International Standards Organisation Guidelines (ISO)

ISO 22000: 2005

ISO 22000: 2005 specifies requirements for a food safety management system where an organisation in the food chain needs to demonstrate its ability to control food safety hazards to ensure that food is safe at the time of human consumption.

It is applicable to all organisations, regardless of size, which are involved in any aspect of the food chain and want to implement systems that consistently provide safe products. The means of meeting any requirements of ISO 22000:2005 can be accomplished using internal and/or external resources.

ISO 22000: 2005 specifies requirements to enable an organisation:

• To plan, implement, operate, maintain, and update a food safety management system aimed at providing products that, according to their intended use, are safe for the consumer.
• To demonstrate compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory food safety requirements.
• To evaluate and assess customer requirements and demonstrate conformity with those mutually agreed customer requirements that relate to food safety, to enhance customer satisfaction.
• To effectively communicate food safety issues to their suppliers, customers, and relevant interested parties in the food chain.
• To ensure that the organisation conforms to its stated food safety policy.
• To demonstrate such conformity to relevant interested parties and
• To seek certification or registration of its food safety management system by an external organisation or make a self-assessment or self-declaration of conformity to ISO 22000:2005.

ISO 9000

The ISO 9000 series of quality management standards was developed by the ISO/TC 176 (ISO Technical Committee 176), convened in 1979. It set out to create a framework of the fundamental generic elements that would form the basis for a series of internationally recognized quality management standards, which it completed in 1982 and published in 1983. The ISO 9000 series of standards represents the essential requirements that every enterprise need to address to ensure the consistent production and timely delivery of its goods and services to the marketplace. These requirements make up the standards that comprise the quality management system, and their generic nature allow for their application in any type of organisation. Consistency in production and reliability in delivery are as important as what your organisation is selling in today's marketplace. It is essential to consistently meet all your customer's expectations all the time, every time, to keep them satisfied and loyal.

The system standards describe what requirements need to be met, not how they are to be met. This allows for diverse organisations to apply the same standards in a manner that reflects the reality of their business structure, allowing each organisation to meet the system requirements by implementing the standards in a manner that suits its own unique needs.

The ability to be audited by an independent, third party organisation is the foundation of its acceptance worldwide.

The series contains four system standards of varying complexity and completeness and they are: ISO 9001, ISO 9002, ISO 9003 and ISO 9004.

ISO 9001: This is the most complex and encompassing of the three standards and is designed for companies and organisations that do design and development of their products or services as well as the production and delivery of them.

ISO 9002: This is the most common of the ISO 9000 series and is identical to ISO 9001, but does not contain the design and development requirements.

ISO 9003: This is the least complex and easiest to install of the ISO 9000. It is designed for organisations that only require final inspection and testing of their products and services to ensure that they have met the specified requirements.

ISO 9004: This goes beyond ISO 9001 in that it provides guidance on how business quality management system is improved so that it benefits not only to customers but also to employees, owners, suppliers, and society in general.

ISO 1400 

The ISO 14000 series of environmental management standards were developed by the ISO/TC 207 convened in 1993. Its work was based upon previous consultations that had taken place between the ISO and the IEC's (International Electrochemical Commission) Strategic Advisory Group on the Environment (SAGE) which was itself convened in 1991. It set out to create the framework of the fundamental generic elements that would form the basis for a series of internationally recognized environmental standards, which it completed and published in 1996.

The ISO 14000 series of standards represents the essential requirements that every enterprise needs to address to control and minimize the impact that its operation, and resulting goods and services, has on the environment. These requirements make up the standards that comprise the environmental management system and their generic nature allow for their application in any type of organisation. The management structure that this standard develops within an organisation allows the organisation to set goals and targets for conforming to the environmental regulations that are required of its industry.

Click here to view a video that explains ISO 22000.