Program areas at NSF
The NSF water division certifies products that come into contact with drinking water; such products include plumbing components, water treatment chemicals, drinking water filters, and pool & spa equipment. NSF pioneered the development of the american national standards for all materials and products which treat (or come in contact with) drinking water, to help protect public health and the environment, and minimize adverse health effects. In 1990, the u.s. epa replaced its own drinking water product advisory program with these NSF standards. Today, most plumbing codes require certification to NSF standards for pipes and plumbing components in commercial and residential buildings.
The NSF health sciences division offers reference standards, certification, and testing services for the dietary supplement and cosmetics, and functional food industries.
The NSF global labs division provides engineering, chemistry, microbiology, and toxicology lab and testing services across all major industries. Plastic and plumbing testing services are also provided along with r&d services to assist with market entry for plastic piping products separate from certification testing. Testing revenue generally consist of product testing for standard certification. If the product passes testing to the standard, then certification is granted based on said standard. If the product fails testing to the standard, the customer may agree to retesting of the product or receive a report of failure. The customer may use the report to remediate product for future testing to the standard.
The NSF food safety division includes both food equipment and nonfood compounds certification. The food equipment program tests and certifies food equipment products for acceptance across the us, europe, and other global markets. The nonfood compounds program offers risk management solutions for nonfood compounds and proprietary substances (i.e., lubricants, cleaners, and water treatment chemicals used in food and beverage processing).
Standards: NSF International facilitates the process of developing new standards and maintenance of our existing standards, which is over 80 published documents. Our team works to ensure that all policies and procedures are followed and that our stakeholders are equipped to have conversations leading to consensus; this includes but is not limited to schedule/coordination of meetings, sharing essential documentation (reference standards, data, meeting summaries, etc. ), committee membership recruitment and leading the balloting process for new standards and revisions to published standards.