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Shell receives hygiene certification

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 12, 2008

ISO 21469 specifies the hygiene requirements for the formulation, manufacture, use and handling of lubricants which may come into contact with products during manufacturing or processing.

Shell International Petroleum has become the first company to receive Certification to ISO 21469: Safety of machinery - Lubricants with Incidental Product Contact - Hygiene requirements.

NSF is currently the only company offering American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited ISO 21469 Certification.

ISO 21469 certified lubricants suit processors of specialised products with strict hygiene and safety requirements.

ISO 21469 specifies the hygiene requirements for the formulation, manufacture, use and handling of lubricants which may come into contact with products during manufacturing or processing.

The international standard applies to lubricants intended for use in food production, as well as cosmetic, pharmaceutical and animal feed industries.

"Certification to ISO 21469 provides our customers with real proof that we take food safety seriously", said Shell Lubricants Food Sector Product Application Specialist, Eduard Stempfel.

"From a food producer's point of view, NSF Nonfood Compounds Registration is a great starting point".

"However, ISO 21469 certification takes registration a step further by integrating good manufacturing practices (GMPs) and hygiene requirements to ensure that the risk of contamination is further minimised".

Sarah Krol, Business Unit Manager for NSF's Nonfood Compounds Registration Programme says, "Shell has set the standard for other companies to follow".

"The focus of the food industry has shifted to pro-actively minimise sources of food contamination during production".

"ISO 21469 provides an internationally accepted hygiene and safety standard for lubricants that bridges multiple processing industries".

"More and more companies will turn to certified lubricants as the logical alternative for managing the critical control points identified during the hazard analysis of their production processes".

Stempfel said "Without NSF registration, you cannot, in many cases, be accepted as food grade by the food manufacturers quality assurance department and I believe, in the near future, it will be the same for this ISO standard as regulations and traceability demands become more stringent".

To receive ISO 21469 Certification, Shell successfully passed all NSF certification requirements.

The formulation/label review ensures that certified products are formulated with approved ingredients and that product labels are true and accurate.

Risk assessment ensures that the manufacturer has identified and evaluated the relevant hazards associated with the manufacture and use of the certified product.

Production facility audits confirm that all certification requirements are met and that quality assurance and quality control procedures are followed.

Sampling and retesting are conducted on an ongoing basis to verify the integrity of the product composition.

Shell's lubricants will bear the NSF Certification Mark on their labels to demonstrate compliance with ISO 21469.