FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bethesda, MD, February 8, 2024 — The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) recently received an award from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help build an integrated laboratory system to advance the safety of human and animal food.
The three-year grant will enable APHL to support the critical role of state public health and agriculture laboratories in identifying, containing and preventing hazards in the food supply. APHL’s work will include assessing national testing capability and capacity; developing best practices and other guidance manuals; and offering trainings, meetings and other educational resources. APHL will also support ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory accreditation to ensure laboratories have quality management systems and testing competencies in place and can produce defensible data for regulatory and public health action, among other activities.
“Public health and agricultural laboratories are on the front lines helping assure the safety of our nation’s food supply,” said Scott J. Becker, MS, chief executive officer of APHL. “They are essential to our nation’s ability to prevent, detect and respond to outbreaks of foodborne illness. We look forward to working with FDA, state laboratories and partners to strengthen our laboratory capacity to improve food safety.”
This project is supported 100% by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cooperative agreement Number 1U2FFD008200 totaling $1.8 million.
To learn more about APHL’s food safety work, visit www.aphl.org/foodsafety.
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The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) works to strengthen laboratory systems serving the public’s health in the US and globally. APHL’s member laboratories protect the public’s health by monitoring and detecting infectious and foodborne diseases, environmental contaminants, terrorist agents, genetic disorders in newborns and other diverse health threats. Learn more at www.aphl.org.
Contact: Michelle Forman at 240.485.2793 or michelle.forman@aphl.org
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