The certification body responsible for certifying the Lion code of practice has been suspended by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). But the British Egg Industry Council says that the suspension will have no effect on the Lion code.
National Britannia Certification Limited has been suspended for all accredited certification by UKAS - the sole national accreditation body recognised by the Government. The job of UKAS is to assess, against internationally agreed standards, organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services.
The decision to suspend National Britannia was confirmed to the Ranger by a spokesman for UKAS, although he would not reveal why the action had been taken. "I have no information on why they have had their accredited status suspended, and would not be able to get or give any, I’m afraid, since UKAS is bound by confidentiality clauses with all of its customers," said the spokesman. He said the Ranger would need to ask National Britannia about the details behind the suspension.
We approached National Britannia and asked a series of questions about the suspension. We asked the company if it could tell us why it had been suspended, we asked for its reaction to the suspension, whether it was doing anything to have it lifted, how the suspension would affect the business and what the implications were for the schemes for which National Britannia was responsible. The questions were put to the company in email form after the company declined to discuss the matter verbally.
National Britannia subsequently issued a brief statement by email. It read, "In response to your email I can confirm that National Britannia Certification have been suspended and that we are working with UKAS for the suspension to be lifted."
The company said they we would need to speak to the BEIC about the effect on the Lion code. We did so and BEIC chief executive Mark Williams told us that the code was unaffected and was operating normally.
"NBC had their UKAS accreditation suspended last autumn as a result of an issue with another assurance scheme (which related back to the ash cloud flight disruption in spring 2010)," said Mark. "NBC has supplied to UKAS the further documentary evidence that UKAS had requested. This is currently being reviewed by UKAS prior to the suspension being lifted.
"Lion Code audits, to ensure due diligence and the integrity of the Lion scheme (as well as official salmonella sampling), are continuing."
National Britannia is responsible for a number of other schemes as well as the Lion code. We understand that, as well as certifying Lion, the company also certifies standards for the British Retail Consortium, it certifies the Globalgap Integrated Farm Assurance Standard, which covers fresh fruit and vegetables, flowers and ornamentals, the British Ornamental Plant Producers Silver Grower Standard, and Ornamental Horticulture Packhouse Standard and the LEAF Marque Standard – an environmental standard for farming.
The UKAS spokesman said he could confirm that National Britannia was currently suspended for all accredited certification, although he said that existing certifications would not be affected by the suspension. "Any certification that they have issued before the date of suspension is valid. However, they cannot issue any certificates during the period of suspension, neither to new customers or renewals," he said. The spokesman said that if a renewal arose during the period of suspension the certification would have to be conducted by another certification body.
"Any questions with regards to their customers (eg Lion mark) would have to be addressed to them," he said.
UKAS explained that the role of a UKAS accredited certification body was to "provide independent third party assessment of products, management systems and personnel to provide assurance to consumers, purchasers and government organisations." The spokesman said, "It is worth noting that accreditation is not the same as certification. Accreditation is the formal recognition by a recognised body that a certification body is competent to carry out the certification process. In other words, certification bodies are checkers, whilst accreditation bodies check the checkers." He said that UKAS was the only accreditation body recognised by the Government.
The code of practice for Lion quality eggs covers breeding flocks and hatcheries; pullet rearing; laying birds, including both hygiene and animal welfare requirements; on-farm handling of eggs; distribution of eggs from farm; feed; hen disposal; packing centre procedures; advice to retailers, consumers and caterers; environmental policy and enforcement. We understand that National Britannia has been responsible for certifying the whole process, including hatchery, rearing farm, laying farm and packing centre.
The Lion code is accredited to the EN 45011 international auditing standard. To guarantee traceability, all breeding farms, hatcheries, rearing and laying farms, feed mills and packing centres involved in the production of Lion quality eggs must be approved. All Lion quality hen flocks must be accompanied by a passport certificate and all Lion quality egg movement has to be fully traceable. The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) maintains a live database of all BEIC sites. It also maintains a register of inter-traded eggs.
