ISO 22000 Caters for Food Safety, Peace of Mind

An organisation in the food chain that is certified to ISO 22000 demonstrates its ability to control food safety hazards so that food is safe at the time of human consumption. The standard specifies requirements for a food safety management system, and applies to all organisations involved in any aspect of the food chain which want to implement systems that provide safe products consistently.

ISO 22000 integrates the principles of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) and application steps developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Its key elements are interactive communication along the food supply chain; system management; and close involvement of the senior management team in developing supporting policy.

According to Kylie Sheehan, Manager Accreditation Services, JAS-ANZ, it is the first internationally recognised standard of its kind in the food industry. “There has been strong uptake of the standard in Asia,” she says. “Economies which may not have already had their own industry-driven or retail-driven food safety standards are adopting ISO 22000 as their national standard. Australian and New Zealand organisations have been slower to adopt the standard than their counterparts in Asia and Europe because regulators, retailers, and industry organisations have well established HACCP-based schemes that have been operating for some time and are well recognised in Australia, New Zealand, and internationally."

An analysis of the JAS-ANZ Register (August 2008) shows that JAS-ANZ accredits 16 CABs to offer certification to ISO 22000. These CABs have issued 551 accredited certificates for ISO 22000, making it JAS-ANZ’s fifth largest scheme. Approximately 50 per cent of JAS-ANZ accredited certificates for ISO 22000 are issued in Turkey. Other major markets include China, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, and Australia.

According to Craig Bates, President and Managing Director, TQCS International, obtaining international certification to ISO 22000 would make sense for an organisation which had no food standards already in place. “It is more widely recognised than the multitude of other minor certifications being imposed,” he says. “Organisations are looking for the best legitimate alternative to the myriad of other schemes.”

Jeremy Stones, Business Development Manager – ANZ, SAI Global (pictured left), says that representatives from the food industry and SAI had been calling for many years for an official ISO-sponsored food safety standard.

“Many of our key customers in Australia and internationally were keen to adopt ISO 22000,” he explains. “It was imperative for SAI to become accredited to offer certification to the standard.”

Local industry was initially slow to embrace the standard, says Stones. “The earliest adopter of the standard was a division of Fosters which we certified in 2005, on the day of its official release,” he says. “We jointly promoted their achievement widely. Since then, the uptake of the standard has grown steadily across all sectors.”

According to Bates, the demand for accredited certification of ISO 22000 and HACCP overseas, particularly in Turkey, was what drove TQCS International to become accredited to offer certification to this standard. “ISO 22000 has been readily accepted in Turkey and Taiwan, especially in the larger hotel chains,” he explains. “Only recently have we started to see ISO 22000 being adopted in Australia – initially by large hotels or catering organisations, and more slowly by smaller food manufacturers.”

Stones says that SAI has seen the standard being adopted by small and large companies in the food industry, as well as by organisations that service the food sector. These range from companies like hygienic cool room supplier Jaymak to organisations such as Q Catering (Qantas Flight Catering), whose seven facilities in Australia were audited recently to ISO 22000.

Another sector which is showing interest in the standard is the healthcare sector. “Already a number of major hospital networks – some with more than 40 individual sites – have commenced the certification process,” Stones says. “Several individual public and private hospitals have also achieved certification.”

With more than 20 auditors throughout the world, TQCS International certifies at least one organisation each week to ISO 22000. “We are very strong in food safety; we see this as having great potential for us,” Bates remarks.

SAI also expects that the rate of adoption of ISO 22000 will increase steadily, following endorsement and early adoption of the standard by leading global brands Kraft and Danone respectively (according to ISO Management Systems, May-June 2008).

Several organisations view ISO 22000 as a way to drive cultural and process improvements in their business, says Stones. “Also, the recognition of achieving an internationally recognised standard is being used to promote the sense of achievement by many organisations,” he says.

TQCS International’s Bates notes that large organisations are embracing ISO 22000 with more vigour than SMEs. “The requirements of ISO 22000 are significant and often more bureaucratic than small business can cope with, says Bates. “This is a weakness of ISO 22000.”

On the other hand, says Martin Cutler, SAI’s Certification Manager (pictured left), smaller companies already meeting the criteria of existing Codex HACCP based food safety standards would not need much time or investment to transition to ISO 22000 certification. “If you’ve gone through a Codex Alimentarius HACCP process, you’ve already completed about 70 per cent of the process (needed to achieve ISO 22000 certification),” he says. “A company certified to ISO 9001 already has the necessary management system elements in place and just needs to undertake the Codex HACCP components and other ISO 22000 requirements.”

Do the benefits of being certified to ISO 22000 outweigh the cost of investment and time needed to do so? For Stones and Cutler, the answer is a resounding yes. “We should be asking if we can justify not investing in controlling our risks,” Stones says. “The damage to brand, reputation and loss of trade resulting from a serious food safety incident can be fatal to a business’s success.”

For small companies, knowing that their systems have been independently certified as being effective gives them real peace of mind, says Stones. “Many small-business owners realise that they can’t be in control of all the processes personally,” he says. “For example if they want to take holidays, they know that systems are in place, and people have been trained to continue to operate safely while they’re away.”

SAI’s Cutler notes that a company migrating from HACCP to 22000 may be making a transition from an unaccredited certificate to an internationally accredited one. “Also, the scope of ISO 22000 applies across the whole food chain, whereas some other food safety standards are very focused on narrower segments such as manufacturing, the agriculture sector, distribution and packaging,” he says.

Stones says that it is the joint responsibility of industry and accreditation and certification bodies to educate the industry on the benefits of the standard.

“As with all accredited programs, JAS-ANZ plays a fundamental role in ensuring that all Certification Bodies are auditing the standard appropriately,” he says. “JAS-ANZ plays a critical role in maintaining industry’s confidence in the certification process.”

More information for CABs interested in becoming accredited for Food Safety Management Systems, including ISO 22000.

Organisations interested in learning more about the benefits of certification to ISO 22000 can contact CABs accredited by JAS-ANZ for Food Safety Management Systems.

Next month's issue: Organisations who have been certified to ISO 22000.