ISO 22000 : Food safety management system

Overview

The international standard ISO 22000 specifies requirements for a management system of food safety (FSMS) where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to control hazards associated with food safety in order to guarantee the provision of safe products that meet the requirements agreed with the customers and those regulations apply.

ISO 22000 recognizes that food safety can be ensured only through the combined efforts of all actors in the food chain:

• Agricultural producers;
• Primary food producers;
• Food-producing animals;
• Manufacturers of foodstuffs;
• Operators and subcontractors responsible for transport and storage;
• Wholesalers, retailers, foodservice operators and restaurateurs;
• Manufacturers of equipment, packaging material;
• Manufacturers of cleaning products, additives and ingredients;
• Producers of pesticides, fertilizers and veterinary drugs;
• Service providers.

BACKGROUND OF THE ISO 22000 STANDARD

Faced with the risk of poisoning collectively, the latest food crisis, increasing the life of food products and the extension of the food chain, large retailers and some nations have developed their own repositories to ensure food safety for consumers.

The BRC (British Retail Consortium) is a repository developed by British supermarkets. The first version of this reference is dated 1998 and was succeeded 3 other versions of the last of which was published in January 2005.

In 2002, the french and German dealers have created their own repositories: IFS (International Food Standard). This repository has been updated continuously;^its4th version is published in January 2004.

The BRC and the IFS are private repositories of requirements that specify the means and results to ensure food safety in MDD (Marks distributors). Manufacturers wishing to sell their food products to major retailers British, German or french must meet the requirements of a reference or both simultaneously depending on the destination of their goods.

Apart from private repositories, several countries like Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland, Australia, Morocco and many other countries have developed their own national benchmarks on the safety management of food . The need for harmonization of regulations and standards relating to food safety, grouped into a recognized international has been strongly voiced by the actors of the food for many years. The purpose behind this requirement is to minimize the cost of managing and maintaining multiple repositories simultaneously.

In 2001, the Danish Association for Standardization (DS) has submitted to the secretariat of ISO / TS 34 "Food" a proposal to develop an international standard management system of food safety. The application was accepted and work on the ISO 22000 standard was officially started in 2002 within ISO / TS 34. This work led to the publication of the new ISO 22000 in September 2005.

PRINCIPLES OF THE ISO 22000 STANDARD

The management system of food safety (FSMS) ISO 22000: 2005 is based on 4 elements considered essential by the standard to ensure food safety at all levels of the food chain: Interactive communication, the systemic approach (management system), the prerequisite programs (prerequisite programs) and HACCP principles.

Interactive Communication

ISO 22000 emphasizes the importance of communication between the organization and its customers, suppliers, employees in an effort to identify and control all relevant hazards related to food safety at all food chain. A circuit of communication between the various links in the food chain is depicted in Figure 1.

Emphasis was placed on the notion of belonging to the company in the food chain to ensure effective interactive communication at all levels of it: It is essential that the role and place of organism in the food chain are clearly identified.

Interactive communication between the various actors at all levels of the chain is essential to ensure that all relevant hazards are identified and properly controlled.

Paragraphs dealing with the communication of data relating to food safety, both downstream than upstream, were drafted in order to balance between transparency and confidentiality useful information from each entity of the chain.

Systemic approach

The management system has its origin in ISO 9001: 2000. It allows the planning and updating of the system. This principle is based on the integration of all management systems of food safety in a structured management system which takes account of other general management of the organization.

ISO 22000 is based on the principle of Deming wheel and continuous improvement loop type PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) which is now recognized as a principle of managerial conduct after simple and universal have demonstrated its effectiveness in Japan. The figure below illustrates this principle.

The structure of ISO 22000 takes into account the provisions contained in ISO 9001: 2000 to allow full compatibility and complementarity with the different standards of management used by companies. It is based on four main blocks closely related:

• The responsibility of management;
• The management of resources;
• The planning and realization of safe products;
• Validation, verification and improvement of the management system of food safety.

HACCP and prerequisite programs (PRP)

ISO 22000 faithfully reproduces the principles of HACCP (Hazard Analysis - Critical Control Points) and the implementation stages developed by the Codex Alimentarius. It combines a dynamic and intelligent program prerequisites (PRP).

The standard recognizes that the hazard analysis is the backbone of any effective FSMS.

Control measures are classified into two categories:

• Operational PRP: PRP identified by the hazard analysis as essential for the control of hazards related to food safety.
• CCP (critical control point): Step on which a control measure can be applied and is essential to prevent or eliminate a hazard to food safety or reduced to acceptable levels.

So ISO 22000 is a hybrid of ISO 9001, HACCP and prerequisite programs while taking into account regulatory requirements and those of clients. This is the philosophy upon which all systems of safety management of food available today.

BRIEF PRESENTATION OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF ISO 22000: 2005

The requirements of ISO 22000 are grouped in five chapters bearing the same number and sometimes the same as that of ISO 9001: 2000, but with content that differs greatly and is adapted to the special management that is of food safety and the basic principles of this standard.

Chapter 4 of ISO 22000 addresses the general requirements including the management of the FSMS, communication and control of documents and records.

Chapter 5 of the standard deals with the responsibility of management. The commitment of management should not be limited to a single written or oral but result in a strong and concrete on the ground. The management commitment and involvement is an important criterion for improving business performance. This chapter presents the requirements for management based on a dynamic cycle from policy to food safety communication and response to contingencies in emergency situations.

Chapter 6 of ISO 22000 deals with the management of resources. He made the point about the need to provide adequate resources, human and material resources for implementation, maintenance and update of the management system of food safety.

Chapter 7 concerns about him on the planning and realization of safe products. This chapter is the major difference between ISO 22000: 2005 and ISO 9001: 2000. Emphasis is placed on the need to plan and develop the processes necessary to achieve safe.

This chapter combines a dynamic prerequisite programs (PRP = Prerequisite Program) with the phases of implementing a HACCP as outlined by Codex Alimentarius. Control measures are essential classified PRP and operational measures to PCB. Those deemed non-essential are not so far apart but retain their status as "simple" PRP. This classification allows to concentrate the available resources on the really important points to ensure the safety of food products.

To fulfill certain requirements, including the European Regulation 178/2002 laying down the procedures for food safety and be consistent with existing FSMS, this chapter also requires that the company establish a traceability system.

Chapter 8 of the standard deals with the validation, verification and improvement of the management system of food safety. It is at this stage of the planning and implementation of processes necessary for validation, verification and improvement of FSMS to ensure that the results are consistent with the goals of food security. Emphasis is placed on the validation of control measures, the choice of methods for monitoring and calibration of measuring equipment to ensure reliability of results.

This chapter is also interested in verifying the FSMS through evaluation and analysis of audit results and conduct internal audits to ensure that the system remains relevant and also to update and improve .

The ISO 22000:2005 standard is the first of a family that includes the following documents:

• ISO / TS 22004 Management Systems Food Safety - Guidelines on the application of ISO 22000:2005, which provides important guidelines to assist organizations in the world, including SMEs.
• ISO / TS 22003, management systems for food safety - Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems for food safety, provides guidelines for harmonized accreditation (approval) d 'certification bodies and ISO 22000 defines the rules for auditing a management system of food safety and establish its compliance with the standard.
• ISO 22005, system of traceability in the food chain - General principles of design and implementation, which will be circulated as a Draft International Standard.

BRC, IFS and ISO 22000: What is the difference?

Mass distribution, since the end of 90 years, sought to impose its own standards. Among these, the BRC and IFS repositories intended for now to suppliers of private label, are designed to the specifications with respectively 222 and 336 criteria. They resemble each other and put forward the requirements of methods and results.

The ISO 22000, the specific international standard in food safety concerns about it all the links in the food chain. It adapts to each company as an obligation of result and not the means. Indeed, it promotes an approach to management system based on compliance with regulations and client requirements. Moreover, it recognizes the use of guides to good practices developed by companies or unions.

Despite this inconsistency, the objective of these standards remains the same: Food safety rebates to consumers.

In addition, the commonalities between these three major repositories comply with the principles enunciated by the European food law:

• taking into account Good hygiene practices specific to agri-food sector;
• la mise en place d'une démarche de type HACCP Hazard Analysis and
• developing a tracking system allowing the identification of lots.

Since its publication in September 2005, several agro-industrial companies are certified ISO 22000. But the success of this new standard, despite the advantages it offers, depends on the persistence or otherwise of private standards and the interest will be assigned by the supermarkets.