BIS brings new standard on food safety

Chandigarh, March 31: With food safety hazards on the rise across the country, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the country’s apex quality control body, has now come up with a new standard for food safety management systems. The standard, IS/ISO 22000, published by BIS recently, has provisions for all kinds of organisations within the food chain to implement a Food Safety Management System. These organisations range from feed producers, primary producers, food manufacturers, transport and storage operators and subcontractors to retail and food service outlets. Service providers are also included in it. The Standard has become necessary because of the significant increase of illnesses caused by infected food in both developed and developing countries- said Chander Shekhar, deputy director general (North) of BIS. Since food reaches consumers via supply chains that may link many different types of organisation and may stretch across multiple borders, one weak link somewhere can lead to unsafe food that can be dangerous to the health of the consumers, he added. According to Renuka B. Salwan, deputy director (PR) of BIS, this standard is backed by international consensus, which harmonises the requirements for systematically managing safety in food supply chains and offers a unique solution for good practice on a worldwide basis.