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Defending the food chain
02 Oct 2006
Topics: ISO 22000
Created in response to the complicated nature of the global food industry and the mass of national regulations and standards that sprang up to try and police it, ISO 22000 has now been adopted by organizations from numerous food industry sectors across the globe. It provides a global management system framework for certification that crosses borders as easily as the produce whose safety it strives to ensure, while widening the scope of food safety management to support industries and smaller organizations that might not have had the resources or motivation to seek certification in the past.
As an evolution of other standards, ISO 22000:2005 Food safety management systems. Requirements for any organization in the food chain uses generally recognised methods of food safety management such as interactive communication across the food chain, system management, control of hazards through prerequisite programmes and HACCP plans, and continual improvement and updating of the management system.
In July 2006, a survey of 44 national standards bodies, found that only five countries had yet to adopt ISO 22000 as a national standard. Of these, Canada was waiting to assess the feedback of a wide group of stakeholders due to report back that same month before making a decision to go ahead, while the rest - Japan, Qatar, Senegal and Trinidad & Tobago - were yet to make a decision on adoption. Half of the countries surveyed said they expected to have begun certifying early adopters of the standard before the end of this year.
One such early adopter of ISO 22000 as a food safety management system is confectioner Henri Charpentier, which became one of the first food companies in Japan to achieve ISO 22000 certification earlier this year. The company, famous in Japan for its "fancies" and Madeline cakes, upgraded from its existing HACCP-based food safety system to ISO 22000 as part of a general programme of improvement rather than in reaction to a particular incident or catalyst such as a customer requirement.
The firm, which used BSI Management Systems Japan to perform its audit and certification - one of the first independent certification bodies to be able to deliver ISO 22000 certification in the country - is now on a path of continuous improvement in their food safety programme. Because ISO 22000 governs food safety rather than quality, which remains very much in the hands of the producer as a key element in its business strategy, Henri Charpentier can now add food safety to its other unique selling points of great taste and design.
"We went through the assessment by BSI Japan believing that they represent our customers," says Koji Yoshida, assistant manager of Henri Charpentier's Operational Audit Office and a member of the ISO 22000 Steering Task Force. "Therefore, we welcomed any observations or comments for improvement from BSI, as those comments are easier for us to absorb and because observations by BSI Japan are more persuasive than those made by people within our company."
Compatible ingredients
While ISO 22000 has strong credentials as a stand-alone standard, it is also designed to be fully integrated with ISO 9001:2000. This means that, as well as cutting down on administration costs by minimizing overlap between the two, ISO 22000 is able to build on the familiarity earned by the popular ISO 9000 series to help food businesses expand their commitment to standards and continuous improvement in food safety.
This certainly proved to be the case with Hungarian food processor Moraprizma Szovetkezet, which was running ISO 9001 and HACCP at its plant in the Moraholm region of Hungary before deciding to become one of the first organizations in the country to register to ISO 22000.
The company, which was established to process vegetable and fruit crops in the region, produces fresh salad mix and vegetable pieces in various forms of packaging. Customers include the hospitality industry and retailers such as Tesco - the world's third largest supermarket and retail chain - and French hypermarket group Cora.
The company chose ISO 22000 because of the ease with which it consolidates ISO 9001 and HACCP, its certification formula and the fact it is an internationally recognized standard for food safety management.
International recognition also proved a vital ingredient for Hong Kong's Health Affluence Group. A subsidiary of Imperial Bird's Nest International, one of Hong Kong's leading importers of bird's nests and a wholesaler and retailer with operations in Hong Kong and Canada, Health Affluence manufactures a range of instant bird's nest soup products and has already gained ISO 22000 certification at its Yuen Long plant in Hong Kong.
Certification was attained after BSI carried out an assessment to compare Health Affluence's existing food safety management systems against ISO 22000. Following this, BSI conducted a three-day audit to verify the group's systems and controls against the standard.
A wider menu
One breakthrough for ISO 22000 is that it provides support firms - be they in the growing packaging, storage or transportation worlds - with a means to gain certification. This was one deciding factor for UK packaging firm Bemis Swansea Ltd, which achieved its ISO 22000 certification through BSI earlier this year. Bemis is one of the largest packaging companies in the Americas and Mike Bird, plant manager at its Swansea UK site, underlines the benefits he sees ISO 22000 certification will bring to his business going forward: "This significant accomplishment demonstrates our company's continued commitment to deliver products that meet customer requirements. The certification will now extend the scope of our current food safety management system by enabling us to demonstrate the result of our activities to customers, suppliers and other interested organizations worldwide."
As an addition to the portfolio of food standards already available, ISO 22000 will hopefully minimize the risk faced by the public to the infrequent yet serious contamination scandals that pose such a threat to the industry. Its take-up suggests that, when it comes to managing food safety, many companies understand the important role that ISO 22000 plays.
For more information on food safety certification and training, please visit:
www.bsi-global.com/oct06foodcertification
For more information on food standards and publications, please visit:
www.bsi-global.com/oct06foodstandards
Business Standards © 2010. Editorial produced by Caspian Publishing in association with The British Standards Institution. Editorial opinions expressed on are not necessarily those of BSI Group or Caspian Publishing. Neither Caspian Publishing nor BSI Group accept responsibility for advertising or editorial content, nor for that appearing on linked third-party websites. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden without written permission from BSI Group or Caspian Publishing.
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