Have you ever wondered what will happen if you eat unsafe packaged food? Due to unsafe packaged food, businesses can face product recalls or damage to a company's reputation. So, food safety is vital to ensure the health and well-being of customers. FSMS standards come into the picture to address the concern and ensure the highest-quality safety standards in food production. That's where FSMS certification comes into the picture! This demonstrates their commitment towards food safety.
Understanding FSMS
A Food Safety Management System (FSMS) is a structured and systematic approach to identifying, preventing, and mitigating food safety risks of food products. FSMS encompass practices, processes, and standards especially designed to ensure consumable food products. This standard is for every type of business in the food industry, regardless of size.
Importance of FSMS
Customer Health and Well-being: The primary goal of ISO 22000 certification is to ensure consumers' health and well-being by preventing foodborne illnesses. Adhering to FSMS standards helps businesses produce safe and high-quality food products.
Legal Compliance: FSMS certification is often a legal requirement in many jurisdictions. Compliance with these standards demonstrates a commitment to meeting regulatory requirements and avoiding legal issues related to food safety.
Enhanced Reputation: A robust FSMS protects consumers and enhances a company's reputation. Consumers are more likely to trust and choose products from companies that prioritize food safety and adhere to recognized standards.
Global Market Access: FSMS certification opens doors to global markets by demonstrating that a company meets international food safety standards. This can lead to increased market opportunities and partnerships.
Steps to Create an Effective FSMS Plan
Creating an effective Food Safety Management Plan involves several key steps:
- Hazard Analysis: Identify and assess potential hazards in each stage of the food production process.
- Critical Control Points (CCPs): Determine critical control points where control measures can be applied to prevent, eliminate, or reduce identified hazards.
- Establishing Monitoring Procedures: Develop procedures to effectively monitor and control each critical control point.
- Record-Keeping: Maintain detailed records of food safety activities, including monitoring results, corrective actions, and verification activities.
- Verification and Validation: Regularly verify and validate the effectiveness of the FSMS to ensure continuous improvement and compliance.
- Training and Communication: Train employees on food safety procedures and maintain effective communication channels to ensure everyone knows and follows the FSMS.
The Bottom Line!
Food safety is essential for a business to ensure the health of consumers and the success of businesses in the food industry. Furthermore, ISO 22000 certification is vital for businesses to ensure legal compliance and enhance business reputation. INTERCERT is an internationally recognized certification body that helps businesses implement effective FSMS plans. INTERCERT conducts an audit and facilitates FSMS certification when a business successfully implements the plan