The most important point in the concept of food safety is being harmful to human health. In all legal regulations, this concept is expressed as health-friendly or harmful to human health. When food is consumed, it causes people to become uncomfortable, harms human health, creates symptoms of disease in the human body, it cannot be said to be safe. As a result, it has caused a number of abnormal developments in human health.
Food security, then, means that food is suitable for consumption and that consumers are protected against food-borne health risks. Factors affecting food safety may be biological, chemical or physical. Due to these factors, food safety is endangered by the contamination of harmful substances by food or by improper applications during production.
It is a great mistake to think that ensuring food safety is important only in production facilities. This is because the food chain consists of many rings that start from the collection of products from the field and end up at the consumer's table after passing through stages such as preparation, processing, packaging, storage, and dispatch. Therefore, food safety can be ensured by fulfilling the responsibility of everyone in each ring on the food chain.
For example, in herbal production, the recommended chemical drugs for the product should be used in adequate doses and under suitable conditions. The time between spraying and product collection is very important for food safety. The waiting times here must be observed. Irrigation, maintenance and fertilization of the product should not be damaged. To ensure traceability, medicines used, product collection intervals and similar information should be recorded.
Likewise, during animal production, medicines that are allowed to protect animal health should be used at the recommended doses. The drug should not be used without a veterinary prescription. Vaccines should be given on time and regularly. Animal shelters and transportation vehicles should be in good condition. To ensure traceability, drugs and vaccines used should be recorded.
Food producing enterprises must also meet the food safety requirements. Good hygiene practices in enterprises should be followed. Records should be maintained to ensure traceability. HACCP basic requirements must be applied in the enterprise. Employees should be knowledgeable about hygiene and comply with the necessary conditions. Products should be produced in accordance with food safety and quality and should be presented to consumers in suitable conditions.
Failure to comply with all of these means that food safety cannot be ensured. Otherwise there is a risk of contamination and spoilage of food. The nutritional value of foods is lost, quality deteriorates, causing food poisoning and other health problems in humans. Of course it also causes economic losses.
The aim of food safety efforts is to preserve the nutritional values of purchased foods, to prevent the loss of nutritional properties and to prevent the reproduction of microbes and bacteria and the degradation of nutrients.
What HACCP Standard Has Brought?
The HACCP Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points System standard forms the basis of all subsequent standards for food safety. Its main purpose is to ensure food safety and quality of food in line with the expectations of consumers in the food sector. Firstly, the HACCP standard, which consists of a set of principles and principles introduced for the purpose of feeding American astronauts, was later used by the US Food and Drug Administration for legal audits. Then, the World Health Organization and the European Union countries and other countries also attracted attention in a short time. With the Food Hygiene Directive issued in 1993, the European Union obliges member countries to comply with the HACCP standard in food production.
Food safety and the necessity of good quality of food have a meaning together. Every application that will ensure food safety also affects the quality of food. The HACCP standard is therefore both a food safety system and a quality assurance system for food.
The HACCP standard is a system to completely reduce food safety risk. However, a major disadvantage of this standard is that it remains regional and national and cannot become an international standard. Therefore, TS 2003 Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points Management System standard has been published in our country by Turkish Standards Institute in 13001. TS 13001 standard is based entirely on HACCP principles and includes food producing companies and suppliers.
Another disadvantage of the HACCP standard is that it only targets production facilities and manufacturing enterprises. However, there are many people on the food chain such as the production of the products in the fields before the activities of these enterprises, then the packaging, storage, transportation and delivery to the consumers. In each ring, food safety must be ensured in the same way.
In order to eliminate these drawbacks, the International Standards Organization published the ISO 2006 Food Safety Management System standard in 22000. This standard replaces the HACCP standards and the TS 13001 standard.
What is ISO 22000 Food Safety Management System?
As a result of globalization, the issue of food safety has ceased to be regional and national and has gained an international dimension. The issue of food safety in many areas, from production in the field to processing, packaging, storage, transport and delivery of food, has led to the need for a number of international arrangements and a common language between the parties and between countries.
The ISO 22000 standard has been designed by the International Standards Organization to address this need. It is based on HACCP principles.
What is the FSSC 22000 standard?
The FSSC 22000 standard is specifically targeted at food manufacturers. The FSSC 22000 standard (Food Safety System Certification) is based on the current ISO 22000 Food Safety Management System and PAS 220 Prerequisite Programs standards.
The Global Food Safety Initiave (GFSI) is an important organization in the international food trade and was established with the participation of many large retail companies, manufacturers and certification bodies. This organization has begun to work to ensure that food safety standards and practices are acceptable under one roof and to create a common language.
This organization has previously adopted the following standards for food safety:
- IFS International Food Standard
- BRC Food, Food Safety System standard
- GlobalGAP Good Agricultural Practices standard
- SQF Safe Quality Food standard
However, this organization, the Global Food Safety Movement, has seen that the pre-requisite programs of the international standard ISO 22000 Food Safety Management System do not contain as much detailed requirements as other specific standards. He therefore considered that this standard should be audited in terms of its approach to other specific standards and with an additional guideline in which the prerequisites were translated in detail.
In this context, the Confederation of Food and Beverage Industry Associations of the European Union (CIAA) and the major food manufacturers in Europe came together to develop technical standards that meet customer requirements and define prerequisite programs in food production in particular. This is how the additional manual came into being. These studies play an important role in food safety and create trust in food trade. The British Standard Institution (BSI) published these requirements in 2008 under the name PAS 220.
Then, under the leadership of CIAA, the Foundation for Food Safety Certification was established, the scope and rules of FSSC 22000 were completed in 2009 and the full recognition of GFSI was announced in 2010.
The scope of the FSSC 22000 standard is as follows:
- Food safety system requirements of food manufacturers
- Requirements for certification firms
- FSSC 22000 accreditation rules
our organization TÜRCERT Technical Control and Certification Inc.The FSSC 22000 food safety system is ready to help with any doubts about certification work.