Food Safety and Human Health
In recent years, the issue of food safety has been discussed more and more at the national and international levels, due to the health and economic aspects of people. The proliferation of foodborne diseases affects people both socially and economically. Biotoxins, mycotoxins, chemical contamination and microbiological hazards that will be present in foodstuffs above the permitted amounts in the production of foodstuffs with legal regulations and various standards make foodstuffs and food additives dangerous for human health.
People around the world are concerned about the safety of food they consume due to changes in food production, processing, storage and distribution processes. Food-related problems affect the health and well-being of people, but also affect the economic and social structures of families, society, various sectors and ultimately countries.
Today, with the globalization of food industry and food trade, food production and distribution methods are changing. Today, foodstuffs are produced in many different ways and in different ways and are delivered to very remote locations in a very short time. More recently, in the dioxin crisis in Europe, dioxin-contaminated feeds from more than 1500 were shipped from a single source within two weeks. Foods obtained from animals fed with these feeds were distributed throughout the world within a few weeks. This event clearly demonstrates the importance of food safety.
Considering the speed in urbanization, therefore, very strict sanctions are required in food production, distribution, storage and food service establishments. At the end of all these requirements, systems such as GlobalGAP (EurepGAP) Global Good Agricultural Practices System, HACCP Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points System, GMP Good Production Practices System and GHP Good Hygiene Practices System have emerged.
These systems are based on a food-to-table food safety approach, which is an effective way to reduce food hazards. In order to prevent the dangers arising from food, it is necessary to apply control measures in all production processes and in every ring of the food chain, starting from the supply of raw materials.
Although many things have been done to ensure food safety in almost all countries around the world, millions of people still experience poisoning and run to hospitals every year.
Consumers are more aware of the various chemicals, microorganisms and their dangers that cause disease in food than before. Nowadays, the emergence of new methods such as genetic engineering and packaging technology, increasing the variety of food additives, pesticide and drug applications in agriculture and their remains and mycotoxins, such as many issues, increase food safety risks.
What is FSSC 22000 Food Safety System?
In order to reach a healthy result, these issues should be evaluated with internationally accepted methods. However, on the other hand, some developed countries generally consider these issues in their own interests and make legal arrangements in this direction. In this context, until recently, legal regulations and systems on food safety have been in the form of defining unsafe foods and identifying and removing products that do not comply with this definition. This traditional method does not provide food safety as it has no preventive properties.
Nowadays, it is important to conduct risk analyzes on foodborne diseases and their causes and a preventive and protective approach is taken as a basis for the measures to ensure food safety in national and global sense.
The ISO 2005 Food Safety Management System standard issued by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in 22000 is the result of these efforts. In fact, this standard is based on the HACCP Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points System, originally designed by NASA. However, the HACCP standard is not sufficient as it is based only on food producing companies and the ISO 22000 standard has brought a wider dimension to the food safety issue that emerged with globalization.
Recently, however, it has been argued that the ISO 22000 standard does not contain much detailed requirements for prerequisite programs than other standards. For this reason, the FSSC 22000 standard (Food Safety System Certification) was prepared by the Foundation for Food Safety Certification (2004) in order to approach the ISO 22000 standard and to increase its acceptability. This new standard further elaborates the prerequisites and ensures that enterprises are audited accordingly.
The FSSC 22000 standard is also supported by the European Union. It has also been published by the British Standard Institute in 220 as a Publicly Available Specification (PAS-2008).
The scope and criteria of the FSSC 22000 standard were completed in 2009 and recognized as the Global Food Safety standard in 2010.
In the meantime, the ISO 22000 standard is underway and the latest version will be released in 2017. Therefore, with the publication of the FSSC 22000 standard, the ISO 22000 standard does not disappear. Businesses with ISO 22000 certification can continue with this certificate if they wish.
The most important difference between the ISO 22000 standard and the FSSC 22000 standard is related to prerequisite programs. In addition, the ISO 22000 standard is applicable to the entire food chain, whereas the FSSC 22000 standard stands out as a standard for food producing companies and packaging material manufacturers only.
The FSSC 22000 Food Safety Management System makes food safety standards internationally transparent and harmonized.
The requirements of the FSSC 22000 standard are organized under the following headings:
- Food safety systems requirements of food producing companies
- Requirements for certification firms
- Accreditation rules of FSSC 22000 standard
- Rules for stakeholders
Food manufacturers must comply with the requirements of the ISO 22000 standard. In addition, the FSSC 22000 standard places particular emphasis on:
- Compliance with legal regulations and monitoring
- Fulfillment of customer requirements
- Ensuring effective personnel management
