The food safety management system ISO 22000 is undergoing a revision process in a bid to make necessary improvements to the standards.
First published in 2005, the current revision of the ISO 22000 is expected to help players in the food chain, including manufacturers, consumers and governments, to meet new food safety requirements.
In February, the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) hosted the meeting of ISO working group in charge of the revision to discuss the essential enhancements to the standard.
In addition, a consultation held among users last year brought up issues such as unnecessary repetition and obscure concepts. Moreover, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were not sufficiently integrated.
The revision will focus on giving clarity to 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.
Besides these, it will see updation of terms and definitions, making the standard simpler and more concise, doing away with the need to make prescriptive content and ensuring a greater coverage of SMEs.
ISO 22000 will have the same format as other management systems standards (MSSs), which will now follow an identical structure with common texts, terms and definitions.
Image: The ongoing revision will give necessary improvements to food safety management standard. Photo: courtesy of ISO.
