ISO 22000

The international standard ISO 22000 defines the requirements for a food safety management system.

The consequences of unsafe nutrition can be serious, and the food safety standards of the ISO 22000 series help organizations identify and control food safety hazards. As many of today's food products cross national borders more than once, international standards are needed to ensure the security of the global food supply chain.

The ISO 22000 standard is intended for certification of food safety management systems of organizations involved in the food chain, processing or producing:

products with short and long shelf life;

food ingredients;

livestock products;

food packaging;

equipment;

cleaning products.

The necessary requirements for food industry enterprises, which are prescribed in the ISO 22000 standard, are the following:

the use of only specialized machinery, machinery and equipment for the production of products;

safe operation of buildings and premises; timely inspection of equipment and its maintenance;

timely and adequate supply of water, steam and air;

the proper use of raw materials used in production;

proper handling of convenience foods and prepared foods;

taking measures to prevent contamination of surfaces and equipment;

pest control;

sanitary and hygiene measures;

hygiene and health of personnel working at the enterprise.

The ISO 22000 standard is designed to help organizations participating in the food chain, regardless of their size, unambiguously occupy their market segments and successfully expand its boundaries and satisfy the requirements of interested parties, including customers of the organization.

The requirements of the ISO 22000 standard are harmonized with the requirements of other ISO standards. Sections of the ISO 22000 standard include the scope, definitions, development principles of the HACCP system, requirements for the food safety management system.

ISO 22000 includes part of the requirements of the international standard in the field of quality management systems ISO 9001. In ISO 22000 there is no concept of a “Quality Guide”. This standard does not include the regulation of the process approach (as a principle in building SM security), the requirements for preventive actions, procurement, design and development, and processes related to the consumer are less described.

Benefits of ISO 22000 certification:

increasing consumer confidence in manufactured products, and, as a result, increasing the competitiveness of products;

increased trust from partners, and a significant improvement in investment attractiveness;

access to the international market, expansion of the existing sales market, as well as advantages when participating in tenders;

reduction in the share of defects and complaints (recall of products) in the total volume of production and sales;

the availability of documentary evidence of the safety of manufactured products and services in the food industry;

additional opportunities for integration with the QMS according to ISO 9001;

highly effective public relations organization (use of the mark of conformity of the certification system);

additional opportunities when receiving an order in state and other institutions (schools, kindergartens, hospitals);

the company has implemented a management system based on internationally recognized principles;

the use of preventive management measures.

A revision of ISO 22000 on food safety management systems, which has just reached the stage of the draft international standard, is currently underway. The revised standard will include a new basic structure, as well as recognized key elements for ensuring food safety at every stage of the food chain.

The revision of ISO 22000 aims to consolidate the most recent food safety concerns in line with the current landscape of the food sector. This is a very complex process, and the working group that revised this standard reviewed several broad concepts. Now their main task is to translate the revised concepts included in the standard and transmit them to users in an understandable and concise manner, which facilitates the understanding and implementation of ISO 22000 for organizations of any size in every aspect of the food chain.

The new version of ISO 22000 will contain a number of minor changes that have been introduced to improve the readability and clarity of the standard, as well as some significant changes that are more structural in nature.

Highlights of the new version of ISO 22000:

the new version will adopt the new high-level ISO (HLS) framework, which is the common foundation for all management system standards. This common structure makes it easier for a business to integrate more than one management system into its processes at a given time;

the revised standard will provide a new understanding of the concept of “risk”. Risk is a vital concept for the food industry, and the standard will distinguish between risk at the operational level (using the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point or HACCP approach) and risk at the strategic level of the management system (business risk) with its ability to use the opportunities to achieve specific business goals;

the standard will clarify the difference between the two Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycles. The first relates to the management system as a whole, and the second, built into it, refers to the operations described in Section 8, which simultaneously covers the HACCP principles defined by the Codex Alimentarius.