If you’ve worked in the food chain for a period of time, you may well be familiar with the ISO 22000 Food Safety Management Standard. However, if you’re new to the industry, you may be unfamiliar with the standard. Plus, it was updated in 2018, so even if you’re familiar, you may need to renew your acquaintance.
In this article, we give a brief introduction to ISO 22000 and give you some resources where you can learn more.
Also, know that we’ve got a free 7 Basics Tools of Quality guide for you at the bottom of this article.
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The ISO 22000 Food Safety Management Standard is an international standard to help companies involved at any point in the food chain ensure food safety.
The creators of ISO 22000 began with a Quality Management Systems approach, which they then modified to fit the needs of food producers more directly. The standard incorporates a systems management approach, the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle method for continuous improvement, and risk-based thinking (as do many similar standards). The most recent version of ISO 22000 was created in 2018.
ISO 22000 can be used by any organization in the food and feed industries–the size of the company doesn’t matter.
As the standard explains, ISO 22000 incorporates the four following principles:
HACCP is a commonly used, proven method for reducing food safety risks in the food chain, including biological, physical, and chemical hazards.
HACCP is based on eight basic principles:
By following the requirements in ISO 22000, your organization can:
Your organization CAN get an ISO 22000 certification, and such a certification may well serve your organization well. There are third-party companies that specialize in ISO 22000 certification.
However, you’re not required to get certified simply to use ISO 22000.
It’s important to realize that ISO 22000 is NOT a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked standard. Click to read in more detail about GFSI Benchmarking and Benchmarking Requirements if that’s important for your needs.
We hope this introduction to ISO 22000 was helpful for you. Keep your eyes peeled for additional articles related to food safety, food quality, cGMP/GMP, and more related topics soon, and check out our training solutions for the food and beverage industry.
In the meantime, download yourself a free copy of our 7 Tools of Quality Guide, which can help you with your quality management and food safety management efforts.
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