Kwaliteits-Controle-Bureau

Quality Control Bureau (KCB)

KCB is an independent governing body, supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV). KCB only performs public duties. The head office employs about 40 people in management and staff departments. In the field are about 140 employees. The inspection work is carried out from different offices in the various districts.

The board of the foundation KCB consists of members appointed by organizations in the fruit and vegetable sector, the floriculture industry and the Central Bureau for Food Trade (CBL). The appointment of the chairman of the board is approved by the Minister of LNV.

The main task of KCB is to conduct import and export inspections of fresh fruit and vegetables, cut flowers and potted plants/ornamentals. KCB also monitors the quality of fresh fruit and vegetables traded in The Netherlands. It’s the task of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) to perform the phytosanitary export inspections and to issue the phytosanitary certificates.

KCB performs:

  • import and export inspections of fresh fruit and vegetables (quality)
  • the quality inspections of fresh fruit and vegetables traded within The Netherlands, with exception of the retail stage
  • import inspections of fresh fruit and vegetables, cut flowers  and potted plants/ornamentals and export inspections of plant products not covered by a specific sector (phytosanitary), also known as "various products"
  • sampling and monitoring activities for export to specific destinations like Japan, USA and Canada

In addition KCB performs some plant health-related projects for the government such as survey Tuta absoluta in tomatoes and survey African codling moth in peppers.

The issuance of the phytosanitary certifcates with an CITES description is also executed by NVWA officials. 

For the execution of the inspections KCB is accredited by The Accreditation Council (RvA, reg. Nr. I-070), an independent Dutch organization. The accreditations of KCB are based on ISO/IEC 17020, requirements for an inspection authority. The accreditations show that KCB performs the inspections in an impartial and independent manner and that KCB has the required expertise to carry out the inspections.