ISO 22000:2018 -- Food Safety Management System
What is ISO 22000 Food Safety Management?
The ISO 22000 family of standards relate to food safety management systems and are designed to help organizations of any size and at any stage in the food chain to ensure they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders. The standards are published by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization and are available through National standards bodies. ISO 22000 deals with the fundamentals of food safety management systems. ISO 22000:2018 deals with the requirements that organizations wishing to meet the standard have to meet. It has been designed to be compatible with other management system standards such as ISO 9001 and can be implemented within an integrated management system. Independent confirmation that organizations meet the requirements of ISO 22000:2018 may be obtained from third party certification bodies.
WHO SHOULD USE ISO 22000?
Since ISO 22000 is a generic food safety management standard, it can be used by any organization directly or indirectly involved in the food chain. It applies to all organizations in the food chain. It doesn’t matter how complex the organization is or what size it is, ISO 22000 can help ensure the safety of its food products.
ISO 22000 OBJECTIVES
ISO 22000 will help you to achieve the following objectives:
- To establish a food safety management system.
- To plan and implement a FSMS for your organization.
- To operate and maintain your organization’s FSMS.
- To update and improve your organization’s FSMS.
- To ensure that products do not cause adverse health effects.
- To demonstrate compliance with external safety requirements.
- To demonstrate compliance with legal safety requirements.
- To evaluate your customers’ food safety requirements.
- To export food products and penetrate international markets.
- To communicate safety issues throughout the food chain.
- To communicate with your organization’s customers.
- To communicate with your organization’s suppliers.
- To communicate with other relevant interested parties.
- To provide safe products and enhance customer satisfaction.
ISO 22000 uses roughly the same basic structure as the ISO 9001 quality management standard. This should make it a bit easier for ISO 9001 certified organizations to pursue ISO 22000 certification.
Benefits of ISO 22000:
- Applies to all organizations in the global food supply chain.
- Internationally recognized standard.
- Complies with the Codex HACCP principles.
- An auditable standard which provides a framework for third-party certification.
- The structure aligns with the management system clauses of ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2004.
- System approach, rather than product approach.
- Improved documentation.
- Systematic management of prerequisite programs.
- Dynamic communication on food safety issues with suppliers, customers, regulatory bodies and other interested parties.