ISO 22000: A Common Food Safety Management Benchmark for Food Packaging Supply Chains

Building on the HACCP safety management system standard, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) introduced ISO 22000 — Food (packaging) safety management system — requirements for any organization in the food chain.

The standard was jointly developed by food-industry experts, specialized institutions, representatives of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, and bodies established jointly by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization. As a technical standard, it offers guidance for companies building an effective food safety management system and helps them apply HACCP in a simpler, more consistent way, avoiding differences caused by country or food product.

ISO 22000 is a voluntary standard. It provides a unified benchmark for food safety management systems. Food and food packaging manufacturers in China, including flexible packaging converters, should plan ahead, become familiar with and master the standard as soon as possible, and establish or improve their food safety management systems in line with it. Relevant departments should also set corresponding requirements for manufacturers of imported food based on this standard.

The standard cites the five preliminary steps and seven principles put forward by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The five preliminary steps are: assembling the HACCP team, product description, intended use, drawing a flow diagram, and on-site confirmation of the flow diagram. The seven principles are: hazard analysis, determining critical control points, establishing critical limits, establishing critical control points, defining corrective actions when the monitoring system shows a control point is out of control, establishing verification procedures to confirm the effectiveness of the HACCP system, and establishing a documented system.

ISO 22000 clarifies the common requirements in food safety management, rather than requirements specific to any single type of organization in the food chain.

As a new standard for food safety management systems, ISO 22000 aims to ensure there are no weak links in the food supply chain.

ISO 22000 adopts the ISO 9000 standard system structure. In food hazard risk identification, confirmation and systematic management, it refers to the HACCP system and application section of the Codex Alimentarius Commission's General Principles of Food Hygiene. Its scope covers the full food chain: planting, farming, primary processing, manufacturing and distribution, through to consumer use, including catering. Industries closely related to food production can also adopt the standard to establish a food safety management system, such as pesticides, veterinary drugs, food additives, storage and transport, food equipment, food cleaning services and food packaging materials. The standard can be used on its own or jointly with other management system standards, such as ISO 9001:2000.

—Source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn); original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362304.html