Natural products company NOW has expanded the scope of its ISO 17025 accreditation by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) for both chemical and biological testing scopes. The accreditation process involved A2LA assessing and reviewing the lab’s quality management system and competence.

For four years, NOW has maintained A2LA accreditation for eight of the more than 200 analytical chemistry methods it uses, including a method for screening over 400 pesticides in their botanical raw materials, and an arsenic speciation method, which NOW states most contract labs don’t offer.

NOW’s labs have 14 accredited chemistry methods, including quantitative allergen testing methods, and the ascorbic acid (vitamin C) method. The company’s microbiology lab expanded its ISO scope from six to 12 methods this year, including the addition of the Sparks, Nevada lab, to the accreditation. The biological testing scope includes PCR technologies to detect pathogens.

“Accomplishing this was a team effort from top to bottom; the scientists developing and validating the methods, the chemists and microbiologists who run these methods 31,000 times a month, and the upper management team that provides the resources and best-in-class instrumentation we utilize to get the best results possible,” said Jonathan DeCenzi, senior quality manager of NOW Health Group.  “This is a tremendous accomplishment by the quality team and another benchmark NOW can use to support our claim of being one of the clear leaders in natural product quality and value.”

The accreditation certificates (6253.01 Chemical and 6253.02 Biological) are available to view here.