ACCREDITATION

Minerva Scientific is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS formerly NAMAS) to ISO 17025 and is fully GMP compliant following inspection from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA formerly MCA). We participate in numerous rounds of the Food Analysis Performance Assessment Scheme (FAPAS) as an essential element of our laboratory quality assurance programme.

UKAS ISO 17025

UKAS is the sole accreditation body recognized by the UK government to assess organisations that provide certification, testing and inspection and calibration services. For contract testing laboratories this assessment is made against the international standard ISO 17025. Minerva Scientific obtained ISO 17025 Accreditation from UKAS in 2001. For more information refer to our UKAS scope of accreditation.

GMP

Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) is that part of quality assurance which ensures that medicinal products are consistently produced and controlled to the quality standards appropriate to their intended use and as required by the marketing authorisation and/or product specification. Minerva Scientific has been inspected by the MHRA who confirm that we operate to the principles and guidelines of GMP as laid down in Commission Directive 2003/94/EC and 91/412/EC.

FAPAS

The Food Analysis Performance Assessment Scheme (FAPAS) was established by the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) in 1990 and is now regarded as the premier international scheme of its type. The scheme involves analysis of real food samples for a wide range of analyte's. The results from each participating laboratory are evaluated statistically and an assessment of the performance of each lab is given by a ‘z-score’. A z-score falling between + and - 2 is deemed acceptable. More information on the FAPAS tests to be carried out by Minerva in 2005 will be appearing soon on our News page