FSSC 22000

It is a duty of every food manufacturer to ensure safety of the products they market. This is a priority and is an essential condition for the release of any product. This requirement is non-negotiable and, along with health, hygiene and nutritional value, is among the most important issues in the European Union.

Food companies have a legal obligation to implement and apply Good Hygiene Practice, Good Manufacturing Practice and the HACCP system. This is a necessary minimum. However, in order to cope with the strong competition in the market, companies implement and certify food safety management standards, which are voluntary in nature and their application is not regulated by Community regulations. Among the best-known and most widely implemented and certified systems and standards are IFS, BRCGS and FSSC 22000, which are standards recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), a coalition of 39 retailers and manufacturers from the Consumer Goods Forum and the food safety community to oversee food safety standards and thus ensure access to safe food. The IFS, BRCGS or FSSC 22000 standards are recognized globally, and certifications of compliance provide a ticket to sell to top food producers/brand owners. FSSC 22000 has been fully recognized by GFSI since 2010, guaranteeing compliance with the highest standards around the world and widespread acceptance by the food industry as well as accreditation bodies.

Food Safety System Certification 22000 is a complete food safety management system certification program that was developed through extensive and open consultation with many global stakeholders. The program utilizes international as well as independent standards such as ISO 22000, ISO 9001, ISO/TS 22003 and technical specifications for sector-specific Prerequisite Programs PRPs. The system provides a certification model that can be used throughout the food supply chain, from animal husbandry, feed production, food manufacturing, food packaging, transportation and warehousing to catering, retail and wholesale.
As part of an ISO management systems approach, FSSC 22000 can also integrate a food safety management system
with other ISO management systems, such as ISO 9001 quality management, ISO14001 environmental management or ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management.

The FSSC 22000 certification scheme is based on 3 components:

    ·        ISO 22000 standard.

    ·        technical specification (ISO/TS or BSI PAS)appropriate for specific business sector.

    ·        FSSC 22000 additional requirements.

ISO 22000 standard "Food Safety Management Systems. Requirements for any organization in the food chain" combines the structure of ISO 9001, which covers a quality management system, with the principles of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP). The standard places strong emphasis on leadership, including top management involvement and increased accountability for system effectiveness within the company. It defines risk analysis requirements at the operational (HACCP) level and at the strategic (business) level. The structure of the standard is based on the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle to ensure that all processes are properly managed and that opportunities for continuous improvement are seized.

In the FSSC 22000 certification system, the ISO22000 standard is supplemented
by a technical specification dedicated to a specific business sector. For food manufacturers, this is ISO/TS 22002-1 "Initial programs for food safety. Food production." These are detailed requirements for Good Hygiene Practice and Good Manufacturing Practice applicable to any food plant.

Additional FSSC 22000 requirements include management of purchased materials, product labelling, food defence, product fraud vulnerability assessment, use of the FSSC 22000 logo and, depending on the food category, allergen management, environmental monitoring or storage, verification of prerequisite programs and product development.

The entire FSSC 22000 certification scheme helps to ensure a consistent auditing process for facilities monitored by an integrated program, ensuring that food safety management is maintained worldwide.

The current edition of FSSC 22000 introduces unannounced audits - unannounced is one of two surveillance audits during the three-year certification cycle. Auditing of facilities for compliance with FSSC22000 is done by accredited certification bodies. Accreditation rests with national bodies such as the Polish Accreditation Center and the Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle (DAkkS) in Germany.