ISO 22000:2018 Food Safety Management System (FSMS)

ISO 22000 "Food safety management systems - Requirements for any organisation in the food chain" is a voluntary standard focusing on food safety that aims to harmonise the needs of enterprises at a global level. It enables all companies, large and small, with different degrees of management complexity, to put in place a food safety management system that is more focused, coherent and integrated with the rest of their organisation than the systems they currently have in place to meet existing regulatory requirements.
ISO 22000 has the major advantage of integrating and harmonising the approach to food safety management along the entire food chain at an international level.

ISO 22000 certification enables companies to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to food safety management and to earn the trust of consumers.

New features of ISO 22000:2018

• The new ISO high level structure (HLS), which is common to all new management system standards. This reorganisation of the standard therefore facilitates integration of the new ISO 22000 with standards such as ISO 9001 (Quality Management Systems), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems) and even more specific standards such as ISO 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems)
• A robust Hazard Analysis and Risk Management methodology based on HACCP principles and ability to improve food safety effectiveness and efficiency
• There are two different Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycles, which are clearly distinct from each other but operate within one other. The first applies to the management system as a whole, while the second, incorporated into the first, tackles the operations described in clause 8 and covers the HACCP principles defined in the Commission’s Codex Alimentarius
• A more detailed explanation of the key concepts of Critical Control Points and Prerequisite Operational Programmes

The benefits of ISO 22000 certification

ISO 22000 enables all companies involved in the food chain, whether directly or indirectly, to identify the specific risks to which they are exposed and manage them effectively. ISO 22000 certification also enables organisations to:

• Adhere to a certifiable, internationally recognised standard
• Acquire a method for organising different risk management philosophies and shifting the organisation’s attention to a systemic approach based on preventive control instead of subsequent checking of products
• Confidence-building active communication with supply chain stakeholders, government agencies and end users
• Optimise resources both within individual companies and along the entire food chain
• Preventing the occurrence of accidents along the entire chain and checking adequacy against standards are two essential factors for protecting brand value.