Risk and Opportunities for a Food Safety Management System in a food processing organisation

The latest revision of the international standard ISO 22000:2018 was issued with some significant changes, it brought into alignment with the IS High Level Structure (HLS). A key aspect of the HLS is the emphasis on "risk-based thinking" at the organisational level. Although the concept of risk management has been there before on previous revisions of the standard, the 2018 revision made it more formal and a detailed requirement.

The South African National standard (SANS) 22000:2019 is equivalent or mirrors the ISO 22000:2018 and is published by the South African Bureau of Standards. It is Food Safety Management system standard detailing requirements for any organisation in the food chain. New section includes Section 6.1: Actions to address risks and opportunities.

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This section may seem overwhelming since it something that seems new, and in this article we will try and help you understand it better.

What is a Risk?

Risk is the possibility that something bad or undesirable will happen. It is probability or likelihood around the idea of uncertainty and potential negative outcomes. Many people confuse a hazard as being a risk, it is very simple to differentiate. A hazard is something that has potential to cause harm, e.g. slippery floors are a hazard because they can lead to falls. A risk is the likelihood of that harm or hazard actually occurring, e.g. the likelihood of slipping and falling with consequences ranging from minor bruise to a broken bone is higher on slippery floors.

What is an Opportunity?

An opportunity refers to a favorable set of circumstances or conditions that allow for something positive to happen. It represents a chance to take action to better a situation or have positive progress. For example, an opportunity might be a new product a business can launch because of a gap in a market or demand for it.

Risk and Opportunities in the Food Industry

When Planning your Food Safety Management System (FSMS), the organisation should consider and determine both external and internal issues that are relevant to its purpose and that affect its ability to achieve the intended results of its FSMS. These external and internal issues should include Risk and Opportunities the organisation has identified in relation to their FSMS.

There should be clearly identified so the "risks" can help prevent or reduce undesired effects and the "opportunities" should enhance the desirable effects to achieve continual improvement. In FSMS, the policies and procedures in place should always link and speak to each other. So the Risk and Opportunities, even though separate document, should also for be linked or form part of the "continual improvement" policy. It is important to intergrate and implement the actions into FSMS processes.

A comprehensive "Risk & Opportunities assessment" should be available as part of the new clause in the ISO 22000 or SANS 22000 standards. And should address the impact on Food Safety, conformity of food product and other requirements of interested parties in the food chain.

Example of some details to include on a Risk management assessment:

Risk - Micro contamination leading to a pathogenic outbreak

The effects of the risk - Financial loss and brand reputation to suffer.

Likelihood - Unlikely

Severity of impact - Major

List existing/ Current control measures - Micro monitoring and PRPs

Example of an Opportunity management assessment:

Opportunity - New skills development in Food Safety

Source of opportunity - Employees

Effects of Opportunity - Key Business impact

Likelihood - Possible

Severity of impact - moderate improvement

Existing/current control measures - Implementation plan or Strategic plan

The risk and opportunities assessment should be documented. Management needs to review if the risk & opportunities needs to review if the risk and opportunities are still the same or if there are any new ones that need to be assessed at least once annually.

Different international standards such as ISO 22000 or ISO 9001 require organization to identify and manage both risks & opportunities relating to food safety. And South African government will always try and align with what these organisation want for the Food Safety industry.

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