A Food Safety Management System helps business’ keep their food safe for consumers.

Blurb: Food safety is large concern amongst the general public right now, with many people worried that some of the food they purchase may be contaminated, and dangerous to consume. By implementing a Food Safety Management System, companies are able to demonstrate their commitment to high food safety standards, open trading doors between other business’, and provide consumers with the peace of mind that their food products are safe for consumption.

Business’ that work with food at any stage of the food supply chain, whether it be manufacturing, transport, or retail of it, have the significant responsibility of ensuring that it is always kept hazard- and contamination-free. It only takes a single incident of customers buying contaminated food to bring a business’ reputation into question, which can have significantly detrimental effects, including a substantial decrease in profits as people may then choose to buy their food elsewhere. So, companies working with food need to have a system in place to ensure their food is always protected, and by taking these steps, they are demonstrating their commitment to high food safety standards and customer safety.

The International Organization for Standardization’s ISO 22000 Food Safety Standards are an internationally recognised set of standards that help business’ in the food sector protect their food from potential threats across all aspects of the Food Supply Chain. One of the key reasons an international food safety standard was required is that many food products purchased by consumers is produced in other countries, and then exported. To provide consumers with the peace of mind that food manufactured overseas met local food safety regulations, an internationally recognised food safety standard was developed, and by achieving accreditation to these standards, business’ are opening potential trading doors with other business’ across the world, as they are providing an assurance that their business practices the highest quality food safety standards.

The standards were first published in 2005, and have most recently been updated in 2018, and since then they have helped business’ across the globe develop strategies for creating and maintaining a successful Food Safety Management System (FSMS), to help them both manage and improve their food safety practices.

If your business works with food at any stage of the supply chain, including growing, preparation, transportation, or the wholesale or retail of it, then it stands to benefit from the implementation of these standards. This is because a FSMS both helps business’ develop strategies for controlling food safety hazards, as well as working to demonstrate a commitment to high safety standards to customers, clients, and members of the public.

Specifically, the ISO 22000 Standards help companies:

• To create, utilise, manage, and audit an effective Food Safety Management System, which has the goals of ensuring that the food products that are sold to consumers are delivered as they should be, in an edible, contamination-free state.
• To better understand their legal and regulatory requirements, and then take active steps to meet them, and develop documentation outlining their processes to provide assurance to relevant parties.
• Provide consumers with an assurance that the food they eat will not harm them in any way.
• Refine their practices to ensure that they continue to meet current food regulations and standards. In addition, it can help business’ identify inefficiencies and potential areas of concern, and then work at satisfactorily addressing them, ensuring that their food safety practices remain of an international standard.

The Standards utilise the HACCP principles to ensure the highest quality

One of the central benefits of these standards is that they utilise the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system, which is a globally recognised system for upholding food safety. The HACCP system helps business’ to recognise and manage potential hazards throughout the food supply chain. It works with business’ to prevent potential hazards through close scrutiny and management of key areas, or ‘critical control points’, of the supply chain.

These goals are achieved by ensuring that business’ develop a system of hazard analysis and control across various stages, including:

• Requiring organisations to conduct a thorough hazard analysis of their operations, to identify relevant Critical Control Points (CCP), which are areas which, if they are not perform as they should, could result in customers, or the business, being negatively impacted, including being physically hurt.
• Requiring business’ to develop a system of monitoring each CCP, to ensure it continues to perform as it should. Business’ are also required to develop fault management processes, which work at fixing potential issues, and getting things back to normal.
• Having the business develop clear documentation processes, outlining exactly what steps they have taken to manage CCP’s, fix problems, and continually ensure the safety of the food they work with. This documentation process makes it easier for business’ to track their progress, provide proof to stakeholders and regulatory bodies about their high standards, and so on.

Demonstrate that your company is committed to food safety

By certifying to the ISO 22000 Standards your business is demonstrating that it takes the issue of food safety seriously, opening potential trading doors between local, national, and international organisations, and developing an effective system of hazard control, thus ensuring that all potential incidents are quickly dealt with.

Food safety is a significant concern right now, and by certifying to these standards your business is providing peace of mind to customers, stakeholders, and trading partners, that your organisation recognises the scope of potential food safety hazards, and has taken appropriate steps to ensure that the food it works with is kept pristine.

If you would like to know more about how these standards could help your business achieve its goals of running safely and smoothly, then please give Anitech’s safety consultants a call today on 1300 802 163. All you need to do is explain to them your business structure, and some of the food safety challenges it could potentially face, and they will be able to explain to you how these standards could help your company achieve it goals of keeping its food contamination-free across the food supply chain and demonstrating to relevant parties the high safety standards your business adheres to. Doesn’t that sound like an appetising idea?

Please click here to read more about the benefits a Food Safety Management System brings to companies.