Thousands of food manufacturers worldwide stand to benefit from a newly published document in the ISO 22000 series designed to prevent and control food safety hazards.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) technical specification ISO/TS 22002-1:2009, Prerequisite programmes on food safety – Part 1: Food manufacturing, sets out requirements for prerequisite programmes needed to realize safe products and provide food that is safe for human consumption. It is intended to be used in conjunction with, and to support, ISO 22000:2005 which gives requirements for a food safety management system.

The new technical specification has a huge potential impact since at least 8206 organizations in 112 countries were independently certified to ISO 22000:2005 at the end of 2008.

ISO/TS 22002-1 specifies requirements for establishing, implementing and maintaining prerequisite programmes designed to help food manufacturers be able to control:

* The likelihood of introducing food safety hazards to the product through the work environment
* Biological, chemical and physical contamination of the product, including cross contamination between products
* Food safety hazard levels in the product and product processing environment.

Jacob Faergemand, Chair of the subcommittee which is responsible for the ISO 22000 series, comments: “As the introduction of food safety hazards can occur at the manufacturing stage of the food supply chain, a hygienic environment is essential. That is why this ISO technical specification is very useful to reduce the likelihood that products will be exposed to hazards, that they will be contaminated, and that hazards will proliferate.”

The new technical specification applies to all organizations involved in the manufacturing step of the food chain, regardless of size or complexity. It is not a requirement of ISO 22000 and may be used in parts or in its entirety, depending on the nature of food manufacturing operations.

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