Food Safety Globally Harmonizes Management Systems

PAS 220 details the PRPs used by food and beverage manufacturers and is intended to be used in conjunction with ISO 22000. Its focus is to ensure that processes are in place to minimize, mitigate, or eliminate potential food safety hazards from affecting the products, including product contamination, food safety hazard levels, and the product processing environment.

PAS 220 addresses concerns that existed with ISO 22000 and is designed to bridge the gap between ISO 22000 and the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) requirements. GFSI was launched in 2000 with the following mission: “Continuous improvement in food safety management systems to ensure confidence in the delivery of safe food to consumers.”

Covering important aspects of food safety that are often overlooked in the food manufacturing sector, such as warehouse requirements, rework, food defense, biovigilance, and bioterrorism, PAS 220 will substantially strengthen ISO 22000 and enhance initiatives to harmonize global food safety standards.

PAS 220 is made up of the core requirements specified in ISO 22000 under sub-clause 7.2.3, with additional requirements that are considered relevant to the food manufacturing process (for a brief summary of these requirements, see “The PAS 220 Plan,” p. 35)

The Benefits

In December 2008, the Foundation for Food Safety Certification announced its plans to develop the ISO 22000 and PAS 220 certification scheme for food safety systems of food manufacturers. The CIAA supports this development, and the scheme has been submitted to the GFSI to be benchmarked and approved.

“The ISO 22000/PAS 220 scheme marks a very significant step forward for all food processors,” said Geoff Thompson, chair of the CIAA Food and Consumer Policy Committee. “Both large and small manufacturers and retailers now have the opportunity to unite under a commonly agreed set of prerequisite programs for the international control of food safety hazards.”

Some advantages of the standard include reduced costs from waste reduction, fewer product failures, and better traceability throughout the supply chain (embodying and maintaining the Codex Alimentarius HACCP), as well as seamless integration with other standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001. In addition, ISO 22000 with PAS 220 can be used globally to benchmark not only organizations but also different facilities within international companies.

According to the Foundation for Food Safety Certification, its objectives are to facilitate a certification scheme that ensures high quality food safety audits in the whole food supply chain and to achieve harmonization in food safety standards and audits. Due to the fact that the combination of ISO 22000 and the PAS 220 is very similar to the foundation’s GFSI HACCP approved standard, they believe it is a logical next step to facilitate this harmonized scheme for food processors.

Adopting ISO 22000 and PAS 220

In light of the many food safety schemes that already exist, some organizations may be hesitant to adopt a new standard. The good news for these companies is that any organization with an existing program based on the HACCP principles of Codex Alimentarius will probably have most of the elements of ISO 22000 and PAS 220. There is no need to start from scratch, because the transition can be made by building on the existing platform.

A study conducted by Cargill Inc., an international company that provides food, agricultural, and risk-management products and services, compared the elements found in the different audit standards/programs/schemes with 37 key criteria for PRP and HACCP in the Codex Alimentarius. The study found that most audit standards/programs/schemes meet more than 90% of the requirements for PRP and HACCP.

A gap analysis conducted by a reputable certification body will assist in identifying the areas that require further attention in order to meet the requirements of the food safety management system.