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

It is applicable to all organizations, 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 through the use of internal and/or external resources.

ISO 22000:2005 specifies requirements to enable an organization

-- 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, in order 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 organization 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 organization, or make a self-assessment or self-declaration of conformity to ISO 22000:2005.

ISO 9001 vs ISO 22000

In comparison with ISO 9001, the standard is a more procedural orientated guidance than a principle based one. Apart from that, ISO 22000 is an industrial-specific risk management system for any type of food processing and marketing, which can be closely incorporated with the quality management system of ISO 9001. The detailed similarities and differences of the two standards can be found elsewhere

HACCP versus ISO 22000

ISO 22000 is the new standard bound to replace HACCP on issues related to food safety. Although several companies, especially the big ones, have either implemented or are on the point of implementing ISO 22000, there are many others which are hesitant to adopt it. The main reason behind that is the lack of information and the fear that the new standard is too demanding in terms of bureaucratic work, from abstract of case study.^[22]

ISO 22000 will not replace HACCP. The requirements for HACCP are set with global agreement by the United Nations Codex Alimentations Commission - and these are the basis for international trade and national legislation around the world. HACCP is a system - ISO 22000 is a standard. ISO 22000 can be used to measure the success of a company's implementation of HACCP, as well as pre-requisites to HACCP and quality systems. There are other standards that can also be used - ISO 22000 is not the only one.

As a note, ISO 22000 is NOT recognized as yet (26/06/2012) by the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) as opposed to many other food safety standards, including the following:

• BRC Global Standard for Food Safety (Issue 6)
• Canada GAP (Canadian Horticultural Council On-Farm Food Safety Program)
• FSSC 22000 Food Products
• Global Aquaculture Alliance Seafood Processing Standard
• GLOBAL G.A.P.
• Global Red Meat Standard (GRMS)
• IFS Food Version 6
• PrimusGFS
• Safe Quality Food (SQF)