Food Safety Magazine, February/March 2013

PROCESS CONTROL1. Scope2. Normative references3. Terms and definitions4. Establishment and maintenance ofprerequisite programs5. Common prerequisite programs5.1 General5.2 Location5.3 Construction and layout of premises5.4 Equipment suitability5.5 Personnel hygiene5.6 Working animals5.7 Purchasing management5.8 On-farm storage and transport5.9 Cleaning5.10 Maintenance5.11 Waste management5.12 Pest control in premises5.13 Management of productssuspected to be unsafe5.14 Outsourced activities6. Prerequisite programs specific tocrop production6.1 General6.2 Irrigation6.3 Fertilization6.4 Plant protection products6.5 Harvest and postharvest activities7. Prerequisite programs specific toanimal production7.1 General7.2 Feed and water for animals7.3 Health management7.4 Milking7.5 Egg collection7.6 Preparation for slaughter7.7 Growing, harvesting and handlingof aquatic animalsTable 4: Outline of the Requirements of ISO22002-3 Prerequisite Programs for Farmingrestaurants, coffee shops, supermarketsand retail food stores. Table 3 providesan outline of the standard.Farming is the first step in the foodchain. ISO 22002-3 describes the bestpractices that should be adopted thatallow farmers to maintain a hygienicenvironment so they can do their part inensuring on-farm hygiene.The standard is divided into threeparts: common PRPs, PRPs specificfor crop production and PRPs specificfor animal production. Included in theanimal production are PRPs for growing,handling and harvesting aquatic animals.Table 4 presents an outline of the standard’srequirements.Currently, ISO SC 17 is activelydeveloping two additional standards,one for food packaging and one for foodtransport and storage. The food packagingstandard defines the requirements forestablishing, implementing and maintainingPRPs for controlling food safetyissues in the manufacture of food packagingmaterials. This standard shouldbe published in 2013. The work on thetransport and storage standard has juststarted, with publication scheduled for2014. A feed production standard isexpected to start in 2014.New Work on the HorizonISO is revising ISO 22003, theauditing standard, and ISO 22004,the guidance standard for interpretingISO 22000. All ISO standards must bereviewed once every 5 years. Duringthis review process, the standards arerenewed, revised or withdrawn. In 2010,ISO voted to renew the contents ofISO 22000. ISO will start revising thisstandard in 2014 or 2015.•John G. Surak, Ph.D., is theprincipal of Surak and Associatesand provides consulting for foodsafety and quality managementsystems, designing and implementingprocess control systems andimplementing Six Sigma. He led the U.S. delegation toISO committee meetings that developed ISO 22000.He can be reached at jgsurak@yahoo.com.References1. SC 17 is the ISO subcommittee responsiblefor managing the ISO 22000 family of standards.This SC is located within ISO TechnicalCommittee 34, the food products technicalcommittee.2. Surak, J.G. and T.A. Lorca. 2007. Processaudit for food safety. Food Safety Magazine13(4):12–15.F e b r u a r y • M a r c h 2 0 1 3 19