Management of Hygiene in the Production of Packaging for Foodstuffs

CEN TC 261 Packaging, the technical committee responsible for standardization related to packaging in Europe are currently working on a standard to be used as a cost-effective reference document for management, audit and, if required, certification of hygiene in packaging manufacturing operations.

In February 2004, TC 261 officially created a specialized working group, managed by German DIN, for the drafting of a standard related to the 'Management of Hygiene in the Production of Packaging for Foodstuffs'.

In March 2006, a first draft was approved by the working group. This document will be submitted to the CEN enquiry in September 2006 and the formal final vote will take place before the end of 2007. Publication of the standard can be expected early 2008.

The standard aims to detail a comprehensive set of good hygiene practices with due consideration to existing documents and, especially, to ISO 22000.

The future activities of CEN TC 261 will be discussed at the forthcoming meeting of TC 261, in Paris on 15 November 2006.

CEN TC 261 Packaging are the technical committee responsible for standardization related to packaging in Europe and have issued 180 standards over the past 15 years. Information on TC 261 Packaging is available on the Afnor website (electronic committees) http://www.afnor.fr