History of NSF International
NSF International, founded in 1944 as the National Sanitation Foundation, is known for the development of standards, product testing and certification services in the areas of public health, safety and protection of the environment. The following timeline takes you through NSF's history, step by step:
- 1944 Walter Snyder, Henry Vaughn and Nathan Sinai found the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) in the School of Public Health, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- 1952 The National Sanitation Foundation Testing Laboratory (NSFTL) is chartered and the Food Equipment Program starts. In addition, NSF establishes the Council of Public Health Consultants.
- 1963 NSF opens regional offices.
- 1965 Plastics Piping and Wastewater Treatment Programs start.
- 1976 Biosafety Cabinetry Program starts with an award from the National Institutes of Health.
- 1980 Drinking Water Treatment Units Program starts.
- 1984 Bottled Water Program starts. Health Advisory Board is established.
- 1985 Drinking Water Additives Program starts with a cooperative agreement from the US EPA.
- 1985 NSF opens an office in Brussels, Belgium.
- 1987 NSF laboratory opens in Sacramento, California.
- 1990 NSF and NSFTL merge and the name is changed to NSF International.
- 1991 NSF receives accreditation by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for its product certification programs. NSF establishes networking agreements with KIWA (The Netherlands), JIA (Japan and Korea) and Jenny Hung (Taiwan, R.O.C.). ISO 9000 program starts.
- 1993 NSF receives accreditation from Netherlands-based Raad voor Accreditatie (RvA).
- 1994 NSF establishes a networking agreement with IMTA (Mexico).
- 1996 NSF-ISR is established as a wholly-owned subsidiary of NSF International.
- 1996 NSF establishes a joint certification agreement with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA).
- 1996 NSF is selected as a Collaborating Centre on Drinking Water Safety and Treatment by the World Health Organization (WHO).
- 1997 NSF is selected as a Collaborating Centre on Food Safety by the World Health Organization (WHO).
- 1997 NSF opens an office in Nairobi, Kenya.
- 1998 NSF opens offices in Tokyo, Japan and Sydney, Australia.
- 1999 The Center for Public Health Education at NSF International, a new division of NSF, is founded.
- 1999 The Toxicology Group, LLC, a wholly-owned company, is founded.
- 1999 NSF establishes a partnership with WRc in London.
- 2000 Nairobi office moves to Cairo, Egypt.
- 2001 NSF acquires Cook & Thurber, LLC, the leading provider of processed-based product safety and quality audits for the food, beverage, animal feed, and packaging industries.
- 2001 NSF forms a strategic partnership with the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA), the nation's largest trade organization for manufacturers, retailers, and suppliers of natural products, to provide the most comprehensive certification program for the dietary supplements industry.
- 2001 NSF acquires the Institute for Nutraceutical Advancement (INA), an organization that develops and validates analytical methods for testing botanical ingredients.
- 2002 NSF acquires FreshCheck™, a leader in food microbiological testing and sanitation audits for the supermarket industry.
