The Business Case For Food Safety Certification

It was not until the recent publication of international food safety management system ISO 22000 in 2005, that there was a single standard covering the entire food supply chain. ISO 22000 is an internationally recognised food safety management system that is based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. It is effective in providing a logical and efficient framework through which food hazards can be identified, controlled and most importantly prevented.
Although ISO 22000 has been adopted by many major branded food companies, such as Danone, Coca Cola, and Nestle, the standard has not been taken up to the extent that it was predicted. This is due to its certain limitations. For instance, it has often been criticized for not being specific enough to meet stakeholder needs.
Despite its limitations, there has been steady progress in companies around the world obtaining the ISO 22000 certification. Biscuits maker Munchy Food Industries Sdn Bhd is planning to enter the European market this year after obtaining the ISO 22000 certification late last year. Similarly, Siniora Food Industries, a Jordanian-based company has gained the ISO 22000 certification, as well as Al Ain Farms for Livestock Production, a dairy farm in the UAE.
A survey was carried out by ISO in 2008 that revealed that three years after ISO 22000 was launched, it is being implemented by at least 1152 companies in 72 countries. Although the survey conducted was largely unofficial, it provides some indication of the growth of this standard in the food supply chain.

Country/ # of certificates
Turkey - 200
Japan - 60
India - 60
Denmark - 54
China - 52
Australia - 44
France - 37
Hungary - 37
Greece - 35
Romania - 34
Sweden - 32
Taiwan - 31
South Korea - 29
Italy - 28
Cyprus - 27

Certificates by regions

Region/ # of certificates/ % of percentages
Africa/West Asia 161/ 14.0
Australia/New Zealand 44/ 3.8
Central/South America 32/ 2.8
North America 22/ 1.9
Far East 232/ 20.1
Europe 661/ 57.4
Total 1152/ 100.0

As the above table shows, regionally Europe leads the way with just under 60% of the certificates. This is unsurprising, as it is the home of many of the private food safety management system standards and its food businesses have borne the brunt of multiple audits and certifications longer than other regions.
The United States, New Zealand and Australia have witnessed fewer uptakes. There are a number of different reasons for this. Firstly, food processors in these countries are subject to government inspection and many have had to implement HACCP as part of those regulatory requirements. In North America implementation of food safety management systems all along the supply chain has yet to become mandatory as it has in Europe.
The full report of this study can be found here.

By: Dylan Tanner

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Dylan Tanner is an eco-entrepreneur and writer who founded the newsletters Asia and China Environmental Reviews and has been writing about environmental and social trends within a business context for fifteen years. His latest venture is a B2B directory of environmentally and socially certified companies and other certified suppliers.