1         Overview

Food safety standards regulate the safety and suitability of food.  “Safe” and “suitable” are the words used by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in its basic texts on food hygiene to describe food that is fit for human consumption.

The ISO22000 is an international standard that specifies the requirements for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety management in organisations involved in the production, processing, transport or distribution of food products.

2              In Simple Terms

Many food businesses are now required to document and implement a food safety program based on the HACCP principles.

Certification to ISO 22000 can provide increased confidence and international recognition that food safety is being maintained by food businesses on a continuing basis.

3              Specific Program Conditions

3.1         General

The Standard is based upon the principle that food safety is best ensured through the identification and control of hazards in the production, manufacturing and handling of food as described in the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, adopted by the joint WHO/FAO Codex Alimentarius Commission.

The six core elements of a food safety program are:

·       Hazard identification: the systematic identification of hazards that may be reasonably expected to occur in the food handling operations of the business;

·       Hazard control: the identification of the control point and controls for each hazard;

·       Monitoring: the systematic monitoring of the controls;

·       Corrective action: the steps to be taken when a hazard is not under appropriate control;

·       Review: regular reviews of the program to ensure that it is still effective; and

·       Record keeping: the records made and kept by a food business to show the action taken to ensure that the business complies with the food safety program.

The Standard specifies the requirements for a food safety management system, to enable an organisation to:

·       develop, implement, execute, maintain and improve a food safety management system aimed at providing safe food products for the consumer;

·       show compliance with agreed customer requirements through communication;

·       show compliance with regulatory requirements as regard to food safety;

·       assure itself of its conformance with its stated food safety policy;

·       demonstrate such conformance to other organisations;

·       make a self-declaration of conformance with this International Standard;

·       seek certification/registration of its food safety management system by an external organisation.

3.2         Multi-Site Sampling

The use of multi-site sampling is only possible for organisations with more than 20 sites and only for categories A, B, G, H and J (See below). Sampling size for more than 20 sites is 20+ 1 in 5.

Normal multi-site conditions apply. For specific details refer to Section 9 ISO/TS 22003:2007.

3.3         ISO22000 Product Categories