SGS to certify seed treatment plants to the ESTA

Date:03-26-2013

ESA’s quality assurance scheme for seed treatment and treated seed, the "European Seed Treatment Assurance ESTA” is going live. With SGS Germany, the first company has now been accredited by ESA to carry out seed treatment audits for the certification of seed treatment plants. These audits cover a wide range of defined standards and procedures along the whole production process of treated seed.

ESTA combines a number of elements to guarantee professional, high quality seed treatment applications such as independent certification of treatment sites by accredited auditors, defined quality reference values with a uniform testing protocol, and safe use information and respective labeling for users.

Further developing its certification services for agricultural products, SGS ’s accreditation portfolio has been extended to cover seed treatment plants. SGS expert auditors are specifically trained for this new task, facilitating a skilled audit and successful certification of the seed treatment sites. SGS auditors will be available throughout the entire standard’s area of applicability.

“The accreditation of SGS as first ESTA certifying body marks another important step in the implementation of the scheme” says Garlich von Essen, ESA’s Secretary General. “It shows that the concept is workable and that it is now being taken up in practice by the seed companies.”

Earlier this week, ESA already informed about the hiring of Amalia Kafka as dedicated Manager for the implementation and further development of the scheme and its overall management.