From farm to fork – ISO recipe for successful food supply chains

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ISO’s solutions for ensuring quality and safety in the food industry are the subject of a new brochure – ISO & food – which provides a concise overview of International Standards available and how they can help.

Today more than ever, food products regularly cross national boundaries at every stage of the supply chain. ISO International Standards create confidence in the products we eat or drink by ensuring the world uses the same recipe when it comes to food quality, safety and efficiency.

The new brochure underlies the benefits of ISO’s consensus-based approach, which provides a platform for developing practical tools through common understanding and cooperation with all stakeholders on board – from agricultural producers, to food manufacturers, laboratories, regulators, consumers, etc.

Out of more than 19 000 ISO International Standards, some 1 000 are specifically dedicated to food, and deal with subjects as diverse as agricultural machinery, logistics, transportation, manufacturing, labeling, packaging and storage. ISO standards bring together state-of-the-art knowhow and disseminate it to both developed and developing countries. They are therefore powerful tools for taking action on global challenges.

The brochure highlights the benefits of ISO standards for industry, regulators and consumers, and argues that by implementing voluntary ISO standards, companies make a proactive commitment to the principles they stand for: quality, transparency, accountability and safety.

ISO works closely with key stakeholders in the food supply chain to ensure the relevance and market uptake of its standards. ISO’s multi-stakeholder approach consolidates contributions from industry, government, research, academia, international organizations and NGOs. Some of the organizations contributing to ISO’s food standards include the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Global Food Safety Initiative, the International Dairy Federation and World Health Organization, among many others.

ISO standards to help measure noisy seas / ISO/PAS 17208-1:2012

ISO standards to help measure noisy seas

Noise generated by human use of the oceans and other waterways can be harmful to the marine environment. To help quantify this noise, and establish appropriate standards for the generation, transmission, and reception of underwater sound, ISO has formed a new subcommittee, SC 3, within technical committee ISO/TC 43, Acoustics, devoted to underwater acoustics.

The committee has already developed its first standard, publicly available specification ISO/PAS 17208-1:2012, Acoustics – Quantities and procedures for description and measurement of underwater sound from ships – Part 1: General requirements for measurements in deep water. The document can be used to demonstrate compliance with contract requirements, enable periodic signature assessments and in research and development. Intended users include government agencies, research vessel operators and commercial vessel owners operating in acoustically sensitive waters.

A combination of factors contribute to making the seas noisy places: commercial ships, cruise ships, military ships and submarines, air guns used for oceanographic research and minerals exploration, water sports, active sonar, acoustic communications, offshore alternative energy sources, and marine construction projects, along with natural and biological sources.

Dr. George Frisk, Chair of SC 3 explained, “Governments, industry, environmental organizations as well as concerned scientists and engineers are struggling to understand the impacts that this noise may have on marine ecology, marine animals, oceanographic research, underwater biological and anthropogenic acoustic communications, and underwater surveillance of major waterways and ports for protection from potentially catastrophic natural and/or terrorist events. These efforts have revealed that there is a need to standardize the methods of measurement and assessment of underwater sound generated by various sources, as well as its propagation and reception by transducers and biological organisms.”

SC 3’s scope will focus on methods of measurement and assessment of the generation, propagation and reception of underwater sound and its reflection and scattering from the seabed, sea surface and biological organisms, and will include all aspects of the effects of underwater sound on the underwater environment, humans and aquatic life.

Improved indoor environments with ISO standard /ISO 16817:2012

Improved indoor environments with ISO standard

A new ISO standard on indoor visual environments will help designers, architects, builders and regulators to ensure the state of the art for the health, safety, well being and efficiency of the occupants and users.

Indoor visual comfort implies more than just providing a comfortable lighting environment for executing a task. A new ISO standard prov...ides a framework for taking into consideration the various parameters that influence the quality of the indoor environment.

ISO 16817:2012, Building environment design – Indoor environment – Design process for visual environment, will help design team members by giving them a process to ensure the required visual comfort, physiological effect of light and energy performance and sustainability of buildings.

The design of an indoor visual environment of the required quality for users must take into account human needs that include elements linked to task performance, visual comfort, health, safety and well-being.

Design teams, including architects and engineers, as well as building clients, contractors, government officials, and academic staff will find in this standard a useful tool for their task of applying an effective design process in the pursuit of an indoor visual environment of the required quality for the users.

The standard is a guideline which invites designers to follow an iterative and progressive approach to making choices and reaching compromise solutions according to the goals of the client, and to the constraints and the opportunities linked to the building site. It will help to achieve the performance level or values to be established by the programme and/or applicable regulation.

Stephen Turner, Chair of ISO/TC 205, comments: “Application of the family of indoor environment design standards developed in ISO/TC 205, Building environment design, help to assure the health, productivity and well-being of building occupants. ISO 1681 will help building designers in particular to provide the desired quality of indoor environment and to achieve a high-performance and high-quality visual environment, while managing interactions with other aspects of project design. “

ISO 16817:2012, provides an integrated design process for high-quality indoor visual environment including architectural and engineering aspects of daylighting and artificial lighting for user satisfaction, well-being and productivity as well as the energy performance and sustainability of buildings.

السجل البيئي للمنشآت الصناعية - منتديات فرست QHSE World

السجل البيئي للمنشآت الصناعية - منتديات فرست QHSE World