Home / Courses / Training / Understanding ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and AOAC Food Program Guidelines

Understanding ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and AOAC Food Program Guidelines

This March 2024 UPDATED COURSE is a comprehensive review of the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and the additional AOAC instructions within the 2024 edition of Guidelines for Laboratories Performing Microbiological and Chemical Analyses of Food, Dietary Supplements, Pharmaceuticals, and Cannabis, an Aid to the Interpretation of ISO/IEC 17025:2017.” Our specialized training course is designed to help laboratory leaders and scientists effectively implement these guidelines, bridging the gap between regulatory expectations and real-world laboratory operations. Whether you’re seeking accreditation, strengthening your compliance framework, or enhancing operational efficiency, this course delivers the critical knowledge and tools needed to meet the highest industry standards.

Prerequisites

Participants should have experience be able to know and recognize vocabulary commonly used in accreditation, quality assurance and quality control applications.

Equipment Needed

In-Person:  None required; laptop (helpful)

Virtual Delivery:  Laptop (PC or Mac), PDF reader

Target Attendees

This workshop is intended for individuals in food, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and cannabis laboratories whose responsibilities include building, auditing, or directly managing an ISO/IEC 17025 management system that utilizes AOAC technical methods. Individuals who are under the regulatory requirements of the FDA (LAAF), Health Canada, etc., and who use US Pharmacopoeia (USP) methods will also find this course useful. These occupations may include but are not limited to:

  1. Quality Assurance – Directors, Managers, Auditors, staff
  2. R&D Managers
  3. Scientists, and
  4. Analysts

Learning Outcomes

After the successful completion of the workshop, participants will be able to:

  1. Discuss how ISO uses keywords and phrases to effectively and efficiently develop and implement the requirements of the standard
  2. List the areas where documents and records are required
  3. Explain concepts in ISO/IEC 17025 and AOAC Guidelines such as:
    1. Continuous improvement
    2. Verification and validation
    3. Decision rules
    4. Principles of requirements of impartiality, and
    5. Risk-based thinking
  4. Using provided scenarios, locate and identify appropriate clauses to demonstrate familiarity with the standard
  5. Illustrate the importance of metrological traceability in AOAC methods and how it impacts the validity of results
  6. Discuss the importance and requirements of managing a durable equipment calibration and verification program based upon the type of measurement results.

CEUs Awarded

1.4 CEUs Awarded* (14 active training hours, 16 hours total)

* A2LA WorkPlace Training is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and is authorized to issue the IACET CEU.

Presentation Style

Lectures, discussions, and classroom exercises.

Reference

This course follows the principles outlined in the following documents:

AOAC/ALACC:2024 (Required) – Guidelines for Laboratories Performing Microbiological and Chemical Analyses of Food, Dietary Supplements, Pharmaceuticals, and Cannabis, an Aid to the Interpretation of ISO/IEC 17025:2017

ISO/IEC 17025:2017 (Optional) – Conformity Assessment – General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories

ISO/IEC 17000:2020 (Optional) – Conformity Assessment – Vocabulary and general principles

JCGM 100:2008 (Optional) – Evaluation of measurement data – Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM)

JCGM 200:2012 (Optional) – International vocabulary of metrology – Basic and general concepts and associated terms (VIM)