ISO 22002-1 compliance and requirements for hygiene controls that hold up on the factory floor.

What it is

What is ISO 22002-1 and what is it used for?

ISO 22002-1 is the ISO standard that specifies prerequisite programmes, or PRPs, for food manufacturing. PRPs are the conditions and routines that keep a production environment fit for food: a sound building, safe water and air, controlled pests, clean equipment, trained and hygienic people, segregated allergens and managed waste. The HACCP study then deals with the hazards that remain. Without working PRPs, a hazard analysis ends up trying to control everything at a critical control point, which no plant can sustain.

The standard is developed by ISO/TC 34/SC 17, the ISO committee responsible for food safety management systems. It is read together with ISO 22002-100, which carries the requirements common to the whole food, feed and packaging supply chain, while Part 1 adds what is specific to manufacturing. Where a requirement does not apply to your operation, a justified exclusion is permitted, provided it does not compromise food safety.

Current edition. ISO 22002-1:2025, published in July 2025, is the first edition as a full International Standard and replaces the Technical Specification ISO/TS 22002-1:2009. It was published alongside ISO 22002-100:2025 and the other sector parts of the series. FSSC 22000 Version 7, published in May 2026, adopts the 2025 series, with upgrade audits from 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028. Prerequisite programmes and ISO 22002-1: what a plant needs

Who it is for

Who needs ISO 22002-1?

ISO 22002-1 is written for manufacturers: processors of perishable animal, plant and mixed products, producers of ambient-stable foods, primary converters and makers of food-related biochemicals. Caterers, packaging producers, warehouses, feed mills and retailers use their own parts of the series. Manufacturers come to Sterling for ISO 22002-1 from four starting points:

• A retailer or brand owner requires FSSC 22000. For the manufacturing food chain categories, FSSC 22000 makes ISO 22002-100 and ISO 22002-1 mandatory, so the buyer's demand for a GFSI-recognised certificate becomes a demand for these PRPs.
• You are building an ISO 22000 system. Clause 8.2 of ISO 22000 requires you to establish PRPs and to consider the applicable part of the series; most plants use Part 1 as the practical checklist.
• A regulator, export market or group policy expects documented hygiene controls. A plant that already works to Part 1 answers inspection and parent-company audits with records instead of explanations.
• Your PRPs were written to the 2009 specification. The 2025 edition changes waste into food loss and waste management, makes allergen control more explicit and moves food defence and food fraud into Part 100.

The benefit is fewer contamination incidents, cleaner audits and a HACCP plan that controls what it should. It depends on the programmes being run daily by production, not kept in a quality office file.

Requirements

What are the main ISO 22002-1 requirements?

The 2025 series splits the requirements into two layers: the common base in ISO 22002-100 and the manufacturing specifics in ISO 22002-1. The areas below are the PRP headings used across the two parts, in plain language. Which heading sits in which part, and its exact wording, is confirmed against the purchased standards during the gap analysis.

• Construction and layout of buildings: sound structures, suitable surroundings and site boundaries that keep contamination out.
• Design and layout of facilities and workspaces: product and people flows, zoning and surfaces that can be cleaned.
• Utilities: water, steam, ice, air, gases, ventilation and lighting that are safe at the point of use.
• Pest control: prevention, monitoring and treatment, with trends reviewed and acted on.
• Waste, food loss and waste management and recycling: removal, containment and the reduction of food loss.
• Equipment suitability and maintenance: hygienic design, planned and corrective maintenance that does not contaminate.
• Management of purchased materials: supplier approval, specifications and checks at receipt.
• Storage, including warehousing, and transport: conditions, segregation and stock rotation.
• Measures for prevention of contamination: physical, chemical, microbiological and allergen cross-contact controls.
• Cleaning and disinfection: programmes, chemicals, tools and verification of effectiveness.
• Personal hygiene and employee facilities: hygiene rules, workwear, health reporting and staff amenities.
• Product and consumer information: labelling and information that let the product be used safely.
• Food defence and food fraud: assessment of deliberate threats and vulnerability to fraud.
• Rework: storage, identification and traceable reuse of rework.

Certification process

How is ISO 22002-1 certified?

ISO 22002-1 is proved through a food safety certificate: FSSC 22000, where it is a normative part of the scheme for manufacturing categories, or ISO 22000, where your PRPs are assessed under clause 8.2. Sterling prepares the plant; the certification body audits and decides.

1. 01
   Confirm the target certificate and category.FSSC 22000 or ISO 22000, the food chain category, the products, lines and sites in scope, and whether Part 1 is the right part.
2. 02
   Gap analysis of every PRP area on the floor.A walk-through against Part 100 and Part 1, sorting gaps into procedure changes, training needs and capital works, with owners and dates.
3. 03
   Build and run the programmes.Written programmes, monitoring forms, verification schedules and training, operated long enough to produce a record history.
4. 04
   Verify, audit internally and close findings.PRP verification, an internal audit of the full system and management review, with every finding closed on evidence.
5. 05
   Complete the certification body's assessment.The Stage 1 readiness review and the Stage 2 audit on site, then surveillance each year; FSSC 22000 adds an unannounced audit in each three-year cycle.

Check the route before you sign. Ask which certification body will audit, which accreditation body accredits it for food safety management systems and, for FSSC 22000, whether the body is licensed by the Foundation, then confirm the answers with those bodies. An FSSC 22000 certificate should appear on the Foundation's public register. The certification buyer's checklist

Cost

How much does ISO 22002-1 implementation cost?

The biggest variable is not paperwork but the building. A modern plant with hygienic design may need programmes and records; an older site may need drainage, doors, ceilings or segregation fixed before any auditor will accept it. We cost the consulting in an all-inclusive proposal and show the plant's own works separately.

Timeline

How long does ISO 22002-1 implementation take?

Plan in months. Programmes have to run long enough to show trends: pest reports over several visits, cleaning verification over many cycles, allergen changeovers across every product sequence. As an estimate, a plant with basic controls in place usually needs four to nine months to reach its certification audit, longer where capital works are involved.

Tell us the buyer's date at the start. We will say plainly whether it is achievable and which works must be approved first.

Your engagement

What your ISO 22002-1 engagement includes

Sterling OS™ runs the engagement. You choose the level of support: Design™, where we guide your food safety team as it builds the programmes, or Drive™, where we manage the build and your team runs it; these are alternatives, not stages. After certification, Sustain™ keeps verification and internal audit on schedule, and Automate™ is Effivity, the software the system runs in. Sterling does not certify; the independent, accredited certification body audits your plant and makes the decision.

• Gap analysis and PRP plan

  Every PRP area assessed on the floor, with procedure, training and capital actions separated and owned.

• Programmes built with production

  Cleaning, pest, maintenance, hygiene, allergen and contamination programmes written with the people who run them.

• Effivity ISO & GRC software

  PRP records, verification and actions in one workspace, included with the engagement at no additional cost.

• Training for everyone

  Internal auditor training for your audit team, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.

• Verification, internal audit and review

  PRP verification and a full internal audit, findings closed with evidence before the certification body arrives.

• Audit readiness and support

  Preparation for Stage 1 and Stage 2, and for unannounced audits where FSSC 22000 applies.

Certification decisions remain with the independent certification body.

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with ISO 22002-1

• BRCGS Food SafetyBRCGS Food Safety certification consulting for food manufacturers: HACCP plan, site standards and controls ready for a graded audit, announced or unannounced.
• BRCGS Storage and Distribution · Agents and BrokersBRCGS Storage and Distribution certification and Agents and Brokers: Issue 4 and Issue 3 requirements, scopes, audits and cost factors, with Sterling's support.
• FairtradeFairtrade certification and requirements: which Fairtrade International standards apply, FLOCERT's audit, cost and timing, and how Sterling prepares you.
• FAMI-QS / GMP+FAMI-QS and GMP+ certification for feed businesses: how the two schemes differ, their requirement documents, the audit route and how Sterling prepares you.
• FDA FSMA (US)FDA FSMA compliance for food facilities, importers, farms and carriers: preventive controls, FSVP, food traceability and records ready for FDA inspection.
• FSSC 22000FSSC 22000 certification consulting for GFSI-recognised food safety: ISO 22000, sector PRPs and FSSC requirements, ready for a licensed body's audit.