Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) has underutilized its assets in carrying out testing in laboratories as and when it operates an accreditation scheme, an investigation report highlighted.
The Institution had purchased equipment worth Rs. 24.61 million on 12 November 2017 for the establishment of a Gas Chromatograph mass spectrophotometer GC/MS-MS to test whether pesticide residues are contained in food, the report divulged.
The equipment was remained idle without utilizing even by May 2019. Likely, a laboratory suitable to establish the System had not been designed even by May 2019 and necessary training for that purpose had not been provided to the staff even by May 2019.
The SLSI operates an accreditation scheme for testing laboratories in Sri Lanka.
SLSI accreditation is voluntary and accredits laboratories for conformity to ISO/IEC 17025 general requirements for competence of testing and calibration laboratories.
Information on product certification can be found at the Sri Lankan Standards Institution website (http://www.slsi.lk). Test certificates from foreign laboratories are not accepted.
The Sri Lanka Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment (SLAB), is the national accreditation authority for Sri Lanka established under Act 32 of 2005.
SLAB is a member of the International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC), the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (APLAC) and the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC).
The Board is responsible for accrediting testing labs, medical labs, and inspection and certification bodies involved in conformity assessment
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