SAGL’s Internal Quality Control

As the only independent grain laboratory in Southern Africa, SAGL strives to ensure accurate results and customer satisfaction with good laboratory practice (GLP) and internal quality control.  The SAGL’s GLP for premises and environmental conditions, methods and SOP’s, as well as calibration and verification of apparatus are carried out according to ISO/IEC 17025:2005, SAGL Quality Policy and Procedures. All internal quality policies and procedures apply to all methodologies.

Training of technical personnel forms an integral part of accurate test results, therefore validation data is statistically processed after training has been completed to determine competency of personnel. 

Quality control

Analysis of control samples are carried out on a daily basis for every method and plotted on control charts to enable easy interpretation of data. SAGL analyses on average 21 538 control samples annually.  

Reference standards are also available for several methods and is used to validate methodology and equipment.

In addition, SAGL participates in international proficiency schemes and offers six (three wheat, two maize and one vitamin) different ring tests on national level which serve as inter-laboratory comparisons.

Internal audits

SAGL has a dedicated Quality Controller who carries out internal management (Quality System), technical (laboratory) and vertical (methods) audits for both accredited and non-accredited methods on a twelve to eighteen month cycle; whereby corrective actions are raised and addressed within the SAGL’s Quality System to ensure the correct application of quality policies and procedures, as well as the on-going quality of test results.