Posted by Zosi Team
More and more, consumer become concerned about food safety. Incidents of foodborne illness and recalls are seemingly ubiquitous as supply chains globalize and controls struggle to keep up. Manufacturers must make efforts to address these vulnerabilities in their processes. One way to do so is to adopt a widely recognized food safety and quality standard, like FSSC 22000.
There are a number of benefits that come from FSSC 22000. These include:
Given these benefits, it should come as no surprise that such a certification enhances reputation, which can bring in new customers and increase bottom lines.
The Purpose of FSSC 2200: Mitigating Foreign Material Risk
Foreign material risks are top of mind for food producers in recent years, and FSSC 22000 provides a variety of tools to help reduce those risks. It can help build a foreign material detection program, proactively reduce the risk of foreign material entry in the product stream and encourage the use of methodologies to reduce foreign material risk. Some example methodologies include supplier control, incoming inspection, prevention and detection methods, internal audits, Root-Cause Analysis, and complaint trending.
A strong foreign material contamination program helps reduce the possibility of a physical contamination-related recall. The FDA’s dashboard indicates that the most common causes for food recalls in the USA are undeclared allergens, pathogen contamination – such as Listeria and Salmonella — and physical contamination. In fact, a study of 176 Walmart sites conducted by the University of Arkansas and published in the Journal of Food Protection found that over a four-year period — two years before and after implementation of a GFSI standard — there was a 34% reduction in recalls.
Conclusion
The FSSC 22000 program is a risk-based certification program that helps food producers reduce the risk of providing an unsafe product to consumers and maintain an effective, tailored food safety program in a dynamic regulatory environment. To learn more about the specific FSSC 22000 standard certification requirements, download our free white paper.
To learn more about Foreign Material Control training by Zosi, click here.
