ISO.22000:2005
Food safety management systems -- Requirements for
any organization in the food chain
ISO 22000 is a new International Standard designed to ensure safe
supply of foodstuff throughout the entire supply chain on a worldwide
basis.
The standard essentially addresses food safety concerns and contains
requirements for:
- HACCP according to the principles of the Codex Alimentarius
- a management system
- good manufacturing practices (pre-requisite programmes)
- interactive communication within the chain of supply.
The requirements are intended to be common for all activities
from crop and primary source producers, transport and storage operators,
retail and food service outlets together with their suppliers, including
manufacturers of equipment, and packaging, amongst others.
As the standard covers such a wide range of activities, regardless
of size and complexity, it is of necessity, generic in nature.
Development
The working group who developed the standard involved experts from
23 countries, together with international organizations with liaison
status. In addition to the Codex Alimentarius Commission, these
included the Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the
European Union (CIAA), the CIES/Global Food Safety Initiative, and
the World Food Safety Organization (WFSO).
The requirements for certification against this standard have been
developed with additional input by experts from the ISO committee
on conformity assessment, ISO/CASCO, the International Accreditation
Forum (IAF) and the IQNet international certification network.
ISO.22000 or BRC?
Although both ISO.22000 and BRC Global Standards are designed to
be audited by accredited Third Party Certification Bodies, the BRC
standards have been specifically developed to address the "due
diligence" laws in the United Kingdom. For this reason they
have been divided into several different sectors and are highly
prescriptive in their requirements. It therefore seems unlikely
that ISO.22000, with its generic format, will replace BRC in this
particular market.
However, retailers outside the United Kingdom will probably be keen
to adopt a common standard which can be applied through all levels
of their supply chain, supplementing or replacing ISO 9001 which
has otherwise been the only practical alternative.
System Requirements
Companies who wish to apply the standard will need to identify the
risks associated with their particular process using the established
HACCP principles defined by Codex Alimentarius. These would need
to be combined with any relevant industry code of good practice
and legal requirements, and contained within a formalised management
system such as ISO.9001. Cross references between these standards
are given in ISO.22000 for guidance in applying requirements. Further
guidance is provided in ISO/TS 22004.
Benefits
Applying the requirements of ISO.22000 should enable an organization
to:
a) Plan, implement, operate, maintain and update a food safety management
system aimed at providing products that are safe for their intended
use.
b) Demonstrate compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory
food safety requirements.
c) Evaluate and assess customer requirements and demonstrate conformity
with those relating to food safety.
d) Effectively communicate food safety issues to their suppliers,
customers and relevant interested parties in the food chain.
e) Ensure that the organization conforms to its stated food safety
policy.
f) Demonstrate such conformity to relevant interested parties.
Audits
QA International Certification can provide accredited
certification to this standard in any part of the world. For further
information please email your company and contact details using
the enquiry form linked to this
page.
The standard can be purchased directly from the ISO
website.
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