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  • GUIDE TO ISO 22000


  • 25 February 2019
  • ISO 22000 describes requirements for a food safety management system and sets out what requirements an organization must meet to demonstrate it can control food safety hazards./li>
  • Unsafe food can have severe health consequences, so it's crucial for organizations in the food supply chain to take steps to ensure their processes and products are safe. Today, many food products cross national borders, highlighting the need for a global standard for food safety management. ISO 22000 meets this need by providing guidelines organizations can follow to help identify and control hazards related to food safety.
  • What Is ISO 22000?
  • ISO 22000:2018, which recently got revised, is a food safety standard for businesses in the global food chain. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed the standard ISO 22000:2018, Food safety management systems – Requirements for any organization in the food chain.
  • ISO 22000 describes requirements for a food safety management system and sets out what requirements an organization must meet to demonstrate it can control food safety hazards. ISO 22000 industries can get certified to the standard.
  • ISO 22000 covers organizations across the whole food chain, from the farm to the table. It is designed to ensure fair competition and provide for communication within and between organizations along the food chain.
  • The standard incorporates and complements the main elements of ISO 9001, the standard for quality management systems, as well as hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), a preventive approach to food safety..
  • The standard provides a framework for organizations to develop, implement, monitor and continually improve a food safety management system, or FSMS, within the context of their overall business risks. To comply with the standard, businesses must meet all applicable food safety-related statutory and regulatory requirements.
  • Organizations that want to create an FSMS that is more focused, coherent and integrated than what the law requires can benefit from ISO 22000. It helps organizations with aspects of their operations such as food safety, hazard controls, their supply chain, HACCP, their business strategy and food traceability.
  • What Is a Food Safety Management System?
  • Although the primary concern regarding food safety is the presence of food safety hazards at the point of consumption, these hazards can occur at any point along the food chain. Because of this, it's crucial to have adequate controls in place throughout the food chain, and all the organizations involved must collaborate to ensure safety.
  • The primary elements of an FSMS, as described in ISO 22000, are:
  • •Interactive communication across the organization
  • •System management that includes documentation
  • •Prerequisite programs, which ensure a clean, sanitary environment
  • •HACCPprinciples, which help identify, prevent and remove food safety hazards
  • The standard also covers other principles, which are part of all ISO management system standards. These principles are:
  • •Customer focus
  • •Leadership
  • •Engagement of people
  • •Process approach
  • •Improvement
  • •Evidence-based decision-making
  • •Relationship management
  • What Does ISO 22000 Require?
  • An FSMS, as described in ISO 22000, establishes a process for managing food safety that applies across the entire organization. Some of the processes an organization may consider about ISO 22000 include:
  • •An overall food safety policy
  • •Targets that will drive the company's efforts to comply with its policy
  • •Planning, designing and documenting a management system
  • •Creating a food safety team of qualified individuals and assigning responsibilities
  • •Establishing communication procedures for internal communication and communication with parties outside the company, such as customers, suppliers and regulatory bodies
  • •An emergency plan
  • •A plan for regularly evaluating the performance of the FSMS
  • •A strategy for providing sufficient resources to enable the operation of the FSMS, including trained and qualified personnel, infrastructure and an appropriate work environment
  • •A plan for following principles of HACCP
  • •A system to enhance the traceability and identification of products
  • •A system for controlling nonconformities in products
  • •A documented procedure for the withdrawal of products
  • •An internal audit program
  • •A plan for continually improving the FSMS
  • •Prerequisite programs


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