Uganda National Bureau of Standards has recognized Uganda Coffee Development Authority’s (UCDA) laboratories for competency in analysis and testing of coffee.
The standard recognition is awarded to laboratories that have demonstrated that their management and technical operations meet the international standard requirements.
This has made UCDA’s laboratories located at UMA show ground in Lugogo and Coffee House the first coffee laboratories in Uganda to get recognized against an international standard for laboratory quality management system to ISO 17025:2005.
The process of getting recognition involved the development of the laboratory quality manual of policies, standard operating procedures, adoption of lab quality policy, training and awareness of the staff on ISO 17025:2005 standard.
It also involved review of the procedures for sampling and analysis of coffee samples to avoid conflict of interest, Validation of analytical methods to ensure quality results and redesigning of the laboratory infrastructure to separate activities and introduction of a digital monitoring system for the laboratory operating environment.
Benefits
Laboratory operations have been standardized resulting into improved accuracy of analytical results, elimination of conflict of interest and increased operational efficiency reducing the turnaround time significantly.
The recognition has further assured our clients that results and services generated from our laboratory meet international standards for wider acceptance and trust of our quality certificate.
In addition to physical and sensory analysis the labs are also performing biochemical analysis on export coffees to guarantee food safety and quality. This has brought consumer confidence in Ugandan coffee especially for importing countries like Sudan and Europe that we hope will result into increased export volumes.