The third meeting of the Audit Review Committee was held at the Radisson Hotel in St Louis, MO.

The following persons attended as Committee participants:

Paul Miller and Michael Rector attended the meeting as non-Committee representatives from National DHIA and Quality Certification Services.

Bruce Dokkebakken called the meeting to order. The Minutes of the August 30, 1999 and October 13, 1999 meetings were approved as written.

Michael Rector presented a report on QCS activities and Paul Miller presented an update on the Uniform Data Collection Procedures Committee.

Michael submitted a list of proposed revisions to the CDCB Auditing Guidelines for Field Services. The proposals were reviewed and the following were approved for submission to the CDCB for inclusion in the manual:

1. That the current schedule of annual on-site audits be maintained and the auditor be authorized to call an on-site audit if the management or structure of the service provider changes.

2. That the bulk tank auditing criteria be changed from requiring an explanation for all herds outside of the 96-110% range to requiring that all bulk tank weights be reported.

3. That the field service and meter center manuals be synchronized regarding the requirements for new meter calibration checks, stating that only new meters with manufacturer calibration check stickers over 12 months old be checked for calibration before being placed in service.

4. That training and performance evaluation requirements only apply to field technicians authorized to test without supervision. Assistant field technicians, helpers, and sample takers would be exempt from those requirements as long as a certified field technician was on-site during the test.

5. That field service providers determine a time or condition at which a new field technician becomes authorized to test without supervision and provide that date during the audit.

6. That there be some wording in the document clarifying options available for herds using electronic meters that do not pass the water tests.
7. That mechanisms for verifying electronic identification accuracy continue to be monitored but not stipulated as a requirement for certification.

8. That the following centering period month changes be instituted:

Michael submitted a list of proposed revisions to the CDCB Auditing Guidelines for Laboratories. The proposals were reviewed and the following were approved for submission to the CDCB for inclusion in the manual:

1. That the Sample Handling section of page 9 in the laboratory manual be revised to reflect the following changes:

A. The sample temperature should be 40-42 degrees Celsius coming out of the water bath.

B. There should be no requirement to have a thermometer at the pipette.

2. That the table of normal ranges for sample results be deleted from page 9 in the laboratory manual.

3. That the Acceptable Readings for Calibration Checks section of page 23 in the laboratory manual be revise to require the laboratory to meet or exceed the manufacturer's recommendations for zero drift tolerances.

4. That a set of standard form examples be prepared and provided as appendices to the laboratory manual.

5. That references to "written" documentation be eliminated from the manual and to allow other types of documentation to be used.

6. That a statement be added to the laboratory manual stating that all protein references are to true protein values.

7. That a statement be added requiring the laboratory to analyze samples during the on-site audit.

8. That a statement be added to the laboratory manual prohibiting laboratories from submitting false sample results in place of actual machine results for high or low sample readings.

9. That the Sample Unknowns deadline be routinely set as the second Friday of each month.

10. That the following centering period month changes be instituted:

Michael submitted a list of proposed revisions to the CDCB Auditing Guidelines for Meter Centers. The proposals were reviewed and the following were approved for submission to the CDCB for inclusion in the manual:

1. That meter technicians be certified for a two-year period without binding their certification expiration to the meter center schedule.

2. That the auditor be allowed to establish criteria and develop a list of persons capable of providing meter center setup and meter technician training.

3. That the auditor develop a list of requirements for persons to be considered as authorized meter center setup and meter technician trainers.

4. That persons recognized as authorized meter center setup and meter technician trainers be exempt from on-site audits.

5. That the following person be identified as authorized meter center setup and meter technician trainers and authorized to issue a temporary certification of meter center equipment and meter technician procedures.

6. That a page be added to the meter center manual describing the procedures for training and initial certification.

7. That a page be added to the meter center manual describing the procedures for set-up and initial certification.

8. That the Retention of Calibration Check Documentation be deleted from the meter center manual.

9. That the Calibration Check Documentation be revised to require that the meter technician provide the required documentation to the meter owner.
10. That the sections regarding acceptable readings and minimum number of calibration checks be revised and simplified.

11. That the tolerance for the acceptable readings of calibration checks for scales be changed to 1/10 intervals.

12. That the manual be revised to differentiate the auditing procedures and requirements between meter centers and meter technicians.

13. That a section be added to require meter technicians to read and record calibration check weights to the meter flask or scale graduations.

14. That the sections regarding meter eligibility for water test methods include meter make and models.

15. That the following centering period month changes be instituted:

Michael submitted a list of proposed revisions to the CDCB Auditing Guidelines for Processing Centers. The proposals were reviewed and the following were approved for submission to the CDCB for inclusion in the manual:

1. That the procedure used to determine the certification status of processing centers applying for initial certification should be:

A. They must run the Test Herds and the auditor must verify that the results are within the acceptable tolerances for the key variables.

B. They must provide data in the Standard Transfer Formats and the auditor must verify that the results are within the acceptable tolerances for the key variables.

C. They must meet all of the other criteria documented in the CDCB Auditing Procedures for Processing Centers manual.

2. That the DMS Committee recommendations be gathered and scrutinized to determine if additional data should be submitted during the initial certification process.

3. That acceptable tolerances be determined for key variables in Formats 2, 4, and 14 and that these be monitored by the auditor to ensure processing center accuracy.

4. That each processing center submits the Test Herd in Standard Transfer Format periodically and after revision deadlines have been reached.

5. That the Standard Transfer Format revisions are completed by the deadline date and the data contained within them should be correct.

6. That the Test Herd program be expanded to include 3-4 test types but only one set of herd data.

7. That processing centers only be required to submit Test Herd data needed by the USDA-AIPL for the Genetic Evaluation Program.

A recommendation that the processing centers be required to submit sire fertility summary data was tabled.

The motion was made and passed to recommend adoption of the manual revisions outlined earlier to the CDCB at their October 19th meeting. However, the Committee stipulated that future manual revisions should be made available for review to National DHIA prior to submission to the CDCB.

Michael reported that the Field Service Advisory Committee had recommended that a committee be appointed to establish a United States protocol for meters to be approved for collecting milk weights and samples for the GEP. There was no action taken.

Michael reviewed the dairy goat proposal to have their quality certification provided under CDCB Memorandum of Understanding. There was no action taken.

The Committee discussed setting a time and date for the next meeting but decided to set them at a later date.

Nominations were taken for Chairman and the vote was handled via written ballots. Bill VerBoort, California DHIA General Manager, was elected Chairman.

Michael Rector agreed to revise the auditing manuals and write the minutes of the meeting.

Respectfully Submitted,
Michael Rector
QCS President

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