ISO/TS 22002-4 Food packaging manufacturing

Inadequate or poorly designed food packaging that is not appropriate for intended use causes potential food safety risks. It is important that the intended purpose of the food packaging are understood. In this way, any food safety risks can be identified and help shape the design of any packaging.

Requirements for packaging design have been included within a new publicly available specification, ISO/TS 22002-4 (formerly PAS 223) - Prerequisite programmes (PRPs) and design requirements for food safety in the manufacture and provision of food packaging. The specification is aimed at food packaging manufacturing organisations needing to meet the requirements of PRPs as specified in ISO 22000, the key global standard for food safety.

This specification gives requirements for establishing, implementing and maintaining PRPs and design requirements to help in identifying and controlling food safety hazards in the manufacture of food packaging.

Applicable to all food packaging manufacturing organisations, regardless of size or complexity of operations, it is expected that ISO/TS 22002-4 will be quickly adopted by the industry as a further safeguard in the food supply chain.

LRQA is ideally placed to help you in meeting the requirements of this specification as our technical specialists were involved with the working group responsible for its development.

ISO/TS 22002-4 has been developed to be used in conjunction with ISO 22000, and therefore all food packaging manufacturing organisations that are seeking GFSI recognized certification to FSSC 22000 will receive assessment against ISO/TS 22002-4 in addition to ISO 22000. Leading up to this certification, however LRQA is able to provide a gap analysis assessment against the requirements of ISO/TS 22002-4.