IRI participated in a webinar, (online seminar) presented by “AFNOR”, about the new Food Safety Management Standard FS 22000 (FSSC: Food Safety management System for Certification).

FS 22000 differs slightly from ISO 22000:2005 (Food Safety Management System requirements for any organization in the food chain); while the ISO standard applies to all organizations in the food chain, from the farm to the food packaging producer, FS 22000 applies only to food manufacturers and is recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

GFSI was launched in May 2000; it provides convergence between Food Safety Standards and establishes a benchmarking process for the different Food Safety Management Systems, to ensure confidence in the delivery of safe food to consumers.
The GFSI benchmarks, besides FS 22000, four food safety schemes: BRC (British Retail Consortium), IFS (International Food Safety), Dutch HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) and SQF (Safe Quality Food institute), that are accepted by major food retailers such as Carrefour and Wal-Mart.

The FS 22000 scheme requirements are made up of the ISO 22000:2005 standard and the PAS 220:2008 (Publicly Available Specification).

PAS 220:2008 is a document that was developed by BSI; it supports management systems designed to meet   the requirements for Prerequisite Programs (PRP) specified in ISO 22000 and applies to all who are involved in the manufacturing step of the food chain.

Based on PAS 220, ISO has published a technical specification ISO/TS 22002-1:2009 (PRP on Food Safety, Part 1 – food manufacturing) to assist companies in designing and implementing PRPs.

The FS 22000 certificate is valid for 3 years. Note that certification audits focus on both ISO 22000 and   PAS 220 requirements and the selection of the auditors will be done according to ISO/TS 22003:2007 (Food Safety Management System requirements for bodies providing audits and certification of FSMS).