AEGIC Sydney is celebrating an incredible 70 years of accreditation with NATA.
AEGIC Sydney, formerly the Bread Research Institute of Australia, is staffed by leading industry experts, with facilities including research laboratories, a Pilot Mill, Pilot Bakery and analytical laboratories.
NATA accreditation at AEGIC began with the founding director of the organisation, Mr. Eric Bond. In 1947, the NSW government appointed Eric to lead the Bread Research Institute, the forerunner of AEGIC. Eric was passionate about raising the standards of analytical laboratories and was an enthusiastic supporter of NATA and its activities.
The Bread Research Institute is now AEGIC Sydney, and continues to provide high quality and reliable technical and analytical services crucial to the Australian grains industry.
Throughout the years, the laboratories in North Ryde have maintained their accreditation in the tests that are most important to the grain and grain foods industries. As industry requirements change, new tests are added. Dietary fibre has become a particular area of expertise within the AEGIC team. The laboratory is a world-leader in this field and participates in the development and verification of new fibre tests.
As well as 70 years of NATA accreditation, AEGIC Sydney will very soon celebrate 75 years of service to the grains industry, making it a double celebration. Over the years, AEGIC Sydney has been a key pillar of support for growers, processors and exporters of Australian wheat. NATA accreditation is critical to these customers because it provides confidence in measurements used for trade and product development.
Accreditation is also important to domestic customers, particularly the food industry. All processed food sold in Australia is required to have a Nutrition Information Panel which informs the consumer of the key dietary components of the product. Confidence in this nutritional information is critical. Accredited data from AEGIC’s laboratory is used in the nutrition panels on a wide range of grain food products and supports food manufacturers when dealing with large retailers.
AEGIC also participates in a program that supports Australian grain farmers. Farmer payments are based in part on the protein and moisture content of the wheat and barley that they grow. Every load delivered by the farmer is tested. To ensure confidence in the system, every year certified reference materials are used to verify the testing instruments. AEGIC is part of a group of accredited laboratories that test candidate samples.
AEGIC has also directly supported NATA by allowing its staff to undertake the role of external assessor.
NATA accreditation is deliberately challenging. The objective is not only to meet the requirements of the international standard, but also to be continuously improving operations to exceed those requirements. The team at AEGIC Sydney are proud to reach this milestone.