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Auditor Qualification Examination study materials
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Auditor Qualification Examination: ISO 22000 Food Safety Management Systems Auditor

Auditor Qualification Examination · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

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ISO 22000 Food Safety Management Systems Auditor

The ISO 22000 auditor exam tests the 2018 standard’s food safety logic: prerequisite programmes, hazard analysis, OPRPs and CCPs, validation and verification, traceability, and withdrawal/recall, together with audit practice under ISO 19011:2018 and certification rules in ISO/TS 22003.

Core rules

  • ISO 22000:2018 uses Annex SL and two PDCA cycles: the management system (clauses 4–10) and operations (clause 8).
  • Clause 8.2 requires PRPs, commonly detailed through ISO/TS 22002-1 for manufacturing: hygiene, maintenance, pest control, supplier approval, and personnel.
  • Hazard analysis runs through 8.5.2 (identification and acceptable levels), 8.5.3 (assessment), and 8.5.4 (selection and categorisation of control measures). Significant hazards are controlled by OPRPs or CCPs.
  • A CCP uses critical limits (measurable values separating acceptability from unacceptability). An OPRP uses action criteria, not critical limits. Confusing the two is a classic error.
  • Clause 8.5.4.3 requires validation of control measures before implementation; 8.8 requires verification that the system is working.
  • Traceability (8.3) must link raw materials to finished lots in both directions; 8.9.5 covers withdrawal/recall, including notification and retrieval.

Worked example

A ready-to-eat salad producer identifies Listeria monocytogenes as a hazard. The hazard analysis lists a final wash as the only control but sets no log-reduction target and records no validation. Under 8.5.4, the wash must be categorised as a CCP or OPRP, and under 8.5.4.3 its reduction effect must be validated (for example, a specified log reduction). Without a critical limit or action criterion, the control cannot be monitored or verified. The finding is against 8.5.4 and 8.5.4.3, likely major because product safety is not demonstrated.

Traps

Using ISO 22000:2005 clause numbers (7.4, 7.5, 7.8); treating HACCP alone as ISO 22000; confusing validation with verification; accepting a traceability test that runs in only one direction; and classifying allergens as something other than chemical hazards.