What is ISO 22000:2018 certification?

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published on 19 June 2018 the standard ISO22000 – Food Safety Management Systems – Requirements for any organization in the food chain.

There has been a continuous increase in consumer demand for safe food. This has led to the development of various food safety standards. The growing number of national standards has led to confusion. Consequently, there is a need for international harmonization and ISO aims to meet this need with ISO 22000:

The standard is complimentary to ISO9001, in that ISO 22000 addresses specifically the issues relating to food safety and uses an approach that can be integrated with that of ISO 9001. ISO 22000 is not a replacement for ISO 9001, however businesses in the food sector may see it as having greater commercial importance to their business than ISO 9001, particularly as there is increasing pressure on the food industry to demonstrate that it is effectively managing food safety, following the highly publicized food scares around the world.

ISO 22000 certification specifies how

• to carry out the hazard analysis,
• to design the HACCP plan,
• to design the prerequisite programmes, and
• to decide which are operational prerequisite programmes

Potential of ISO 22000 Certification - Harmonization could replace many of these GMPs

ISO 22000 certification scope
Specifies the requirements for a food safety management system where an organization in the food chain needs to demonstrate its ability to control food safety hazards in order to ensure that food is safe at the time of human consumption

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 this international standard can be accomplished through the use of internal and/or external resources.

Direct food chain/food production

• The primary sector - animal and game farming; arable farming; fruit and vegetable farming, and market gardening
• The processing sector - feed producers, primary food producers, food manufacturers, secondary food manufacturers
• The storage, catering and sales functions - wholesalers, retailers, food service operators and caterers

Indirect food chain/non food production

• Producers of pesticides, fertilizers and veterinary drugs
• Producers of ingredients and additives
• Transport and storage operators
• Producers of equipment
• Producers of cleaning and sanitizing Equipment
• Producers of packaging Materials
• Service Providers

ISO 22000 certification Requirements
The standard specifies a number of key requirements, including

• Planning, implementing, maintaining and updating a food safety management system
• Identification of hazards and determination of risks to food safety using HACCP principles
• Compliance with applicable food safety related regulatory requirements
• Development and implementation of pre-requisite programmes and/or HACCP plans as a way of controlling food safety hazards
• Continual improvement and updating of the food safety management system
• Interactive communication with interested parties (enforcement agencies, customers, suppliers, consumers) on food safety issues

Application Management and assessment cycle.
FSMS Pre Application Questionnaires

• The preparation of a quotation
• Selection of the appropriate assessment team
• Determination of the readiness of the client for the start of assessment activity
• Clients must complete the pre application questionnaire in order for ICMC to develop a quote. All quotes are based on the risk levels of a client’s processes and products.

Assessment Cycle
The assessment cycle for the ISO 22000 system is 3 years. The mandatory assessments in the cycle are the Progress Review assessment (Stage 1) and Registration Assessment (Stage 2) assessments, Annual Surveillance assessments and Triennial Reassessment.

The Stage 1 principle assessment objectives are to confirm:
That the application and scope of evaluation is correctly established
That the client has adequately established and documented a food safety management system compliant with ISO 22000 prior to the stage 2
The Stage 2 assessment shall be carried out at the location where the production and manufacturing or other locations where the food safety management system is applicable. It must in addition include the location where the stage 1 assessment was carried out to ensure complete assessment of the ISO 22000 requirements.

The objectives of the assessment (stage 2) are to confirm:
That the organization adheres to its own scope, policies, objectives, plans, processes and procedures
That the food safety management conforms to all the requirements of ISO 22000 and is achieving the organization's policy objectives.

During the first assessment cycle, Surveillance assessments:

• Are conducted on an annual basis
• All Operational PRP's and Critical Control Points (CCP) have been assessed
• All production lines and all sites within the scope of the HACCP based Food Safety

System have been assessed
The client has adhered to the ICMC Management System's Terms and conditions in B018 of current revision.

Triennial Reassessment
These take place every 3 years and 2 months before the third anniversary of the Registration assessment.