What is ISO 22000?

ISO (International Standardization Organization) 22000 is an integrated standard of ISO 9001 and HACCP system.
To be more specific, ISO 22000 is a certification standard in which HACCP principle of CODEX applicable by all interested parties in food supply chain for achieving the benefit of food safety and elements of ISO 9001 management system are combined.
ISO 22000 is an international standard jointly developed, under the initiative of working group 8 of ISO, by ISO member states and professional food bodies including CODEX, GFSI and CIAA in order to effectively control hazardous factors that may happen in all processing stages from farms to tables.

Certification Fields of ISO 22000

All the organizations in food supply chain from farms to tables may be objects of certification. In other words, the objects of certification may include all the organizations and activities that directly affect food safety such as cultivation of farm produce, production of raw materials, and manufacturing, packaging, transportation and sales, and that indirectly affect the food safety such as feed manufacturing, packaging material manufacturing, manufacturing of equipment and detergents and the like.

Necessity of Introduction of ISO 22000

It is essential to secure food safety for preventing safety accidents from spreading that may be originated from food, and introduction of management system for manufacturing and controlling of food in safe and sanitary condition has been expanded of late concomitant with emphasis on customer requirements on food safety.
ISO 9001 which is a control system for function and control of food, HACCP for food safety standard, BRC (British Retail Consortium) for food and food packaging, EUREPGAP and GMP for food safety standard are applicable to manufacturers and suppliers under food supply networks.
Groups and organizations (retailers and wholesalers, consumer groups) that approve of the above-identified standards, and that supply food to groups and organizations are desirous of acquiring a certification among the above-mentioned several certifications.
However, it is cumbersome and wasteful to acquire several certifications for a variety of food safety standards.
Furthermore, standards and system control on food have created confusion to consumers as international trades of food increase, although these standards and system control on food have been handled separately by each country. The ISO 22000 may be a good solution to overcome these problems.

Effect obtainable from introduction of ISO 22000

- Establishment of systematic sanitary control system
- Food manufacturing in which sanitation and safety are secured
- Maximized efficiency of sanitary control system
- Enhanced corporate images and improved confidence or reliability
- Decreases in production defect rates, consumer complaints, returns and disposals to thereby promote economic benefits

Essential elements required by ISO 22000

The ISO 22000 demands control of prerequisite programs basically required by an organization for acquiring food safety and HACCP principles for controlling food safety hazardous factors through management system required by ISO 9001. The ISO 22000 also emphasizes the systematic interactive communication in and out of organization for effective system.

QSZ Service Methodology

The local QS Zürich AG auditors armed with profound experience and professional knowledge in food industries provide customers with valuable services through ISO 22000 certification service for food fields based on full understanding and high-level audit achievement of business traits and process of customers.
- Contract for certification audit
- Preliminary audit: Checking to be made on where security of a system is required through review of management system prior to certification audit for registration (selection of organization for application of certification)
- Audit for certification registration
    - STAGE 1 audit: Document review of prerequisite programs and HACCP plans and on-site checking
    - STAGE 2 audit (On-site audit): Checking on implementation of food safety management system
- Surveillance management audit: Periodic checking on continual effectiveness of food safety management system
- Recertification audit: Audit for re-registration every three years on a par with an initial audit level