A new international standard for traceability
4th March 2009 by Cor Groenveld2 Comments
ISO 22005 is the new international standard for traceability in the food and feed supply chain. The standard is part of the ISO 22000 family and it provides tools to implement an effective traceability system as part of a food safety / quality management system. As ISO 22005 chapter 5.1 states: “A traceability system is a tool that should be designed within the context of a broader management system.” The standard is applicable for all organisations involved in the feed and food chain, including manufacturers of ingredients and consumer products as well as producers of additives and packaging materials. Most existing standards (ISO 22000, HACCP, BRC, IFS) already have general requirements for a traceability system. The requirements of ISO 22005 are more specific and the standard can be used in addition to the other standards.
Traceability is a must throughout the whole feed and food supply chain, in particular as a part of the emergency management process when quality or food safety problems with raw materials or finished products occur. When an organisation is able to rapidly trace back ingredients or finished products, risks and costs involved with quality and food safety defects will be reduced. There are two ways of tracing products: trace back (looking at the suppliers) and trace forward (looking at customers). Tracing backward is mainly helpful for knowing the origin of ingredients / products and for root cause analysis when defects have occurred. Tracing forward is the most important tool to be able to find out the location of produced ingredients, products or materials, especially when defects have occurred and withdrawals or recalls are needed as corrective action.
ISO 22005 does not define the extent of the traceability system. There is no requirement for either which ingredients / products need to be involved in the system or how many steps back or forward in the supply chain it shall cover. The organisation has to define these themselves. The best approach is to use hazard and risk analysis to define the extent / scope of the traceability system.
Traceability is also required by legislation. Regulation EC 178/2002 (effective from January 1st 2005) of the General Food Law of the EU requires at least traceability for one step backward and one step forward for all ingredients and feed and food products that are brought on the market in the European Union. This is also applicable for products imported into the EU.
To summarise, the IS0 22005 requirements for a traceability system is not new. But it provides more specific tools for the implementation of an effective traceability system. The best use of ISO 22005 is in addition to other standards like ISO 22000 to achieve full integration of traceability in the organisations management system.
Cor Groenveld is the Global Product Manager for the food services of Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Ltd. (LRQA) . He has a degree in Food Technology and worked for 10 years in the food industry before joining LRQA. His background includes being a Quality Assurance Manager, working in product development and production as well as [...]
2nd April 2009 at 9:46 am
In addition to the ISO 22005, There is a Global Traceability Standard. It gives correspondind Global Standard to be use in each step of the traceability implementation. It defines minimum requirements for all stakeholders, organisations, industry sectors and countries and corresponding GS1 Standards to be used in combination with information management tools. The GS1 Global Traceability Standard serves as a foundational standard for all GS1 industry sectors and countries to use as a starting point for identifying their specific business requirements. It framework ensures a common approach and understanding of key principles by users around the world.
For More information please contact Elvire Tevi: elvire.tevi@gs1.org or visit http://www.gs1.org/docs/gsmp/traceability/Global_Traceability_Standard.pdf
Regards.
30th June 2009 at 2:14 am
ScoringAg’s web-based database is still far superior than even the ISO 22005 traceability standard as ScoringAg is a interoperable UNIX database where all documention and source information with BMP and GAP of every food handler is avaiable with time and date stamps.ScoringAg’s built in HACCP and PIDC values can pinpoint even segeration of commingled products in storage or on the move in a food chain system.
contact; info@scoringag.com