Home Fair Match Support
Home Fair Match Support About Us Contact Sitemap Fair Match Support
FairMatchSupport - in English FairMatch Support - en français
Matching fair trade organizations
Support on fair trade
Fair trade programmes
Partners in fair trade
markets
Links
 

ISO22000
Summary

This international standard covers “Food Safety Management Systems – Requirements for any Organisation in the Food Chain.” The purpose of the standard is to ensure that any organisations working within the food chain establish management systems that ensure food is safe. It combines food safety with quality management, mainly of interest to big companies with worldwide markets.

Objective  Is the focus of the standard on economic, social, environmental, food safety or organic issues?
 Food safety
Why?  Who is asking you to use this system? Is it a market requirement or a voluntary system?
 Industry driven. ISO 22000 is the first international standard that addresses a standard for food safety that has been accepted by the international community.
Scope of the standard  What kind of processes within your organisation/company should be changed according to the standard’s criteria? Most systems look at the production process, and/or look at the processing of the produce. Some systems look at organisational processes as well, e.g. if democratic structures are in place, how support departments are organized (HRM/financial), if internal control systems are in place, if ILO labour conditions are implemented, etcetera. Additionally the processes of your suppliers or service provider can be part of the standards’ scope as well. This means that you are responsible for the sustainability of their (or part of their) actions as well.
organisational processes Y
(on-farm) production Y
processing Y
supplier/service provider Y
Who can apply?  Not every code or standard can be used by every actor within the supply chain. Some are just targeted to a specific group within the chain, others focus on the complete chain. You can think of the following parties: producers/producer group, processor, exporter/trader, importer, retailer.  
producers/producer groups Y
processor Y
exporter/trader Y
importer Y
retail Y
Products  Most systems focus on specific products, product groups or sectors. Please look carefully if you produce falls under the scope of the standard.
 Food
Markets  Although most systems are used worldwide, they often have their origin or focus in a specific country or region. Some countries/regions prefer a certain code or standard.
 Worldwide
Benefits  A very legitimate question is what this specific certification means to you. Does it provide you access to markets, or even to niche markets? Does it guarantee a better price, or maybe even a premium on top of a minimum price? Does it create better access to support services?  
market access Access to EU market: you need to have ISO22000, HACCP or BRC in place when you want to export to EU.
access to niche market N
premium N
other N
Support services  To be able to comply with the requirements of such systems, you may need some support. Various experts in the field of certification are available and can give this (paid/free) support. Yes commercially available.
Adaptations/investments   Prior to an external assessment, the client shall have performed and documented one complete internal audit and management review cycle.
Costs & Time  Working with these certification systems and implementing the necessary steps is often not an easy task. You have to be aware of the many implications and adaptations you may have to make. This section gives some examples of the kind of investments you to have to think of. Costs are based on company size, scope and complexity of operation. The cost structure is also based on the minimum audit time on site. It is therefore difficult to state exact fees in advance.
Costs differs from certifier to certifier. Ask for quotations and compare prices/services.
System characteristics  In this section you will find a link to the standard itself and some main points of attention.
 The purpose of the standard is to ensure that any organization working within the food chain establishes management systems that ensure food is safe. Whilst many of the clauses of the standard draw on those of ISO 9001 regarding the control of the system, the controls relate to the management system concerning food safety, not food quality. For the ISO22000 standards click here
Verification    
internal inspection Internal audit cycle necessary before external verification.
external inspection Variety of private certification bodies.
Type of label  One of ways to show that a product complies with a specific standard is to label it. Some codes or standards do not use a label at all. Nevertheless, most choose to carry a Business to Business (B2B) or a Consumer label.
 Non
Who's behind it?  What is the origin of the standard, and who has initiated the idea? Who is the owner of the certification system?
 see ISO
Trends  The trend section is mainly based on future perspectives of the standard. Are they going to expand to other products, other markets? Is there increasing interest from markets for this specific certification? What can you expect in the coming period?
 For bigger companies that maintain (ISO 9001) quality management systems, it is likely that they move to ISO22000 that integrates quality management with HACCP.
Smaller processors, packers and retail are expected to remain with HACCP only.
Contact
  website ISO
   
all certification systems

 
 
© FairMatch Support