What is FSSC 22000?

FSSC 22000 is requirements for integrated processes that work together to control and minimize food safety hazards. If a facility implements processes that address all the requirements, they can be certified to FSSC 22000.

FSSC 22000 Basics

The FSSC 22000 system uses a management systems approach to food safety, using ISO 22000 for the management system requirements and ISO Technical Standards or Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) for prerequisite program requirements. The food safety management system integrates nicely with other management systems such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.

FSSC 22000, ISO 22000 and the Global Food Safety Initiative, (GFSI)

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a division of the Consumer Goods Forum and a collaboration of retailers, manufacturers and food service companies that has been working on harmonization of food safety standards. GFSI benchmarks the various food safety standards against a basic set of criteria. Standards meeting the criteria are recognized. Many large retailers and manufacturers are requesting their suppliers to register to a GFSI recognized scheme. One of the benchmarked standards is FSSC 22000, which, as we stated above, uses ISO 22000 for the management systems requirements.

What is ISO 22000? The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed a Food Safety Management System following a similar format as the well known quality standard ISO 9001. The Food Safety Management System standard is ISO 22000. The standard is applicable to any company in the food industry, from farmers, manufacturers and transporters to packagers and retailers. ISO 22000 registration is recognized worldwide, and is growing in popularity.

However, the ISO 22000 Certification is not recognized by GFSI and GFSI recognition is playing an important role in Food Safety Management Systems Certification. To address this, the Foundation for Food Safety Certification created the FSSC 22000 scheme. By using the ISO 22000 standard, adding Prerequisite Program requirements and a few general requirements the Foundation created an ISO 22000 based scheme that was benchmarked and recognized by GFSI.

Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000 is an ISO 22000 based certification scheme for food manufacturers. It includes both the requirements for a Food Safety Management System found in ISO 22000 and the requirements for Prerequisite Programs found in the ISO Technical Specification ISO/TS 22002-1:2009. Food packaging manufacturers would use a different set of requirements for the Prerequisite Programs, the PAS 223.

FSSC 22000 Requirements

1. The certification scheme and requirements are defined in three documents:
2. FSSC 22000: Part 1 Requirements for organizations that require certification
3. ISO 22000:2005: Food safety management systems – Requirements for any organization in the food chain
   Requirements for Prerequisite Programs

• The document you use for prerequisite programs will depend on your scope.
  Food Processors use ISO/TS 22002-1: Prerequisite programs on food safety – Part 1: Food Manufacturing.
• Food Packaging Manufacturers use the PAS 223 – Prerequisite programs and design requirements for food safety in the manufacture and provision of food packaging.
• Manufacturers or Providers of Animal Food, Feed or Ingredients use the PAS 222 – Prerequisite programs for the manufacture of food and feed for animals.