The National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) is a public health nonprofit organization headquartered in Ann Arbor Charter Township, Michigan, United States. It tests and certifies foods, water, and consumer products. It also facilitates the development of standards for these products, labeling products it has certified to meet these standards with the NSF mark.
NSF is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Standards Council of Canada.
The National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) was founded in 1944 by the University of Michigan School of Public Health, in an attempt to standardize requirements around sanitation and food safety. The first standards developed by the NSF set sanitation requirements on soda fountain and luncheonette equipment.
The NSF certifies food equipment, including food preparation and dispensing equipment, ice makers, refrigerators and freezers, dishwashing sinks, vending machines, mobile food carts, and service counters. These certifications are widely recognized internationally.
NSF's Food division also certifies the gluten-freeness and other similar characteristics of products, as well as certifying bottled water and packaged ice.
The NSF also certifies dietary supplements through a standard it facilitated the development of adopted by ANSI (NSF/American National Standards Institute Standard 173), testing for safe levels of contaminants and that the ingredients on supplements match their labels. it competed in this with the United States Pharmacopeia certification mark.
The NSF also develops standards for and certifies water quality. As of 2024, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets limits on drinking water contaminants based on standards set by the NSF.
The NSF Consumer Products Division tests and certifies consumer products and appliances used in and around the home.
NSF maintains laboratories in North America, South America, Europe and China. NSF's laboratories are accredited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. NSF laboratories are ISO 17025 certified (testing and calibration).
The chairman of the Board of Directors, is the retired Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President of the McDonald's Corporation. And since March 2022, the President and chief executive officer is Pedro Sancha, formerly of Ecolab and Shell.