Food Processing

ISO 14001

The ISO 14001 standards are designed to provide an internationally recognized framework for environmental management, measurement, evaluation and auditing. A system compliant to ISO14001 is a management system dedicated to manage the environmental issues of an organization.

A Certified Environmental Management System proves that the business is taking active steps to fulfill social & environmental responsibilities. Environmentally credible companies have a competitive edge in national and international markets. An “Environmental Management System” helps the organization to be in control of and successfully manage the most significant environmental aspects, e.g. emissions, waste-handling, utilize natural resources and energy-efficiency together with compliance to environmentalregulations.

Some of the benefits of the ISO14001 certification are in the following areas:

1. Improved corporate image
2. Strategic investment
3. Significant demonstration of management responsibilities & commitment to environmental concerns towards employees, stakeholders & society
4. Competitive advantage over international trade barriers
5. Compliance with concerned statutory & regulatory requirements
6. Tremendous increase in process yields
7. Help in converting by products and other waste into commercially valuable forms
8. Significantly reduced energy consumption, hazards and accidents Effectively manage the significant environmental aspects

ISO 45001

Human life is precious and safety of personnel and interested parties is the responsibility of an organization.

ISO 45001 is a globally recognized standard for occupational health and safety management system and defines the health and labor protection system of an organization. An ISO 45001 certification establishes an organization’s commitment to provide a safe working environment to protect employees & other concerns. It aims at reducing and preventing accidents and accident related loss of life, equipment, time and damage to environment.

In providing a framework to ISO 45001, many Health & Safety issues are brought together into documented system. This enables the organization to formulate policy and objectives, taking into account legislative requirements, significant hazards and risks, related to occupational health & safety. With the resultant system in place, whether integrated or not, ensure that the tools for control exist; this provides peace of mind for senior management along with systems and procedures for staff & persons concerned and can reduce legal costs and working time loss.

Demonstrating the commitment to Occupational Health & Safety issues positively impact the company’s success and bring the following benefits:

1. Improvement in safety culture, increasing control of hazards
2. Improvement in the efficiency of the operations & consequent reduction in accidents & production time loss
3. Improvement in the security / quality of work places, employee morale and adherence to company values
4. Reduction in insurance premiums
5. Enhancement of corporate image
6. Demonstration of legal compliance

ISO 22000

Increasing consumer demand for safe food has led many companies to develop food quality management systems and food safety management systems, based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)approach.

In 2001, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) started the development of a management standard for the food industry, building on HACCP’s role in food safety management systems. This resulted in the ISO 220002005 standard, which defines food safety management requirements for companies that need to meet and exceed global food safety regulations.

ISO 220002005 outlines the Food Safety Management System Requirements for any organization in the food chain, and is one of a family of standards focused on the development, implementation and improvement of a food safety management system.

Benefits of implementing ISO 220002005 include: A clear, auditable, global standard providing a framework to bring together all parts of your Food Safety Management System (FSMS) Demonstrates commitment to customer satisfaction Tests compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements and your own systems through internal audits and management reviews Improves your organizations image Requires regular testing of data integrity / lot recall programs and process audits Aligns with other management systems (ISO 9001, ISO 14001)

Who should certify to ISO 220002005?

Since ISO 22000 is a generic food safety management standard it can be used by any organization directly or indirectly involved in the food chain including- farms, fisheries, dairies, meat processors, manufacturers of soups, snacks, bread, cereal, beverages, canned and frozen food, etc as well as food service providers such as restaurants, fast food chains, hospitals and hotels.

Supporting services are also important, including providers of food transportation, storage and distribution, catering services, product suppliers for equipment, additives, raw materials, cleaning and sanitizing products and packaging. If your products touch the food industry or the food we eat, part or all of the ISO 22000 requirements will apply.

HACCP

HACCP is a management system in which food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product. For successful implementation of a HACCP plan, management must be strongly committed to the HACCP concept. A firm commitment to HACCP by top management provides company employees with a sense of the importance of producing safe food.

HACCP is designed for use in all segments of the food industry from growing, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, distributing, and merchandising to preparing food for consumption. Prerequisite programs such as current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) are an essential foundation for the development and implementation of successful HACCP plans. Food safety systems based on the HACCP principles have been successfully applied in food processing plants, retail food stores, and food service operations. The seven principles of HACCP have been universally accepted by government agencies, trade associations and the food industry around the world.

7 HACCP Principles.

1. Analyze hazards
2. Identify critical control points.
3. Establish preventive measures with critical limits for each control point.
4. Establish procedures to monitor the critical control points.
5. Establish corrective actions to be taken when monitoring shows that a critical limit has not been met
6. Establish procedures to verify that the system is working properly
7. Establish effective record keeping to document the HACCP system

FSSC 22000

Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000 is an internationally accepted certification scheme based on a combination of ISO 22000 sector specific PRP and FSSC additional requirements. FSSC 22000 has been developed in respond to customer demands for a recognizable standard against which a food safety management system can be audited and certified.

FSSC 22000 was given Global Recognition by the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative), as well as other food safety schemes such as BRC or IFS. The certification scheme is owned by the Foundation for Food Safety Certification.

FSSC 22000 has been developed for the certification of food safety systems, which guarantee the safety of products during primary production of animal products, manufacture of perishable animal and/or vegetable products, products with a long shelf life and (other) food ingredients like additives, vitamins and bio-cultures, animal food and feed production and food packaging manufacturing, and recently included catering, retail/wholesale and transport and storage services.

FSSAI

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been established under Food Safety and Standards, 2006 which consolidates various acts & orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in various Ministries and Departments. FSSAI has been created for laying down science-based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

Establishment of the Authority

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the Administrative Ministry for the implementation of FSSAI. The Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have already been appointed by Government of India. The Chairperson is in the rank of Secretary to Government of India.

FSSAI has been mandated by the FSS Act, 2006 for performing the following functions:

1. Framing of Regulations to lay down the Standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food and specifying appropriate system of enforcing various standards thus notified.
2. Laying down mechanisms and guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies engaged in certification of food safety management system for food businesses.
3. Laying down procedure and guidelines for accreditation of laboratories and notification of the accredited laboratories.
4. To provide scientific advice and technical support to Central Government and State Governments in the matters of framing the policy and rules in areas which have a direct or indirect bearing of food safety and nutrition.
5. Collect and collate data regarding food consumption, incidence and prevalence of biological risk, contaminants in food, residues of various, contaminants in foods products, identification of emerging risks and introduction of rapid alert system.
6. Creating an information network across the country so that the public, consumers, Panchayats etc receive rapid, reliable and objective information about food safety and issues of concern.
7. Provide training programmes for persons who are involved or intend to get involved in food businesses.
8. Contribute to the development of international technical standards for food, sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards.
9. Promote general awareness about food safety and food standards.

FOSTAC

Food Safety Training & Certification is a large-scale training programme for the food business operators. All food businesses having Central Licenses or State Licenses should have at least one trained and certified food safety supervisor for every 25 food- handlers or part thereof on all their premises.

The food safety supervisors will be certified & trained under FoSTaC.

ORGANIC

Organic production is a system that integrates cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity.

The Principles of Health, Ecology, Fairness, and care are the roots from which organic agriculture grows and develops. They express the contribution that organic agriculture can make to the world, and a vision to improve all agriculture in a global context.

Standards for Organic Production – NPOP. The Standards for Organic Production are notified in National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) by the Director General of Foreign Trade under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992.

The NPOP has a system where in Certification Bodies are accredited with the National Accreditation Body (NAB) which is chaired by the Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce. The Secretariat of the NAB is with APEDA. NPOP covers standards for crops and their products, live stocks and poultry products, aquaculture, apiculture etc. The exports from the country are as per the provisions in NPOP.

KOSHER

The word kosher means proper or acceptable, and it has informally entered the English language with that meaning. But kosher laws have their origin in the Bible, and are detailed in the Talmud and the other codes of Jewish traditions. They have been applied through the centuries to ever-changing situations, and these rulings, both ancient and modern, govern kosher certification.

The Bible lists the basic categories of food items which are not kosher. These include certain animals, fowl and fish (such as pork and rabbit, eagle and owl, catfish and sturgeon), most insects, and any shellfish or reptile. In addition, kosher species of meat and fowl must be slaughtered in a prescribed manner, and meat and dairy products may not be manufactured or consumed together.

For a food to be kosher all units and subunits must be kosher as well. Thus, for example, a cereal may be non-kosher because it has raisins which are coated with a non-kosher, animal-based glycerin. Potato chips can be non-kosher if the vegetable oil used in the fryer has been refined and deodorized on equipment used for tallow production. In fact, equipment used for hot production of non-kosher products may not be used for kosher production without kosherization (a hot purging procedure).

Kosher Certification is the stamp of kosher approval by a rabbinic agency verifying they have checked the products ingredients, production facility and actual production to ensure all ingredients, derivatives, tools and machinery have no trace of non-kosher substances. The Kosher certified symbol assures consumers that both the actual product and its production adhere to all Kosher Law requirements.

HALAL

The Halal certificate is a document that guarantees that products and services aimed at the Muslim population meet the requirements of Islamic law and therefore are suitable for consumption in both Muslim-majority countries and in Western countries where there are significant population group who practice Islam (France, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain).

Halal certification is a process which ensures the features and quality of the products according to the rules established by the Islamic Council that allow the use of the mark Halal. It is mainly applied to meat products and other food products such as milk, canned food and additives.

Specifically, for meat products Halal certifies that the animals were slaughtered in a single cut, thoroughly bled, and their meat have not been in contact with animals slaughtered otherwise and, especially, with pork. Products that are Halal certified are often marked with a Halal symbol, or simply the letter M (as the letter K is used to identify kosher products for Jewish population). See also Kosher certificate.