The certification system for rapid methods of analysis is framed by reference documents.
The NF VALIDATION certification program
General policies and organisation of the certification are defined in the General rules of the NF VALIDATION mark.
Application scope, stakeholders, certification process, technical requirements…, you will know everything by consulting the Certification rules in the domain of agri-food. This is also where you will find the technical requirements to be met per alternative method, the management provisions enabling the manufacturer to ensure constancy of production, the nature and frequency of the controls that the certification body must perform (validation study, on-site audits…).
Validation protocols
To discover performances characteristics evaluated during the validation studies, we invite you to consult the applicable validation protocols:
Alternative methods for the detection/enumeration of microorganisms in foodstuffs:
- (EN) ISO 16140 : 2003 protocol for the validation of alternative methods
- NF VALIDATION specific requirements on (EN) ISO 16140 : 2003 protocol
- The new (EN) ISO 16140-2 : 2016 protocol for the validation of alternative methods
- NF VALIDATION specific requirements on the new (EN) ISO 16140-2 : 2016 protocol