Food Safety standard ISO 22000:2018 on track for publication

Progress indicator

The revised standard aims to fit the entire food chain from production to consumer.

The birth of ISO 22000 ‘Food safety management’ in 2005 gave the global food industry a way to safeguard the supply chain from production to the consumer. Its first major revision, ISO 22000:2018, is expected to be published by June 2018. The evolution of the standard reflects a global response to new and emerging industry challenges.

Multiple food scandals have made headlines worldwide since the standard’s original release 13 years ago. In February 2018, KFC temporarily closed more than 550 outlets in the UK due to chicken shortages caused by supply chain issues. In August 2017, millions of eggs were pulled from European supermarkets after the insecticide Fipronil was discovered in eggs from the Netherlands. In 2013, horsemeat was discovered in burgers sold at Tesco, Burger King, Co-op and Aldi.

ISO 22000:2018 aims to prevent such failures in food safety and supply chain management.

“Food safety, like quality, is everyone’s responsibility,” said Ian Dunlop, CQP FCQI, and CQI/IRCA Technical Assessor.

“The revised standard underlines this point by requiring a much wider, risk-based approach to food safety by organisations, their management, suppliers and other interested parties. Effective implementation of ISO 22000:2018 should leave no room for causing any harm to consumers.”

The key changes to the standard include the adoption of the High-Level Structure used by other ISO management system standards; a new approach to understanding risk; clarification of the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle; and clear descriptions of key terms within the operation process (such as Critical Control Points, Operational Prerequisite Programmes and Prerequisite Programmes).

“There is no doubt that the forthcoming revision to ISO 22000 will have a ripple effect throughout the global food industry as it is embraced by all types of organisations associated with the food chain,” said Dunlop. “If this new work results in further protection from food safety hazards for the global public, it will have achieved its objective.”

According to the annual ISO Survey last published in 2016, 32,139 international organisations were certified to the food safety management standard.