Food safety is a global concern. Public health issues can significantly impact on trade. Legislation, in most countries, requires proprietors of food companies to implement HACCP principles into food production systems. A management system based on HACCP principles allows organizations to identify, document, maintain and review food hazards that occur during the food production process

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 22000:2005 Standard:Requirements for a Food Safety Management System demonstrates an organization’s commitment to food safety, and provides a means to demonstrate that an organization is taking the necessary steps to control food safety hazards.

The standard has three parts:

• Good manufacturing practices (GMP) or pre-requisite programs requirements
• HACCP principles
• Management system requirements

ISO 22001:2005: applies to all organizations, regardless of their size, that impact the food chain. This includes ingredient suppliers, equipment manufacturers, package suppliers, service providers, farmers, food processors, and catering and retailing organizations.

Requirements include:

• HACCP System
• Management system requirements
• Good manufacturing practices (GMP) or pre-requisite programs requirements

Benefits

• Allows organization within the food chain to demonstrate their commitment to food safety.
• Improved internal and external communication.
• Ability to show control of known food hazards.
• Continuous improvement of an organization's food safety management system.
• Use of the internationally recognized NSF certification mark.
• Enables an organization to align its food safety management system with other recognized management systems such as quality (ISO 9001) and environmental (ISO 14001)