Business sectors

Technical Bodies

European standardization in the field of food and agriculture contributes to improving the levels of food safety and protecting the health of consumers. CEN provides validated test methods that are used by the food industry and by the competent public authorities for official control purposes, and by companies producing food and feed for internal checks.

Many of the standards adopted by CEN are developed in response to formal requests from the European Commission: they play a valuable role in supporting the implementation of relevant European legislation.

The majority (around 70%) of European Standards in this field are identical to international standards, thanks to the close cooperation between CEN and ISO. Having test methods that are recognised internationally is especially important for food companies that want to sell their products in different markets.

More on Food & Agriculture

21 Technical Bodies responsible

CEN/SS C01	Food Products
CEN/TC 172	Pulp, paper and board
CEN/TC 194	Utensils in contact with food
CEN/TC 275	Food analysis - Horizontal methods
CEN/TC 302	Milk and milk products - Methods of sampling and analysis
CEN/TC 307	Oilseeds, vegetable and animal fats and oils and their by-products - Methods of sampling and analysis
CEN/TC 327	Animal feeding stuffs - Methods of sampling and analysis
CEN/TC 338	Cereal and cereal products
CEN/TC 453	Dietary supplements and sports food free of doping substances
CEN/TC 455	Plant Biostimulants
CEN/TC 460	Food Authenticity
CEN/TC 463	Microbiology of the food chain
CEN/TC 466	Circularity and recyclability of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment
CEN/TC 469	Animal health diagnostic analyses
CEN/WS 076	Batch-based Calculation of Sustainability Impact for Captured White Fish products Acronym: WhiteFish BCSI
CEN/WS 083	Mechanically Separated Poultry Meat (MSM)
CEN/WS 086	Authenticity in the feed and food chain - General principles and basic requirements
CEN/WS 096	Mapping of future needs of standardisation in the paper and board sector
CEN/WS 109	Good practice recommendations for making management recommendations tailored for the EU fleet operating outside European waters
CEN/WS ClimeFish	CEN Workshop on ClimeFish
CEN/WS CROP	Methodology to quantify the global agricultural crop footprint including soil affection

Standards

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FOOD AUTHENTICITY

In 2025, CEN/TC 460 ‘Food authenticity’ will finalize and publish the following standards:

FprEN 18033 ‘Food authenticity – Quantitation of equine DNA relative to mammalian DNA in raw beef (meat)’;
prEN 18054 ‘Food authenticity – Determination of C and/or N isotope ratios in food by Elemental Analyser – Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (EA-IRMS)’;
prEN 18057 ‘Food authenticity – Quantitation of roe deer DNA relative to mammalian DNA in meat and meat products’.

The Technical Committee will continue to build on the great progress it has already made for the preliminary project on the future standard ‘Food authenticity – Validation of non-targeted testing methods in food and feed authenticity – General considerations and definitions’ (work item 00460015), which is very important for the food authenticity sector. This document will support the improved and standardized development and validation of new authenticity testing methods.

In 2025, the Technical Committee will increasingly focus on developments and deliverables in the honey authenticity sector.

The formation of a new Working Group and the development of several standards on honey origin are being considered in order to respond to the new ‘Breakfast’ Directive (EU) 2024/1438.

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OTHER STANDARDS

Food, beverages and related products

CEN/TC 275 ‘Food analysis - Horizontal methods’ standardizes horizontal methods for the analysis of foodstuffs, guaranteeing a high degree of food safety in Europe. Standards that are scheduled to be published in 2025 include:

prEN 13806-1 ‘Foodstuffs – Determination of trace elements – Part 1: Determination of total mercury in foodstuffs by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) – cold vapour technique after pressure digestion’;
prEN 13806-2 ‘Foodstuffs – Determination of trace elements – Part 2: Determination of total mercury in foodstuffs by atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) – Cold vapour technique after pressure digestion’;
prEN 13806-3 ‘Foodstuffs – Determination of trace elements – Part 3: Determination of total mercury in foodstuffs with atomic absorption directly from the foodstuff (elemental mercury analysis)’;
prEN 18032 ‘Foodstuff – Quick Method for the Analysis of Multiple Highly Polar Pesticides and their Metabolites in Foodstuff Involving Extraction with Acidified Methanol and Measurement by LC- or IC-MS/MS (QuPPe-Method)’; and
prEN 14526 ‘Foodstuffs – Determination of saxitoxin-group toxins in shellfish – HPLC method using pre-column derivatization with peroxide or periodate oxidation’.

In 2025, the committee plans to start the revision of standards in the mycotoxin and process contaminants sector as a reaction to the changes in their respective regulations: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2782 and Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915.

CEN/TC 454 ‘Algae and algae products’ is developing European standards under Standardization Request M/547 on algae and algae-based products or intermediates.

In 2025, the committee will finalize and publish prEN 18034 ‘Algae and algae products – Methods of sampling and analysis – Determination of chlorophyll a content’, which is funded through a European Commission grant.

Furthermore, the technical committee will work on several other topics, such as protein, amino acid, polysaccharides, fatty acids, inorganic arsenic, carotenoid and phycobiliprotein, for which it requires the results of interlaboratory studies to support their development.

Standards published by CEN and CENELEC in the sector

CEN and CENELEC Portfolio of deliverables: 647 ENs + 114 other deliverables
Work items currently in the Work Programme: 104 ENs + 4 other deliverables

Standardization requests from EC/EFTA

M/547 – Algae and algae-based products or intermediaries