FSSC’s Technical Director, Elsabe Matthee, attended ISO meetings in Sydney, Australia, to participate in developing the new ISO 20001 Management Standard on Food Loss and Waste (FLW). The sessions, held from 17 to 21 March 2025, brought experts together to work on developing ISO 20001. It will be the first ISO Management System Standard to focus on FLW and support organizations in integrating reduction measures into their existing management systems.
Working Group 1: Reviewing the Second Consultation Draft
During the first three days, Working Group 1 met to consider the comments on the second consultation draft of ISO 20001 – Food Loss and Waste Management System — Requirements for the Minimization of Food Loss and Waste across the Food Supply Chain.
The revision progressed significantly. The remaining issues will be resolved by July 2025, when a Draft International Standard (DIS) version of the new management system standard will be released.
SC20 will discuss comments on the DIS version during its 2026 meeting, scheduled for the week of 23 March in Toronto, Canada. SC20 plans to publish ISO 20001 in 2027. Some quarters have already expressed interest in piloting the implementation of the management system standard based on the DIS version once it is released later in 2025.
Working Group 2: New Guidance Document on Measuring, Monitoring, and Reporting Methods
Working Group 2 held its first meeting to develop the new guidance document ISO TS 20008 – Quantification, Measurement, Monitoring and Reporting Methods for Food Loss and Waste.
The Group’s work focuses on:
- Measurement methodologies in segments of the supply chain;
- How consumption will be dealt with in the standard; and
- Interpretation of data.
Working Group 2 will meet again virtually in September 2025 to consider the proposals from the action groups.
Working Group 3: Developing Requirements for Audit and Certification Bodies
Working Group 3 also met for the first time in Sydney. This Group is developing the ISO 20020—Requirements for Bodies Providing Audit and Certification of Food Loss/Waste Management Systems.
The two main focus areas will be drafting the competence requirements for personnel involved in the certification decision-making process and evaluating the need for any other requirements for the audit and certification processes, e.g., audit duration, multi-site, integration with other management system standards, and more.
Working Group 3 plans to move ISO 20020 forward to the DIS stage by the 2026 SC20 meeting and to schedule the requirements’ publication at the same time or shortly after the publication of ISO 20001 in 2027.
SC20 anticipates that demand for certification to the new management system will follow quickly once the standard is in the marketplace. Working Group 3 will meet again virtually in late August 2025.
