Revised ISO 22000 expected in 2017
Since the first publication of ISO 22000 on food safety management in 2005, players in the food chain – including manufacturers, consumers and governments – have been facing new food safety requirements, spurring a need for the standard to be revised.
A recent meeting of the ISO working group (ISO/TC 34/SC 17/WG 8) in charge of the revision was hosted by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) to discuss the necessary improvements to the standard.
A consultation held last year among users brought up gaps in the current version. Certain terms were found to be potentially confusing, unnecessary repetition was revealed and some concepts needed clarifying. Moreover, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were not sufficiently integrated and the understanding of risk evaluation still needed to be improved. Based on this feedback, the revision group will tackle the following issues:
• Clarify certain key concepts, especially critical control points required to be managed, operational programmes needed, approach to risks, product withdrawal and recall, and a combination of external control measures
• Update terms and definitions
• Make the standard simpler and more concise
• Avoid making the content too prescriptive
• Ensure a greater coverage of SMEs.
ISO 22000 will also have the same format as other management systems standards (MSSs), which will now follow an identical structure with common texts, terms and definitions. This will make life easier for companies wanting to be certified to several MSSs, such as ISO 9001 and ISO 22000. The coordinated format will ensure coherence between the standards, simplify their integrated use and facilitate their reading and understanding by users.
The revision group will meet again in mid October to deliver a second version, currently called working document. If all goes according to plan, the standard is expected to be published in 2017.
