A BURY company has achieved new certification to ensure its place as market leader for the food, water and dairy industries.

Quality Management Ltd, based in Hornby Street, Bury, specialises in providing a performance assessment service to laboratories in the UK and throughout the world.

It is thought to be the first independent organisation of its kind to achieve the ISO 9001 standard for the provision of proficiency testing services and quality controls for microbiology and chemistry laboratories.

The company has grown rapidly since it was established in 1991 in response to new European Union food safety legislation.

It is staffed by qualified microbiologists, computer and information technologists, chemists, physicists, biological scientiests, linguists and business administrators. They are pictured, celebrating their success.