National Certification Body of Jamaica Undertaking Service Expansion Project

The National Certification Body of Jamaica (NCBJ) is undertaking a scope expansion project designed to broaden client service delivery.

This was disclosed by Manager, Navenia Wellington-Ford, during a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ at the Agency’s Head Office in Kingston.

The ‘Expansion of Certification Services by the National Certification Body of Jamaica’ project is intended to improve Food Safety Management Systems (FSMSs), in response to the immediate capacity-building needs of the export market.

The two-year project, being financed through a €157,552 European Union (EU) grant and supervised by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), will support the NCBJ in assessing and certifying the FSMSs of local and regional agro-processors complying with globally accepted standards.

Mrs. Wellington-Ford said the NCBJ also continues to support local and regional businesses by offering certification for management systems and products.

“This certification is for companies [that] have gone the extra mile to implement a Standard for their business and are looking forward to moving themselves above their competitors,” she explained.

The Manager indicated that there are two categories of management systems certification currently offered by the NCBJ.

These are the ISO 9001:2015 certification, which is the international Standard specifying the requirements for a Quality Management System (QMS), and the ISO 22000:2018 Food Safety Management System (FSMS) certification, which reinforces an organisation’s control on food-safety hazards and ensures that its products are safe for consumption.

The agency also offers local certification programmes designed to enhance entities’ production efficiencies and export potential, while providing verification of quality goods and services.

Mrs. Wellington-Ford told JIS News that while the NCBJ is a locally certified body, it also has international recognition through the work that it does and the systems it has in place, noting that the agency is “proud” to be an accredited entity.

This accreditation, she said, lends itself to the certificates offered to local businesses and those in the region.

“It is through this accreditation that the certificate that they (businesses) get gives them the ability to gain more market access,” Mrs. Wellington-Ford stated.

The National Certification Body of Jamaica is an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce that operates in Jamaica, Belize, Guyana, and St. Kitts and Nevis.

Source: JIS