ISO 22000 Accreditation
Food-safety management systems work well when the interdependent systems of control are well understood between food producers, suppliers, and customers. This includes a clear understanding of responsibility and provisions for accountability at all levels. This can only be done in light of a structured management system such as one conforming with ISO 22000.
General requirements for meeting the ISO 22000 Standard.
It is important that management fully supports the effort to attain ISO 22000 certification to ensure that adequate resources are provided to build and maintain the Food Safety Management System (FSMS). A method to design and document the system is needed. Start with your food safety policy and quality objectives. The policy must state your commitment to quality, and the quality objectives must support it.
ISO 22000 takes the approach of ISO 9001 as a management system and adds to the principles and methods HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point). General steps to certification include:
- Assemble the HACCP team that will ensure that the HACCP plan is properly completed and implemented.
- Describe the product associated with the specific HACCP plan; organizations that produce multiple products may have several HACCP plans.
- Identify the intended use of the product
- Construct flow diagrams showing the flow and steps associated with the product and process steps.
- Confirm the flow diagram by direct investigation or observation, list all potential hazards associated with the flow, and conduct a hazard analysis to determine which hazards need to be controlled.
- Identify and consider control measures that can be undertaken to prevent the hazard.
- Determine the critical control points where controls will be put in place to ensure food safety.
- Establish critical limits for each critical control point where acceptable levels are clearly defined.
- Establish a monitoring system for each critical control point.
- Establish corrective actions to be taken when critical limits have been exceeded.
- Establish verification procedures to monitor results.
- Establish documentation and record keeping to provide evidence of control.
ISO 22000 follows a long tradition of preventive actions, identified and regulated by quality and food safety professionals.
There are significant benefits of getting certification to the ISO 14001 standard:
Benefits in the marketplace. Customers receive confidence through the demonstrated implementation and ongoing maintenance of the system. As organizations along the supply chain adopt ISO 22000 or become subject to customer controls along the food supply chain, the market achieves assurance that there are no weak links in the food chain.
Benefits to the organization producing the food The organization has confidence that it has done the right things to provide control over activities that affect food safety. The system is well-planned, monitored, audited (internally and externally), and measured, and feedback is provided in a timely manner to decision makers.
ISO 22000 goes well beyond regulatory requirements ISO 22000 includes--but goes beyond--existing HACCP programs. HACCP programs are excellent and work very well to prevent food safety problems, but they are not supported by an overarching systematic approach that includes many of the components extracted from ISO 9001.
Failures in food safety practices are dangerous and expensive. It is obviously easier, less dangerous, and less expensive to prevent these problems before they occur.
ISO 22000 works for all organizations regardless of their size. The standard outlines best practices that deliver results and convey confidence to the organization as well as its stakeholders. This confidence is demonstrated by the internal audit process and, in particular, the external audit process through ISO 22000 registration.
ISO 22000 harmonizes various industry and national standards for food safety. Increasing requirements from customers and other stakeholders within the food chain demand increased rigor and demonstrated results. There is an increasing need to provide evidence of conformance to an internationally accepted and approved set of requirements.
Synergistic Systems integrates ISO 22000 procedures into existing Quality Management Systems. This allows you to use existing resources to efficiently manage and maintain all your QMS processes.
Integrating ISO 22000 into an existing Quality Management System provides an efficient platform for creating and maintaining a comprehensive management framework that addresses all applicable aspects of the ISO 22000 standard.
