An essential part of sustainable agriculture, the development of high quality seeds relies on the safe importation and propagation of materials from different regions of the world. Failure to ensure imported samples are safe can have disastrous impacts on the local environment.

In 2016, SGS opened Brazil's first accredited private seed quarantine facility in Piracicaba. This high-tech facility has now added 14 new entries to the list of species for which it can offer quarantine testing services.

The 14 new crop species are:

• Onions – Allium cepa
• Wax gourd – Benincasa hispida
• Signalgrass – Brachiaria spp
• Pigeon pea – Cajanus cajan
• Chickpea – Cicer arietinum
• Gourd – Lagenaria spp
• Lentils – Lens culinaris
• Luffa species
• Alfalfa – Medicago sativa
• Bitter gourd – Momordica charantia
• Tobacco – Nicotiana tabacum
• Radish – Raphanus sativus
• Castor bean – Ricinus communis
• Sweetleaf – Stevia rebaudiana

To ensure samples are safe, SGS's team of qualified experts perform pest diagnoses, including phytosanitary analysis, using analytical methods such as:

• Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
• Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

Testing focuses on the identification of regulated and/or quarantined pests, including insects, nematodes, fungi, bacteria, viruses, weeds and other organisms. In addition, the facility can analyze seed viability by looking at seed vigor and germination behavior.

Following this expansion, SGS can now offer comprehensive quarantine testing on 61 species, representing all the main crops used in Brazil for food, feed, industrial and pharmaceutical processing. The full list of species can be seen in Table 1.
 

Table 1: List of species (scientific name)

SGS's fully accredited testing facility in Piracicaba works alongside the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA), providing an independent testing service for MAPA certification.

Testing, analysis and certification for the agricultural sector

With over 140 years of experience operating in global markets, we are ideally positioned to help Brazil's agricultural sector achieve high quality results. Our testing, analysis and certification services are designed to ensure phytosanitary security for seeds, plants and other propagation materials as they are transported around the world. We are the first choice for agricultural businesses looking for safe, fast and accurate analysis of their agricultural products.

For further information, please contact:

Edson Corbo
Seed & Crop Manager - Brazil
mob: +55 34 9 91928521

About SGS

SGS is the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 97,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 2,600 offices and laboratories around the world.