The Veterinary Public Health Inspection Service of Pontevedra, dependent on the General Directorate of Public Health of the Ministry of Health, is a pioneer in Spain by achieving quality accreditation for the control of slaughterhouses and agri-food industries granted by the National Accreditation Entity. (ENAC).
ENAC is the body designated by the Spanish administration to establish the accreditation system at the national level, in accordance with international standards and following the policies established by the European Union. It is, therefore, the only body to grant accreditations of this type in Spain, much more demanding than quality certifications, since they guarantee technical competence in a certain field.
The public health veterinary inspection services of the Ministry of Health are responsible for carrying out official control actions of the food chain in Galicia in food establishments to verify compliance with food safety regulations with the ultimate goal of minimizing the health risks associated with food consumption.
Since 2012, the Public Health veterinary inspectors were already carrying out their actions using quality procedures based on the UNE-EN-ESO/IEC 17020 standard, which from now on were recognized with the ENAC mark. This recognition is confirmation of serious, trained and committed work carried out by the public health inspection and that guarantees the excellence of its staff.
The path to achieving this distinction involved carrying out exhaustive examinations by the ENAC that included both documentary audits and accompanying visits in carrying out the inspection tasks. This process involved the strengthening of the quality system with perfectly established and planned standards and procedures that guarantee the uniformity, quality and transparency of official control actions.
The broad scope of this accreditation by the UNE-EN-ESO/IEC 17020 standard that establishes the “requirements for the operation of different types of organizations that carry out inspection” includes official control activities (inspections, audits and sampling) in food industries, slaughterhouses, markets and retail trade.
Currently Galicia is the first Autonomous Community to obtain this ENAC accreditation in the agri-food field and, specifically, in the field of food safety, with the public health veterinary inspection services of the Ministry of Health being the first in Spain , to receive the distinction in technical competence from the National Accreditation Entity (ENAC).
Accreditation is a tool that guarantees the security and integrity of the evaluation and control activities that intervene in a key sector for public policies such as health protection. Furthermore, accreditation is a regulated activity in Europe, so its use in different countries offers a full guarantee of compatibility and harmonization.
This accreditation of the public health inspection is added to the accreditation by the UNE-EN-ESO/IEC 17025 standard of the Public Health Laboratory of Galicia achieved in 1998, being at the time also the first public health laboratory to be accredited in Spain.
