WORLD – The Food Safety Systems Certification (FSSC) has created an addendum for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 23412 specifically for the growing market of home delivered temperature-controlled food products to ensure safe delivery.
FSSC 22000 is an internationally accepted certification scheme based on a combination of ISO 22000 sector specific prerequisite programmes (PRPs) and FSSC additional requirements.
The ISO standard stipulates requirements for the provision and operation of indirect, temperature-controlled refrigerated delivery services of refrigerated parcels, which contain temperature-sensitive goods (including foods) for land transportation.
The addendum has been added to the the FSSC 22000 Scheme called FSSC Addendum for ISO 23412: Indirect temperature-controlled refrigerated delivery services – Land transport of parcels with intermediate transfer.
It is a voluntary document and applies to organizations wishing to meet the requirements of ISO 23412: 2020.
This results from a collaboration with Yamato Transport Company limited and is based on a Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) analysis between FSSC 22000 Transport and Storage and ISO 23412: 2020.
Yamato has been providing an express refrigerated parcel delivery service called “Cool TA-Q-BIN” in Japan as of 1988.
As a significant delivery service provider, one of their objectives has always been to contribute to the further improvement of quality and consistency.
Yamato which was the first to achieve FSSC 22000 certification for the scope Transport and Storage, category G1, when FSSC 22000 added this scope to the certification Scheme, has also participated in the development of the PAS 1018:2017 and ISO 23412:2020.
. The appendix encompasses all refrigerated delivery service stages from receipt of chilled or frozen parcels from the delivery service-user to its delivery at the designated destination, including, intermediate transfer of the refrigerated parcels between refrigerated vehicles or containers, and via a geographical routing system.
The collaborative work will help service providers complement the implementation of food safety management considering parcel delivery service features and requirements.
Parcel delivery service providers can easily access both FSSC 22000 and ISO 23412 certification by employing this addendum.
This will gain them trust and recognition from companies along the food supply chain and thus ensure the integrity of food safety until it is delivered to consumers.
The COVID -19 pandemic has accelerated the need for this type of transport as more people demand for door-step delivery of meals, groceries, lunch boxes, and all sorts of refrigerated parcels and food products.
ISO 9001 reviewed
Used by millions of organizations around the globe, the world-standard reference for quality, ISO 9001, Quality management systems – Requirements, has just passed its “warrant of fitness”.
Like all ISO standards, ISO 9001 undergoes a systematic review every five years to determine whether it is still valid or needs updating.
This is crucial to ensure the standard is still globally relevant and meets the needs of its users.
In doing so, the subcommittee responsible for the standard, SC 2, Quality systems, which operates under technical committee ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance, undertook a number of activities including discussions with committee members and a survey of ISO 9001 users.
They concluded that the latest version of ISO 9001 still provides as much value to those implementing the standard as it did when it was last updated in 2015 hence no need for revision.
A special task force within the committee will continue to evaluate and monitor any possible market or other changes that could impact the standard and propose a revision if and when required.
