International standardization of the food industry and the stages of its construction

Molecular research of food products and the development of new technologies for their processing are becoming more and more popular in the 21st century. After all, human health, especially in the last two years, is one of the most important categories both for security issues and for the subject of creating a business and individual subcategories. Since scientific and technological development is increasingly faced with globalization processes, as well as with the exchange of certain achievements between countries, there is an increasing need to create more regulatory legal acts that will regulate these processes and balance their development without significant differences. In order for the introduction of new technologies in any industry, including in the food industry, as well as in molecular research, to proceed most harmoniously, international standards are being created both at the local and national, supranational and global levels. Today we will introduce you to some of the major international food standards.

Foodstuffs - Determination of citrinin in food by HPLC-MS/MS

EN 17203:2021

The presence of a certain food element significantly affects the safety of the entire product. It should also be noted that a significant indicator is the level of concentration of a particular vitamin or element. To ensure that the consumption and operation of food is not only safe, but also beneficial, international documents such as EN 17203: 2021 are being created.

This document describes a procedure for the determination of the citrinin content in food (cereals, red yeast rice (RYR)), herbs and food supplements by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

This method has been validated for citrinin in red yeast rice and in the formulated food supplements in the range of 2,5 μg/kg to 3 000 μg/kg and in wheat flour in the range of 2,5 μg/kg to 100 μg/kg. Laboratory experiences have shown that this method is also applicable to white rice, herbs such as a powder of ginkgo biloba leaves and the formulated food supplements in the range of 2,5 μg/kg to 50 μg/kg.

This international standard concerns only a certain method of introducing a chemical element, which is why you should clearly study the annotation given to the document in order for its acquisition to affect your organization or business only in a positive way.

Microbiology of the food chain - Methods for the detection of Anisakidae L3 larvae in fish and fishery products - Part 1: UV-press method (ISO 23036-1:2021)

EN ISO 23036-1:2021

The sphere of human activity associated with fish products, or rather its categories as food products, is quite popular, especially in states close to water areas. That is why an appropriate number of normative legal acts are being created to regulate this activity. It should also be noted that it is fish, as a food product, in addition to useful qualities, that has a large number of norms and warnings. One of the documents regulating these issues is EN ISO 23036-1: 2021.

This part of ISO 23036 specifies a method that is applicable for the detection of Anisakidae L3 larvae commonly found in marine and anadromous fishes. The method can be applied to fresh fish and/or frozen fish, lightly processed fish products, such as marinated, salted or cold smoked. This method allows quantifying parasitic infections by estimating the number of parasites in the fish musculature. This method doesn’t allow determining species or genotype of detected parasites, which identification is made by morphological and/or molecular methods.

This international standard is quite narrow-profile and is suitable only for certain, it would be correct to say, limited categories of business activities. In case you are interested in acquiring international standards governing food-related activities, but none of the above is suitable for your field of activity, you can follow the link to our website and familiarize yourself with all the standards, and be sure to find suitable ones for your organization.

Aromatic natural raw materials - Vocabulary (ISO 9235:2021)

EN ISO 9235:2021

The application of international standards is becoming more and more popular both for small-scale production and on a corporate scale. Nevertheless, for the application of standards, as well as for the implementation of any innovation, appropriate instructions are required. When it comes to regulatory international documents, it should be noted that a correct understanding of the terminology of these documents used will have one of the most important impact on the construction of the entire system. It is in order to avoid problems when decoding a concept specified in an international standard that so-called dictionaries are created, one of which is EN ISO 9235: 2021.

Microbiology of the food chain - Methods for the detection of Anisakidae L3 larvae in fish and fishery products - Part 2: Artificial digestion method (ISO 23036-2:2021)

EN ISO 23036-2:2021

Sometimes the same standard can be applied globally to the same industry. Nevertheless, it should be noted that each of its parts can both complement the other, and specialize in standardizing different subcategories of the same area. One example of the complementarity of one part of another is the international standard EN ISO 23036-2: 2021.

This part of ISO 23036 specifies a method that is applicable for the detection of Anisakidae L3 larvae commonly found in marine and anadromous fishes. The method can be applied to fresh fish and/or frozen fish, lightly processed fish products, such as marinated, salted or smoked, and it’s also suitable for visceral organs as confirmatory method for visual inspection scheme. The artificial digestion method allows quantifying parasitic infections by estimating the number of parasites in the fish musculature and, when applied to fresh fish or lightly processed fish products (never frozen before processing), determining the viability of Anisakidae L3, which may be present. This method doesn’t allow determining species or genotype of detected parasites, which identification is made by morphological and/or molecular methods.

This international standard describes artificial methods that have been identified directly empirically through interaction with a certain category of human activity. If your field of activity comes into contact with the production, processing or sale of fish products, we strongly recommend that you have this document available, since this category of food directly affects human health.

Regulatory support with international standards

Despite the fact that the food industry is primarily associated with the visualization of a certain pattern of food consumption, it should not be forgotten that the world is evolving and genetic inheritance does not stand still. Every day, more and more additives are invented directly for the food sector, which can both simplify the process of production and processing of food products, as well as extend the service life, and significantly affect human health. The question is how exactly - in a positive or negative way, this influence will be realized. That is why you should adhere to the rules prescribed in international standards in order to be sure that the impact will be made only in a positive way, both for the people and the activities of your organization.