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ISO 22000:2005 - Food Safety Management System & HACCP

The new international standard, ISO 22000 is titled “Food Safety Management Systems — Requirements for Organizations throughout the Food Chain”.

The working group in ISO that has developed ISO 22000 has representatives from 14 countries representing all continents, including representatives from organizations such as the Codex Alimentarius, the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and the European food industry organization (CIAA).

Objectives of the ISO 22000

The ISO 22000 has the following objectives:

• Compliance with the Codex HACCP principles.
• Harmonize the voluntary international standards.
• Provide an auditable standard that can be used either for internal audits, self-certification or third party certification.
• Provide communication of HACCP concepts internationally.

The important advantage of ISO 22000 is that it will be possible to use it throughout the chain. It will be internationally accepted and cover almost all of the requirements of retailer standards. The most important difference with standards from BRC and IFS is that ISO 22000 will not have a detailed list of requirements for good practices. But, being realistic, it is impossible to make a list that covers all such requirements for all organizations and all situations.

However, ISO 22000 will require the implementation of good practices and expects organizations to define the practices that are appropriate to them. And, as a result, the standard makes references to several internationally recognized codes of practice relating to the Codex Alimentarius.

ISO 22000 specifies the requirements for an organization’s food safety management system that seeks to be more focused, coherent and integrated than would normally be required by law. It combines the following generally recognized key elements to ensure food safety along the food chain, up to the point of final consumption:

• Interactive communication;
• system management;
• process control;
• HACCP principles;
• Prerequisite programs.