Fish Microbiology and Quality Assurance

Unit 9 - Assurance and management quality of fish

9.3.5. International standards

1. ISO 9000 Standards
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was established in 1946 at Geneva, Switzerland with an aim of developing uniform international manufacturing trade and communication standards. The purpose of ISO is to promote the development of standardization and related world activities in order to facilitate the international exchange of goods and services and to develop cooperation in intellectual, scientific, technological and economic activities.
The ISO which was started with 14 founding members from Europe, the US, and the British Commonwealth has grown to a world wide federation with over 136 member countries. The task of developing international standards is entrusted with over 180 active technical committees (TC) and over 620 active sub-committees, comprising over 30,000 specialists.
ISO established standards in quality management and quality in the form of the ISO core series of standards in 1987 based on the British Standards (BS) 5750 series (published in 1979) and adopted as ISO 9000 series. Several countries have adopted these as country standards. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has adopted the ISO 9000 series of standards as the Indian Standards (IS) 14000 series.

The ISO 9000 document
ISO 9000 standards document consists of series of five documents with sub-sections covering all aspects of quality management. These are,
ISO 9000: Quality management and quality assurance standards – guidelines for selection and use.
ISO 9001: Quality systems–model for quality assurance in design/development, production installation and servicing.
ISO 9002: Quality systems – model for quality assurance in production and installation.
ISO 9003: Quality systems – model for quality assurance in final inspection and test.
ISO 9004: Quality management and quality system elements – guidelines

2. Codex Alimentarius Commission or Codex standards
Codex Alimentarius Commission is the the international organization for food standards established jointly by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations Organization. The aim of the Codex is to develop food standards to be used worldwide with a view to protect consumers’ health and ensuring fair trade practices. Codex documents include provisions in respect of good hygiene, food additives, contaminants, labeling and presentation, and methods of analysis and sampling. Member countries use these standards as a basis to formulate their own standards.
The Commission has established various specialist committees to deal with separate areas in food industry and the committee on Fish and Fish Products is established in Norway which meets regularly for establishing quality standards.

3. United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) Standards
The Food and Drug Administration of United States of America (USFDA) has enacted several laws to safeguard the interest of its citizens. The laws and regulations are intended to ensure that the foods are pure, wholesome, and safe and produced under sanitary conditions, and that all labeling and packaging are truthful, informative and not deceptive. All imported food products regulated by the FDA are subject to inspection at the time of entry. Illegal or violative shipments are detained and destroyed or re-exported to the port of the origin.
The regulations of food law are expected to cover aspects such as health safeguards, economic safeguards, labeling requirements, sanitation requirements, personnel hygiene requirements, plant construction design and layout, defects, food additives, warehousing, food standards and HACCP implementation.