Food Safety Management

It is applicable to all organizations, regardless of size, which are involved in any aspect of the food chain and want to implement systems that consistently provide safe products. The means of meeting any requirements of ISO 22000:2005 can be accomplished through the use of internal and/or external resources.

ISO 22000:2005 specifies requirements to enable an organization

• To plan, implement, operate, maintain and update a food safety management system aimed at providing products that, according to their intended use, are safe for the consumer,
• To demonstrate compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory food safety requirements,
• To evaluate and assess customer requirements and demonstrate conformity with those mutually agreed customer requirements that relate to food safety, in order to enhance customer satisfaction,
• To effectively communicate food safety issues to their suppliers, customers and relevant interested parties in the food chain,
• To ensure that the organization conforms to its stated food safety policy,
• To demonstrate such conformity to relevant interested parties, and
• To seek certification or registration of its food safety management system by an external organization, or make a self-assessment or self-declaration of conformity to ISO 22000:2005.

Revision is ongoing for ISO 22000

The consequences of unsafe food can be devastating, both for consumers and businesses worldwide. With many of today’s food products repeatedly travelling across national boundaries, ISO 22000 is more essential than ever to the safety of the global food supply chain. Now the standard is being substantially revised to ensure it stays relevant to modern needs.

After a decade of good service, ISO 22000, the International Standard for food management systems, is undergoing a complete modification to bring it up to date with today’s new food safety requirements. The international working group (ISO/TC 34/SC 17/WG 8) in charge of the revision, whose secretariat is held by the Danish Standards Foundation (DS), ISO’s member for Denmark, held its fourth meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the week of 4 April 2016.

The standard is now at the Committee Draft (CD) stage and experts worked hard to sift through the more than 1 000 comments collated by DS on the draft standard. The agenda at the Buenos Aires meeting was to work through the various comments and incorporate them into the document. Simultaneously, WG 8 had to clarify certain key concepts.