• About FDF
• News
• Membership
• Facts and stats
  • Stats at a Glance
  • Exports
  • Case Studies
  • Industry Standards
  • Food Sectors
• Events and training
• Publications

Quality Management Standards

A number of quality management standards are available to the food manufacturing industry.

This page provides information on some of the developments in quality management standards for the food industry, associated prerequisite programmes, guidance documents and certification schemes:

• ISO 9001
• ISO 22000
• PAS 220
• Global Food Safety Initiative
• Food Safety System Certification 22000

Food Safety System Certification 22000 (FSSC 22000)

The introduction of FSSC 22000 marks a major step closer towards a single, internationally accredited and recognised superior food safety standard. It combines the ISO 22000:2005 Food Safety Management standard with the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 220:2008 and other additional requirements.

Its content has also been approved by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), an organisation committed to benchmarking food safety management schemes with an aim towards fostering a convergence between food safety standards. The FDF endorses this FSSC 22200 as the most comprehensive food safety management systems standard.

For more details on FSSC 22000 and PAS 220:2008 see: The Foundation for Food Safety Certification website

Find out more about PAS 220 or order a copy: BSI website

ISO 9001

ISO 9001 is an internationally recognised quality management system standard developed by the International Organization of Standardisation (ISO).

This standard was developed to provide a uniform standard for quality management worldwide. ISO 9001 is generic in nature and does not relate specifically to food manufacture or food safety. It has been used as the basis for other more specific standards for quality management, for example in the automotive industry, the medical device industry, and the aerospace industry.

ISO 22000

ISO and its member countries developed the quality management system approach, tailoring it to apply to food safety by incorporating the widely used and proven HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) principles into the quality management system. The resulting standard is ISO 22000.

This standard provides an opportunity to minimise system and audit variations (for example based on geography, sector, product or customer). It also reduces barriers to trade across borders and the supply chain, through a truly global food safety standard.

ISO 22000 requires businesses to implement prerequisite programmes, but is not specific in what such programmes should be.