Review of international food safety standard

So what is this ISO 22000 thing anyway and why is it a big deal that it is being reviewed?

Well ISO 22000 is one of the standards issued by the international Standards organisation. This specific one focusses on food safety and incorporates HACCP and much quality into a combined standard.

Although there is no legal requirement within this and other countries for businesses to implement this standard, many food businesses choose to as it provides structure and protection – particularly big and multinational businesses.

The standard has been in operation for 12 years and, as with all such documents, it needs to be reviewed at regular intervals to ensure that it still reflects reality and achieves what it is intended to do.

Therefore ISO 22000 is under it’s first review and it is expected that the new version will be published in 2017.

An ISO working group (ISO/TC 34/SC 17/WG 8) is driving the review and first met in February 2015. It will meet again later this year to discuss the second draft of the new version.

There has been a lot of feedback on the current version and this is being used by the working group to develop the new version.

Some of the potential changes will include;

• Clarify certain key concepts, especially critical control points required to be managed, operational programmes needed, approach to risks, product withdrawal and recall, and a combination of external control measures
• Update terms and definitions
• Make the standard simpler and more concise
• Avoid making the content too prescriptive
• Ensure a greater coverage of SMEs

Written by Rachelle Williams, The Green Food Safety Coach.