Conference for Food Protection and ANSI unite behind food safety.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), a nonprofit organization that coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system, and the Conference for Food Protection (CFP), a nonprofit organization that advocates food safety, have partnered to accredit providers of the tests that certify food protection managers, increasing the value and impact of food protection management services within the industry. ANSI independently evaluates certification programs against a set of program requirements defined in CFP's Standards for Accreditation of Food Protection Manager Certification Programs.

Three testing organizations have been accredited under this nationally recognized program. The National Registry of Food Safety Professionals, the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, and Experior Assessments, LLC, are the first test providers to be accredited. It is important to note that this new accreditation program is specifically for test providers, not training providers. Food safety training providers who previously offered "CFP-recognized" tests with their training materials now will offer, instead, "CFP/ANSI-accredited" tests with their training materials.

A Certified Food Protection Manager (C.F.P.M.) is accountable for the development, implementation, and enforcement of specific policies, procedures, or standards aimed at preventing foodborne illness at restaurants, grocery stores, institutions (e.g., hospitals, schools, prisons, and so forth), and other retail food establishments. These individuals are responsible for identifying hazards, supervising or directing food preparation activities, coordinating training, and taking corrective action as needed to protect the health of the consumer.

"Accreditation enhances consumer and public confidence in a certification program by assuring the existence of a continuous review and improvement of quality and accountability for what the program has set out to do," explained Trevor Hayes, CFP executive secretary. "Accreditation programs run by an independent third party further protect the integrity of the certification process and help to eliminate the need for government agencies to monitor credentialing organizations."

ANSI also administers accreditation programs in the areas of quality and environmental management systems, product certification, and personnel certification.

"This program helps to equip the government with sound technical solutions to safety and health problems without creating additional cost and operations burdens," said Dr. Roy Swift, ANSI director for personnel certification accreditation.

A free online listing of accredited certifiers of food protection managers is available at www.ansi.org/ca under the heading "ANSI-Accredited Personnel Certification Bodies and Applicants."