Annually the amount of food lost and wasted runs into billions of tons and contributes to hunger and food insecurity. Certification of your food loss and waste management system demonstrates increased awareness of sustainable development and gives environmentally credible companies a competitive edge in national and international markets.

ISO 20001 provides a clear management framework to reduce food loss and waste in enterprises of all sizes along the food production and distribution chain. The standard provides your organization with a systematic approach to planning, implementing and managing an effective food loss and waste management system.

What is ISO 20001?

ISO 20001 is a new international standard for food loss and waste management system. It is currently in development and expected to be released very soon. The nature of ISO 20001 allows it to be applied to the complete range of business sectors, scopes, and activities in the food chain from farm to fork. It provides a framework through which an organization can deliver performance improvement in reducing loss and waste line with its sustainability policy commitments.

ISO 20001 specifies requirements for an organization to plan, implement, operate, maintain and update a food loss and waste management system to minimize food loss and waste within its operations.

• It assists organizations to establish food loss and waste policy and objectives and understand how significant aspects can be managed, implement necessary controls and set clear objectives to improve performance.
• It allows an organization to manage its obligation to comply with applicable legal requirements and other stakeholder obligations, and to regularly check the compliance status. This permits a continual improvement of the management system to enhance its food loss and waste reduction performance.
• It allows any organization, including small and/or less developed organizations to implement externally developed elements in their food loss and waste management system.

ISO 20001 is designed to be compatible and harmonized with other recognized management system standards, including ISO 9001 and ISO 22000. It is therefore ideal for integration into existing management systems and processes.

Benefits of becoming certified

The potential benefits of ISO 20001 are numerous, but the most significant and tangible ones are that the standard enables your organization to:

• Evaluate and assess stakeholder food loss and waste requirements and demonstrate conformity or compliance with them.
• Effectively communicate food loss and waste issues to interested parties within the food chain.
• Facilitate reductions in food loss and waste.
• Ensure that your organization conforms to its stated food loss and waste policy.
• Better meet food loss and waste legal compliance and corporate requirements.

Getting started

DNV is an accredited third-party certification body and can provide relevant training and certification services for your food loss and waste management system locally or globally. As in all management system standards, successful implementation depends on commitment from all levels and functions of the organisation.

Learn more about how to get started on the road to certification.