Food Safety
ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 for Food, Pet Food and Packaging Manufacturers, logistics companies and Wholesalers
Failures in food supply and their adverse impacts on food safety may lead to life threatening illnesses. In addition, the losses caused by spoiled foodstuffs and faulty storage reach unimaginable dimensions.
Therefore, the ISO Standard EN ISO 22000 “Food Safety Management System Standard” specifies the requirements food safety management systems (FSMS) must meet in order to consistently provide safe end products for the consumer and increase customer satisfaction. ISO 22000 is the standard for all organizations active throughout the food chain, which is harmonized world-wide.
ISO 22000 combines recognized key elements of food safety, such as interactive communication, system management, process control and HACCP principles, with the so-called “prerequisite programmes” (PRPs). Communication along the food chain is essential to ensure that all relevant food safety hazards are identified and adequately controlled at each step in the food chain.
Food companies that are already certified according to ISO 22000 are required to pass an audit performed according to the FSSC protocol including the sector-specific technical specifications (e.g. ISO/TS 22002-1, 22002-4 etc.) in order to correspond with the requirements of the certification process.
- improving food safety
- improving product quality and safety
- enhancing consumer protection and trust of consumers regarding the integrity of the products troughout the entire supply chain
- increasing cost efficiency within the food chain
- interactive communication
- system management and process control
- creating a useful tool for ensuring compliance with legal and customer requirements
Organizations throughout the food chain.
FSSC 22000 is suitable for the certification of food companies irrespective of their size, complexity and form of enterprise as well as for caterers, wholesale, transportation and storage providers and packaging producers.
The Standard ISO 22000 explicitly requires the implementation of preventive programmes, however there are no guidelines for its content. Therefore, with support of the CIAA (Confederation of the Food and Drink Industry) and subsidies of multinational corporations, sector specific technical specifications have been developed in order to close the existing gaps regarding preventive programmes and to achieve the recognition of the GFSI.
There are two types of preventive programmes. Firstly there are prerequisite programmes (PRP) as basic requirements and activities necessary for maintaining a hygienic environment in the food chain. These programmes are not chosen to control certain identified hazards but to ensure a hygienic environment. Such programmes include personnel hygiene, cleaning, disinfection and pest control. Secondly there are operational prerequisite programmes (oPRP), which serve to adequately control identified hazards but cannot be used as critical control points. The HACCP Plan with the critical control points (CCPs) serves as the third measure for controlling identified hazards for human health. To adequately control the identified food safety hazards prerequisite programmes, operational prerequisite programmes and the HACCP Plan must be established.
ISO 9001, Annex to CAC/RCP 1-1969 (Rev. 4 - 2003), Guideline EU 2016/C 278/01, ISO/TS 22002-1/-2/-4/-5 (Prerequisite Programmes on Food Safety - Food Manufacturing/Catering/Food Packaging Manufacturing/Transport and storage), IFS Standards, BRCGS Standards