What is Food Safety Management System?

Going into a restaurant, or even while buying that newly launched instant meal, what do you think a consumer is thinking? Perhaps, it would be to check how hygienic the place is, and how well the food is prepared and presented. In the case of a packaged meal, it is quite likely for a customer to turn around the packet and check the nutritional quotient of the ingredients used.

The world that we inhabit right now is increasingly becoming conscious of what we eat and where we eat that from. People with considerable influence have been persistently persuading the masses to stick to diets that are healthy, nutritious, hygienic and more importantly mentions the source of procurement. Insistence is being made on products that are quality conscious. And, this is exactly where the Food Safety Management System (FSMS) comes into play.

Food Safety Management System follows a set of procedures to determine the steps taken by food business operators to ensure quality control and compliance with international standards and regulations set by the state and/or federal government. The purpose of the system is to prevent any health hazards in customers/consumers because of the food products being sold. The extensive process comprises a formal review that begins with food selection and goes on to review the preparation and preservation methods, and the display.

With a series of specifications and procedures, food safety management systems ensure that the final product that reaches the consumers is safe to eat and won't have health hazards. It's a multi-fold process that requires verifications, documentation and expert reviews at every stage.

As per the guidelines set out by ISO 22000 for food safety management systems, it could be broadly broken down into four segments as follows-

1. Interactive communication- As per the ISO 22000 standards, communication is the key to ascertain that the food is safe from farm to fork. Effective communication recognises potential food safety hazards and ensures that any threat or contamination to food is controlled in time with all protocols intact.

2. System management- A structured and well-defined management is crucial to make sure that a Food Safety Management System is executed properly in any company. That helps in following the procedures of the Food Safety Management System for the benefit of the company, any other party involved, as well as the consumers.

3. Prerequisite programs- The prerequisite programs (PRPs) have a set of programs for contract service providers, vendor approval, allergen management, etc. Each program is extremely important and needs experts or trained individuals/teams to ensure food safety, food hygiene.

4. HACCP principles- A set of seven principles, HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) is a systematic approach to identify, evaluate, and control food safety hazards.

To achieve food safety, each of these element is equally important. It is also important to ensure that trained professionals are overseeing the processing systems of food safety.