ISO 22000: Compatibility and Applicability of ISO 22000 with other Standards

Food safety is important and indispensable because it is a mandatory requirement to eat every day and those foods suppliers must be able to rest assured that the food we eat does not pose a threat to our health. The increasing globalization of the world‘s food markets poses ever-new challenges for those persons responsible for food safety. New pathogens or residues of contaminants necessitate the use of new analytical methods at the end of the chain and, often as a result, amended rules and regulations for cultivation and processing at the start of the chain. On this global context, ISO 22000 was introduced to control and reduce to an acceptable level of any food safety hazards identified within the process which present in end products, that can delivered to the next step of the food chain or to the end user. The standard combines the following generally-recognized key elements to ensure food safety at all points of the food chain.

Good manufacturing practices or prerequisite programs

HACCP according to the principles of the Codex Alimentarius

ISO 9001 management system

Interactive communication between suppliers, customers, and regulatory authorities

Compatibility of the Standard

The clauses that are equally important and similar in philosophy to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and ISO 22000 which are specific to the food industry, including:

1. The establishment of prerequisite programs (PRPs), which define the basic conditions and activities needed to maintain a hygienic environment, both within the organization and throughout the food chain (ISO 22000: Clause 7.2, 7.5, Annex C)
2. The identification and control of food safety hazards, and the determination of an acceptable level of risk (ISO 22000: Clause 7.4)
3. The establishment of a HACCP plan, including the identification and monitoring of critical control points: process steps at which controls can be applied to prevent or eliminate a food safety hazard, or reduce it to an acceptable level (ISO 22000: Clause 7.6)
4. The handling of potentially unsafe food products to ensure that they do not enter the food chain (ISO 22000: Clause 7.10.3)
5. The establishment of a food safety team responsible for tasks such as hazard analysis, selection of control measures, establishment of PRPs, and planning of internal audits (ISO 22000: Clause 5.5 and 7.3.2)
6. The information and characteristics needed for both raw materials and end products to ensure that a proper hazard analysis can be conducted (ISO 22000: Clause 7.3.3)
7. The establishment of a communications plan with external parties – such as suppliers, customers, and regulatory authorities – to ensure that food safety information is available to all (ISO 22000: Clause 5.6.1)

Applicability of the Standard

There are many other food safety standards available, but most of them are limited in scope. ISO 22000 is the only one to cover all organizations that produce, manufacture, handle or supply food or feed, such as:

Agricultural producers

Feed and food manufacturers

Processors

Food outlets and caterers

Retailers

Service providers

Transportation operators

Storage providers

Equipment manufacturers

Biochemical manufacturers

Packaging material manufacturers

Advantages of Compliance to ISO 22000

Compliance with the ISO 22000 standard helps organizations in the food industry because it is globally recognized as one of best standards for food industry which harmonize all major requirements of any available standard. In addition,some of the advantages of third-party certification to ISO 22000 include:

Meets food industry expectations

It is widely known fact that safety hazards can be developed at any point in the food chain where ISO 22000’s broad applicability helps any organization to control and prevent these hazards.

Imposes structured and targeted communications
Interactive communication, both internal and external is essential for the identification and control of food safety hazards as well as to implement and maintain effectively.

Control measures are based on hazard analysis
This thorough analysis helps the organization to more easily determine which safety hazards need to be controlled, and which combination of control measures is most effective in doing so and where process modifications are needed to effectively manage the hazards.

Fills the gap between ISO 9001 and HACCP
ISO 9001 does not provide guidelines for determining and controlling food safety hazards, like the critical control point (CCP) method in HACCP. But HACCP does not include ISO 9001’s key concepts of continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. ISO 22000 covers all of these points.

Lower risk of liability
When an unsafe food product enters the market, the entire food chain suffers from consumers’ exposure to hazards. By implementing ISO 22000, all organizations in the food chain can take responsibility for consumer safety, consequently lowering their risk of having to cover insurance payments and legal costs.

Expanded market access
The demand for certified suppliers in the food industry is growing, since ISO 22000 is supported by government and food safety experts worldwide, your certification will open the door to many domestic and international business opportunities.

Reduced cost of sales
ISO 22000 certification establishes your company's credibility and commitment to safety from day one. Because the task of explaining the specifics and demonstrating the effectiveness of your management system is more straightforward, it takes less time to earn your prospective customers' trust and confidence.

Streamlined quality management
Certification to ISO 22000 reduces the complexity and overhead required to administer separate proprietary programs for individual customers. This leads to a reduction in both second and third-party system audits and, ultimately, a common quality system approach among all suppliers in the food chain.