Equality Builds Quality

This is my most favorite standard of all the ISO Standards. I’m saying this because I can see the importance of this on our day to day lives. It simply helps a food establishment promotes and produces quality products that are safe for consumption to customers.

There are lots of requirements for this standard, including legal and statutory requirements. But the most important of all is the HACCP Plan (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point). This plan will help the organization identify all the possible hazards found in food processing. Make control measures to help prevent those hazards from entering the food products. Another systems would conducting Mock Recalls, installing Sanitation programs and system that would help ensure food safety.

Knowing a company having certified with this standard made me feel too comfortable with their product. I’ve known quite few companies that are certified with this standard and I pay great respect with them.

As people don’t have any idea what ISO Standards is, so was the Companies. Most Companies nowadays don’t really have a background what ISO is and what benefits can it generate. Some companies don’t even know how expensive it is to get certified with these ISO Standards. A consultant once shared that by the moment he state the expenses behind ISO Certification, companies tend to back out.

To the most, companies need to know what they are dealing with when it comes to ISO Certification. The very first thing that applies is planning. In this stage, companies are now under the state of contriving. Plan what department to certify in and any other internal agreements. Then look for a good Consultant. Some experienced companies don’t hire themselves a Consultant. But for those neophytes, I would suggest in getting one. These consultants will help Companies identify all the requirements needed for the certification. Some even do trainings depending on the internal agreement. Next up would be the most crucial of it all, Documenting. This is the process of implementing all the needed requirements of the standard. Some companies even go for almost 8 long years in documenting just to get their company certified with a single standard. Once all things are ready, here comes the Certification Body to audit the company with regards to their conformance with the ISO Standards. This is the most exciting yet, nerve racking moment when it comes to ISO Certification. Then, pompoms will definitely fly out after hearing the audit results which states that the company passed the audit. But this doesn’t end here. Companies are now in the state of checking or maintaining the Standard. One example of which is conducting an Internal Audit. Then, with the results at hand, Companies will start fixing the problems found at the audit.

Process above is called the PDCA. It is a cycle of Planning, Doing, Checking, Action and goes back to the Planning stage again and so forth. This cycle serves as the very main purpose of ISO Standards, which is to promote Continual Improvement. A non-ending process that helps the organization improve its products and services.