TOY INDUSTRY NEWS

September 2007: STR Will Offer the Toy Industry A Seminar on Protecting Your Company, Your Brand and Consumers

With the large volume of recalls that have plagued major toy manufacturers and retailers, STR is producing an in-depth educational seminar that will address the critical quality and safety concerns within the industry. Our dynamic program will be designed to deliver the necessary tools and information you need to effectively monitor the quality and safety of your supply chain and to ensure the highest level of confidence in your products and suppliers. Details on this event will be available soon and posted on www.strlab.com.

European Union (EU) Has Published an Updated List of Standards Regarding Toy Safety

The Commission of the European Union (EU) has published an updated list of standards that can be used to demonstrate conformity with the essential requirements of it directive on the safety of toys (88/378/EEC). Click here for more..

FREE Webcasts on Lead in Children's toys

The recent high profile recalls of children's toys have raised awareness of the dangers of high levels of lead in consumer products. Thermo Fisher Scientific is offering Free webinars on "Screening for Lead in Children's Toys" and "RoHS". If you are interested in registering for both or either of these webinars please contact Kevin Smith at 860-749-8371 ext 415 or rohs@strus.com. You can also proceed directly to Thermo's website at http://www.niton.com/News-and-Events/default.aspx?qry=web.

Recent Consumer Product Recalls Spur Increased Scrutiny of Imported Products

The incidences of food and children's' product recalls over the past several months has spurred increased review of safety regulations by many state and national agencies here in the U.S., as well as in Canada and Europe. Last month, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation conducted a hearing on the safety of Chinese imports. Meanwhile, two important pieces of Federal legislation have appeared. Read More.

RoHS UPDATES

Eu RoHs

The century of Norway has proposed the prohibition to produce, import, export, or sell consumer products that contain certain specific substances. Read More.

Halogen-Free Testing

Halogen-free testing in the detection of chlorine and bromines is available to companies in the electrical and electronics (E/E) industry by STR. Read More.

California RoHS

California RoHS regulation became effective January 1, 2007 and includes the restriction of four heavy metals with Maximum Concentration Values (MCVs) by weight per homogeneous material: lead (0.1%), mercury (0.1%), hexavalent chromium (0.1%), and cadmium (0.01%).Read More.

SHUSTER NEWS

Shuster Participates in AOAC Validation

Shuster's chemistry laboratory participated in a collaborative validation of the proposed AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemists) method entitled "Determination of Campesterol, Stigmasterol, and Beta-Sitosterol in Saw Palmetto Raw Material and Dietary Supplements by Gas Chromatography". Read More.

Shuster Scores High In Proficiency Testing

The Chemistry department at Shuster Laboratories has been a participant in the largest food proficiency testing program in United States provided by the American Proficiency Institute (API). The lab has had a successful long-term performance since 2005. Read More.

FOOD INDUSTRY NEWS AND CHINA

Shuster to Participate in The China International Food Safety & Quality Conference + Expo

Shuster will exhibit at the China International Food Safety & Quality Conference September 12-13, 2007 in Beijing, China. We invite attendees to visit us at Booth #3029 to learn more about our Global Sourcing Quality
Management™ program, which includes risk assessment, testing, audit, and inspection services to ensure companies have the highest level of confidence in their ingredients, products and systems.

During this important global event, Dr. F. Robert Rolle, senior consultant and auditor at Shuster, will present "Building a Safe Food Sourcing Program". This seminar is scheduled on September 13, 2007 at 4:00 p.m.

For more information or to register for this event, go to www.chinafoodsafety.com. For more information about Shuster and our quality and safety services, please contact Katie Griffin at katie.griffin@shusterlabs.com.

Shuster and STR Present "Building a Safe Food Sourcing Program": Seminar Series in China, September 2007

Please join Shuster and STR in Shanghai, on September 17, 2007 and in Shenzhen, on September 20, 2007, for an in-depth seminar designed to help your company achieve the highest level of confidence in its product quality and safety at all critical points in the supply chain. The IACET-approved* seminars will provide ingredient and raw material suppliers, manufacturers, exporters, and agents/distributors with the hands-on tools and strategies they need to develop a comprehensive food safety sourcing program. To register for these seminars please visit www.shusterlabs.com/seminars.

*This training is IACET approved. Participants can earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) upon qualification. To obtain full credit, the participant must be present for the entire duration of the seminar and successfully demonstrate understanding of the learning objectives through an assessment. Participants will be notified about their results within 3 weeks of the seminar, and, if qualified, will be awarded a CEU certificate.

REGULATORY/COMPLIANCE UPDATES

FDA Announces Program to Enhance States' Food Safety Programs

On July 31, 2007, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched a national program to bring about the adoption of more uniform, equivalent, and high quality regulatory programs by state agencies responsible for regulating facilities that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food under FDA's jurisdiction. Read More.

U.S. Packaging Compliance

The U.S. Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse (TPCH) has submitted a report dated June 20th, 2007 on a study that was conducted with packaging materials for the presence of four restricted heavy metals. Read More.

STR NEWS

STR Joins Materials and Manufacturing Technology Network (MMTN)

STR is a member of the Regional Technology Corporation (RTC) and an Affiliate of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council (EDC). We have recently joined the Materials and Manufacturing Technology Network (MMTN) and the Bio Economic Technology Alliance (BETA) Steering Committees. Both Bill Tenero and Kevin Smith will participate in the upcoming MMTN steering committee meeting that will be held on September 21st, 2007 in Springfield, MA. Also, Judith Haber and Kevin Smith will participate in the BETA steering committee. Involvement in these steering committees gives STR additional exposure to manufacturers in the industry.

Human Aspects of Conduction Internal Auditing

Bryce E. Carson, President & CEO of STR-R, an ANSI/ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) accredited international provider of quality management system registrations to the ISO 9001:2000 and AS9100 standards, is also the author of ISO 9001:2000-A New Paradigm for Healthcare. This book was the first of its kind published for use by healthcare organizations to implement a sustainable management system. It provides detail and information needed by the healthcare organization for everything from writing the Quality Manual to the Self Assessment of the organization for readiness for the certification survey. Click here to read an excerpt of this valuable resource, which was recently printed in American Society for Quality (ASQ) newsletter. For questions, please contact Mr. Carson at bryce.carson@str-r.com.