What the ISO 13027 Hygiene Standard Is

The ISO 13027 hygiene standard covers social facilities at food production sites, the site environment, fuel storage and systems, lighting and heating, storage areas, tools and equipment used in production, and the disinfection and sterilisation rules that apply to personnel.

Hygiene and sanitation are closely related terms that support each other. Hygiene is today often used in everyday language to mean cleanliness, but the concept is broader. Sanitation, from the Latin root for health, focuses on activities that protect human health and support comfortable living.

Sanitation at food operations matters for product safety and consumer health. At these operations, identifying likely risks, taking the appropriate measures, and keeping risk under control means putting weight on cleaning and disinfection.

Known as the hygiene standard, ISO 13027 was prepared and published under ISO. In Turkey, the published TS 13027 hygiene and sanitation standard addresses these topics: production areas of food-producing operations, and:

• Operational offices, canteens, toilets, dishwashing areas, showers, changing rooms, and similar facilities
• Operational environment
• Lighting and heating systems
• Fuel storage and fuel systems
• Storage areas and dispatch methods
• Equipment used in production operations
• Operational personnel
• Disinfection and sterilisation
• Critical control points relevant to operational hygiene

The standard sets the fundamental environmental and production conditions needed to produce safe food that does not harm the consumer.