On August 9 and 10 the Seed Health Laboratory received an inspection from the Direction General of the Phytosanitary Office (dependence of SAGARPA). This is a yearly routine for the lab, which operates under Mexican regulations for laboratories that apply quarantine procedures on imported seed and conduct seed testing to obtain the International Phytosanitary Certificate for exported seed.
In a few days, the Mexican Phytosanitary Office will report officially to CIMMYT regarding outcomes of this inspection. However, I feel safe to say that, despite a few tough moments, the two inspectors found no serious examples of non-compliance and had no objections about our quarantine procedure. Therefore I would like to thank the seed health laboratory staff who helped me on this occasion and all those who carefully and correctly labeled the introduced materials being grown in the field. ISO accreditation is progressing, but these routine inspections are additional.
Nutrition, health and food security 