ISO 22000

What is ISO 22000?

FSSC 22000 – Food Safety System Certification Scheme 22000 is a certification scheme developed by the Foundation for Food Safety Certification for the certification of food producing organizations and aims to harmonize the certification requirements and methods  for achieving food safety systems in the supply chain .

In 2009, the Foundation published a new independent standard called FSSC 22000, which incorporates the ISO 22000 standard, the technical specification BSI-PAS 220 and the ISO/TS 22004 standard, which is the application guideline for ISO 22000. In version 3, the current revision of the standard, the additional and detailed requirements have been incorporated. All the reference documentation can be downloaded from the website www.fssc22000.com.

The standard was published with the aim of  standardising certification requirements  and methodologies related to  food safety throughout the supply chain  and of having certificates available that are comparable in terms of content and objectives.

FSSC 22000 was originally intended to be applied to food manufacturing organizations, however the publication of dedicated technical specifications covering the PRPs specific to different production sectors allows the application  of the standard to multiple sectors and makes it extremely flexible. 

In March 2012, the British Standards Institution withdrew the technical specification  PAS 220  which was replaced by  ISO/TS 22002-1  “Prerequisite Programmes on food safety – food manufacturing” and from 31 October 2015 for the packaging and food contact materials sector, the reference for the prerequisite programmes will be ISO/TS 22002-4 which will definitively replace PAS 223.

The content of ISO/TS differs only minimally from the previous PAS, thus resulting in minimal impact on certified companies and Certification Bodies.

FSSC 22000 has been recognized since February 2010 by GFSI – Global Food Safety Initiative – an independent global network ,  created in May 2000 by the Consumer Goods Forum, which operates, among other things, with the aim of ensuring the distribution of suitable consumer goods (e.g. safe from a health and hygiene point of view) to consumers.
It brings together the Board of Directors and Managers of approximately  400 retailer and producer organizations in 150 countries .
The forum currently represents a  value of 2.1 trillion Euros .

Furthermore, since October 2010,  FSSC 22000 has been recognized by EA  (European Cooperation for Accreditation).
FSSC 22000 is the first GSFI recognized food safety management scheme to receive EA acceptance.
This means that  all accreditation bodies in Europe will accept FSSC 22000. 

Key Points

The Food Safety Management System compliant with ISO 22000:

• enables organizations to focus on  improving food safety  through continuous updating of scientific and technical advances;
• it is  recognized worldwide  as the system is based on an ISO – International Standardization Organization standard;
• allows the adoption of a  systematic PRP management protocol , focused on real critical issues;
• improve communication  throughout the supply chain;
• it applies flexibly  to specific customer requests.

Advantages

The benefits of ISO 22000 certification are many. The main one is represented by tangible and demonstrable improvements in performance in the field of agri-food safety and by higher levels of assurance of compliance with legislative compliance. Furthermore, the ISO 22000 standard allows companies to:

• Implement and operationalize an agri-food safety management system within a clearly defined framework that is flexible enough to meet the specific needs related to the company’s business
• Understand and identify the actual risks to which both the company and consumers are potentially exposed
• Implement tools aimed at effectively measuring, monitoring and optimising all performances related to agri-food safety
• Comply optimally with the constraints imposed by legislation and company requirements.