14 Quality Assurance in North America:

Merging Customer and Producer Needs

C.S. Glenister,^1 A. Hale^2 and A. Luczynski^3

(^1) IPM Laboratories, Inc., 980 Main Street, Locke, NY 13092-0300, USA;
(^2) The Bug Factory, 1636 East Island Highway, Nanoose Bay, British Columbia, Canada

V9P 9A5;^3 Biobugs Consulting Ltd, 16279 30B Ave., Surrey, British Columbia,

Canada V4P 2X7

Introduction

Individual insectaries, distributors, cus-
tomers and public employees have long
had their own methods for evaluating qual-
ity of beneficial organisms. Many times, the
methods have been unique to each entity.
Two organizations in North America have
influenced the direction of the standardiza-
tion process: the Association of Natural
Bio-control Producers (ANBP), represent-
ing producers, and the British Columbia
(BC) Hot House Grower’s Association (BCH-
HGA), representing users. Developments in

these two sectors will be discussed below.

The first unified effort concerning quality

control by the North American insectaries

began with the formation of the ANBP in

1990. The mission statement of the organi-
      zation now stands as: ANBP’s mission is to
      address key issues of the biological control
      industry through advocacy, education and
      quality assurance. Its four main pro-
      gramme areas are quality standards, educa-
      tion, research and regulation. The
      Association had more than 120 members in
      the year 2000, including 46 producers or
      suppliers.

© CAB International 2003. Quality Control and Production of Biological Control Agents:
Theory and Testing Procedures (ed. J.C. van Lenteren) 205

Abstract

The history of a unified North American industry effort towards quality assurance began with the forma-
tion of the Association of Natural Bio-control Producers in 1990. Plans were first all-encompassing: to
assess all steps in the product process from the quality of inputs into production through to the quality of
the product on customer receipt, including the information supplied. Efforts eventually focused on the
product received by the customer. North American producers joined with customers, researchers and
government representatives to create a subcommittee of the American Society for Testing and Materials
(ASTM) for development of quality assurance of beneficial organisms. By the year 2001, the ASTM sub-
committee had created drafts for 16 species of beneficial organisms and ratified three standards.
The history of North American quality-assurance work is summarized and a case-study is presented
on the quality of the biological control products that the growers received, focusing on Encarsia formosa
and Phytoseiulus persimilis.