The food sector uses various standards to help ensure product and process safety and quality. At the same time, different sectors within the food industry engage with the development of international and European standards that may affect their businesses.
Anne Marie Crowley, a Standards Officer with the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI), would like to make it easier for food industry stakeholders to have their say.
NSAI is the authorised body in the Republic of Ireland for the publication of international and European standards. In Northern Ireland, the British Standards Institute (BSI) publishes standards.
Using its national mirror committees, NSAI reviews, comments and votes on international and European standards of interest, she explains. NSAI also develops national standards where necessary using national expert groups.
Anne Marie, a microbiologist, has worked with the NSAI since 1992, and was employed in the food and drink industry before that, so she has a good knowledge of the sector and its standards in the Republic of Ireland.
ISO standards
The International Standards Organisation (ISO) standards are used in the food sector because food is traded worldwide, she explains, and standards are used to facilitate trade. However, European Committee for Standardization (CEN) standards are also used in food businesses. A recent example is a standard for pest management services (EN 16636) published in March 2015.
The most widely used national food standard is I.S. 340:2007 Hygiene in Catering.This was first published in 1994 and revised in 2007 to comply with the EU hygiene regulation.
The equivalent standard in the food retail sector, which is also widely used, is I.S. 341:2007 Hygiene in Food Retailing and Wholesaling. A significant number of food processors use ISO 22000 “Management of Food Safety” for control of operations and this standard is currently being revised by ISO.
Forthcoming standards
Further back in the food chain, ISO is finalising a new technical specification for the feed sector to be used with ISO 22000, she adds. “This will address hygiene and other aspects like record-keeping and cross-contamination. This technical specification will be finished in October and available next year.”
ISO and CEN develop and revise methods of food analysis. Recent new additions are vitamin and allergen methods and a new working group for a standard on criteria for ingredients to be considered ‘natural’.
CEN is also working on standards for traceable and sustainable cocoa. “We are not cocoa producers [on the island of Ireland] but we are cocoa users,” says Anne Marie. “We want cocoa users here to know this standard is available and, when they are sourcing their cocoa, they may decide to refer to this standard in their contracts.”
Another CEN standard in development relates to halal food, which should interest producers and retailers of Halal foods on the island of Ireland.
Working groups
To help stakeholders have their say on relevant standards, Anne Marie is organising working groups by topic within the Food Industry Standards Consultative Committee.
“We are keen to have as much participation at national level as possible, but you can only engage people if they feel it is relevant to them,” she says. “For example, the infant milk formula people and the meat industry people would be interested in different areas.”
Participating in such committees can enable stakeholders not only to contribute their views, it can also help them to develop contacts with others in their industry on the island of Ireland, Europe and internationally, she notes.
“We would welcome enquiries from people who wish to participate,” she says, encouraging readers to visit the website at nsai.ie.
PANEL: Anne Marie’s life and likes
Lives: Booterstown, Co Dublin, two grown-up daughters, one who works in data analytics in Dublin and the other who is a junior hospital doctor in Glasgow.
Hobbies: Playing golf and walking the dog
Pets: A Scottish terrier called Jazz
Favourite radio station: Lyric FM
Entertainment: Cinema, National Concert Hall
Interesting fact: She worked in Irish Distillers in the 1980s and was involved in the development of West Coast Cooler.
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