Minister Ahern launches new Food Safety Standard

Minister for Trade and Commerce Mr Michael Ahern, T.D.,today (Tuesday 27^thSeptember 2005) launched The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) new standard ISO 22000:2005 "Food Safety Management Systems", a Standard that is destined to become essential for the food industry of the future in Ireland, Europe and internationally.

Speaking at the launch Mr Michael Ahern, T.D., said:  " It is very apt for us to be launching a Food Standard here at the Championships, where food providers are booked to capacity. There are approximately 45,000 registered food businesses in Ireland, from the large multinational companies to the very small operations present in every town and village. In 2004 there were 230,000 people employed in the Irish tourism and catering industry, 155,000 people employed in the agri-food and drinks industry and a further 40,000 in the food wholesale and retail sector.

“The total employment provided by the wider “food” sector is over four hundred thousand people, making it a significant contributor to the “good news” story of the Irish economy,” the Minister added.

“Food safety is therefore an important international issue and until the publication of ISO 22000:2005 it was not possible to have a harmonized approach, as there was no standard available for all the stakeholders in the food supply chain. The availability of ISO 22000 will address this problem as it is an international standard and recognition of certification to this standard will occur on a global basis,” Minister Ahern concluded.

Organisations are aware of the need to demonstrate and provide evidence of their ability to provide safe food. The International Standards Organisation states that ISO 22000 can be applied to organizations ranging from feed producers, primary producers through food manufacturers, transport and storage operators and sub-contractors to retail and food service outlets, together with inter-related organizations such as producers of equipment, packaging material cleaning agents, additives and ingredients.

It is applicable to all organizations, regardless of size, which are involved in any aspect of the food chain and want to implement systems that consistently provide safe products.

"ISO 22000 can lead to:

• Improvement of assurance of food safety in the whole food chain
• International harmonization
• Prevention of overlap of standards
• Reduction in time and costs
• Improvement of quality of audits."

ENDS/TC174