Terres Inovia's work taken to ISO in Japan
Terres Inovia's work taken to ISO in Japan
The ISO meeting in Japan concerned the technical committee on agri-food in its entirety, and Vincent Jauvion spoke on the oilseeds and co-products section.
Copyright: Japan-Korea Regional Economic Department (French Embassy in Japan).
In mid-January, Vincent Jauvion (on the right in the photo above), Head of the Seed Processing and Development Department, travelled to Japan. He arrived in October 2017 as head of the Terres Inovia laboratory based in Ardon (45), and since January 2024 has also been elected chairman of an ISO subcommittee (SC): "SC2: Oilseeds, oil fruits and oilseed meals", which is itself part of a technical committee relating to agri-food, TC34 within ISO, which publishes international standards (see diagram). "The aim of the TC34 meeting was to discuss and share the activities carried out within each SC (ranging from seeds to dairy products, meat, etc.) in order to coordinate the actions of the agri-food sector. The ISO meeting in Japan therefore concerned TC34 as a whole, and I spoke on the oilseeds and oilseed co-products section of SC2", explains Vincent Jauvion.
Standards to standardise exchanges
Standards are reference documents approved by a recognised standards institute such as Afnor, ISO or others. They contain solutions to technical and commercial questions concerning products, capital goods or services.
The standards for which Terres Inovia is responsible mainly concern analysis and sampling methods for seeds and oilcakes. For example, standard NF EN ISO 659 on oil analysis of oilseeds indicates how to operate precisely (equipment, products, operating procedure, etc.) to measure the oil content of seeds.
The standard is the result of a consensus between all the stakeholders in a market or sector of activity, which means that it is widely recognised and used, and can be relied on in commercial transactions.
An approved method for determining nitrogen
International positioning is only possible when national standardisation is active. This is the fruit of a synthesis between technical analysis and the collective interests of the industry, and can thus be defined and defended at international level. This is a task for technical experts, which also requires knowledge of the economic context and a capacity for conviction and openness in order to reach a consensus.
For example, the proposal to revise the Dumas method for determining protein nitrogen in oilseeds and animal feed (NF EN ISO 16634-1) was accepted at the Japanese meeting, which will now enable Vincent Jauvion to lead the revision work to keep this standard, which is widely used by laboratories around the world, up to date.
Contact : V. Jauvion, v.jauvion@terresinovia.fr