manufacture, and commercial laboratories offering testing services.

Testing conducted in the fasteners PSA is divided into five major areas:

  • Chemical analysis
  • Mechanical and physical testing and inspection
  • Non-destructive inspection
  • Dimensional inspection
  • Metallography
Forensic

Forensic accreditation is one of 10 SCC Accreditation Program Specialty Areas. SCC offers accreditation in the following forensic disciplines:

  • Biology/DNA analysis
  • Chemistry/Trace analysis
  • Counterfeits
  • Drug chemistry
  • Equine drug testing
  • Explosives
  • Firearms and tool marks
  • Questioned documents examination
  • Toxicology
Information Technology Security Evaluation

SCC provides formal recognition of competence of laboratories that perform testing in the following areas:

  • Biometric device testing
  • Common criteria product and system evaluations
  • ITS product reviews
  • Secure electronic commerce application evaluations
  • Specialized commercial security device testing
  • Vulnerability and tiger team testing
Mineral Analysis

SCC provides formal recognition of competence of laboratories conducting mineral and mineral assay analysis in support of the mining and mining exploration industries.

In order to add even greater value to its accreditation program, SCC accredits both single-element and multiple-element test methods for a wide variety of metals.

SCC offers accreditation in the following mineral analysis disciplines:

  • sediments
  • rocks
  • ores
  • metal products
  • tailings
  • water
  • vegetation
Test Method Development and Non-Routine Testing

This accreditation program applies to the accreditation of laboratories that develop test methods, validate test methods and/or evaluate test kits, and/or conduct non-routine testing in one or more testing areas.

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