Why Is ISO 22000:2018 Certification Important for Food Businesses?

ISO 22000:2018 certification is of course important in that it demonstrates that the business has a working food safety management system. It's issued following an independent audit so it provides customers, retailers and regulators with verifiable proof. It also helps with market access, reduces the number of product failures and improves legal compliance.

What Is ISO 22000:2018 Certification?

ISO 22000 Certification is the international standard for a Food Safety Management System (FSMS). It applies to all organisations in the food chain (farm to fork) including farms, manufacturers, packers, transporters, storage operators, caterers and packaging suppliers. It takes the HACCP principles and combines them with the management system requirements (leadership commitment, internal audits, corrective action etc) and also requires the implementation of prerequisite Programmes (hygiene, pest control and supplier approval).

Why Is ISO 22000 Certification Important for Food Businesses?

What are the main benefits?

● Market access: a lot of the retailers and food service operators will either prefer or actually require you to be a certified supplier so certification will go a long way to helping you get access to larger contracts.

● Lower recall risk: the hazard analysis will have identified issues such as allergen cross-contact, contamination and foreign objects prior to the products shipping.

● Legal compliance: the business must identify and comply with applicable food safety laws and maintain records that an inspector could review.

● Improved traceability: batch tracking means you can much more quickly locate and remove the affected product should a problem arise.

● Clear accountability: defined roles to show who is responsible for monitoring each control and who takes action when the results are outside of the limits.

ISO 22000 on its own is not recognized by GFSI. Some larger retailers may require additional food safety requirements beyond ISO 22000. Make sure you check which certification schemes your customers accept before proceeding.

How Much Does It Cost?

ISO 22000 certification cost is going to be very much dependent on the size of the company, the number of employees, the number of sites, the product risk and the current state of the food safety system. The bigger the operation or the higher the risk, the more audit days you'll need and therefore the higher the cost will be.

Total spend will normally cover the certification body audit fees, staff training, the work of producing documentation and any equipment or facility fixes that are identified during the gap assessment. It's always worth getting quotes from at least three certification bodies to enable a comparison of audit days and annual fees.

How do you choose an ISO 22000:2018 certification body?

What Should You Check?

● Accreditation status: Choose an ISO certification body accredited by a recognized national accreditation body. Buyers may reject certificates issued by certification bodies that do not hold recognized accreditation.

● Sector experience: auditors with experience in your product sector will identify the relevant risks much more quickly.

● Audit scope: the certificate must list the products, processes and sites you wish to be covered.

● Surveillance terms: the certs are for three years with surveillance audits in between so ask about the annual fees at the outset.

In A Nutshell

ISO 22000 certification is essentially independent proof that a food business has a food safety control system in place. It's good for sales, it's good for risk reduction and it keeps your legal and traceability records in order. You start with a gap assessment, you establish which certification scheme your customers will accept and then you pick an accredited certification body to audit your product type.