ISO 22000:2018
ISO 22000:2018 Food Safety Management
According to the ISO document published in 2018 "The contribution of ISO standards to the objectives of the United Nations for sustainable development", ISO has so far adopted more than 1600 standards in the field of food production, nutritional and safety testing, quality, packaging or food traceability with the aim increasing confidence in food products, improving agricultural methods and promoting sustainable and ethical purchases. The ISO 22000 family of standards for the food sector helps organizations identify and control food safety hazards and contributes to the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2 "No Hunger - Eradicate hunger, ensure food security, improve nutrition and ensure sustainable agriculture" ” (www.iso.org).
According to the United Nations, the production of safe and sustainable food is one of the highest priorities of all governments facing the problem of food security caused by population growth and the complexity of supply chains. Food safety considers the prevention, elimination and control of food hazards, from the place of production to the final consumer and can only be maintained through the combined efforts of all stakeholders: governments, producers, traders and final consumers. The new edition of the ISO 22000 standard was adopted by ISO in 2018 as a response to this global priority (www.iso.org – ISO Annual Report, 2018).
ISO 22000:2018 "Food safety management systems. Requirements for any organization in the food chain" is applicable to any organization in the food chain, regardless of size, structure or sector (feed and feed producers, wild plant gatherers, hunters, fishermen, farmers, ingredient producers, food processors , wholesalers or retailers, providers of public food services, catering, cleaning and DDD, transport, distribution, suppliers of equipment for the HORECA industry, cleaning products, food packaging materials, etc.).
Implementing the requirements of the food safety management system according to ISO 22000:2018 provides the organization in the food chain with the ability to consistently provide safe food, products and services in accordance with the requirements of consumers and other interested parties by considering the associated risks and opportunities its context and objectives.
ISO 22000:2018 focuses on:
the context of the organization and taking into account the points of view of consumers and interested parties;
the preventive approach to food safety in terms of identifying, preventing and reducing food hazards;
the complex approach to risk - both at the operational level (food hazards specific to production processes) and at the global level of the business (specific risks for the other processes - management, support);
the role of top management who must demonstrate leadership for example by ensuring that SMSA policy and objectives are established and compatible with the strategic direction of the organization, by communicating the importance of effective food safety management and compliance with SMSA requirements, legal requirements and other applicable requirements and with the food safety requirements established by mutual agreement with the customer;
interactive communication;
preliminary programs;
the principles of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP);
proactive improvement and SMSA performance evaluation.
The 2018 edition of the ISO 22000 standard adopted the high-level structure (Annex SL of the ISO Directives) common to all management system standards, which makes it much easier to integrate with other management systems (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, etc.) and bringing clarity of understanding for food organizations around the world.
The 7 principles of quality
The ISO 22000 standard is based on the 7 quality principles and the HACCP principles promoted by the Codex Alimentarius (commission within the United Nations Organization):
HACCP - Hazard analysis and critical control points - the method applied by food organizations to protect the quality of the products supplied, is based on
- two goals:
- Hazard Analysis (HA – Hazard Analysis);
- Determining the points in the production process where these hazards, through monitoring, are controlled (CCP - Critical Control Points = the points in the production process where the hazards can be effectively controlled);
- 7 principles:
- The possible dangers that may occur can be determined. This means that both microbial hazards (aging of products) and pollution (chemical pollution, foreign objects) are taken into account;
- Points in the production process where hazards can be managed/controlled effectively must be mapped as critical control points - CCP (eg a storage process);
- For those critical points where the edges (critical limits) are determined, they must be respected (eg minimum and maximum temperature for refrigeration of meat products);
- In these PCCs, the hazard is kept under control by measuring the operation of the installation (eg a temperature monitoring system);
- In advance, corrective measures are provided, to be applied if the measurements / monitoring show deviations;
- The complete system must be regularly monitored for efficiency and must be adapted regularly in order to track process or product changes;
- All actions in the organization must be recorded (a documentation regarding all the procedures and records necessary for these principles and their application).
GD 924/2005 regarding the approval of general rules for the hygiene of food products transposes Regulation (EC) NO. 852/2004 on the hygiene of food products (amended by EC Regulations No. 1019/2008 and 219/2009 respectively) which stipulates that "Operators in the food sector shall develop, apply and permanently use one or more procedures based on HACCP principles".