| Food Safety Management System | Documented, implemented, maintained, and continually improved food-safety management processes covering the full production chain. | ISO 22000:2018 clauses covering context, leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation, and improvement. | Current certificate scope, internal-audit records, management-review minutes, corrective-action records, and documented objectives. | Core benchmark |
| HACCP-Based Hazard Control | Hazards should be identified, evaluated, controlled, monitored, verified, and documented through a HACCP-based system. | Codex CXC 1-1969, General Principles of Food Hygiene, including the HACCP system and its seven principles. | Hazard analysis, process flow diagram, critical control point rationale, critical limits, monitoring forms, verification plan, and deviation records. | Core benchmark |
| Prerequisite Programs | Good hygiene practices should be established before HACCP implementation, including sanitation, pest control, maintenance, personnel hygiene, and supplier control. | Codex CXC 1-1969 and ISO 22000:2018 prerequisite-program requirements. | Sanitation standard operating procedures, cleaning validation or verification, pest-control reports, maintenance logs, hygiene inspections, and approved-supplier procedures. | Core benchmark |
| Raw-Material Approval | Ingredients such as salt, spices, chicken-derived materials, flavor enhancers, starches, and packaging materials should be purchased against defined specifications. | Codex hygiene principles and ISO 22000 operational planning and control requirements. | Supplier approval list, ingredient specifications, certificates of analysis where applicable, incoming inspection records, and supplier-performance reviews. | Core benchmark |
| Allergen Management | Allergens intentionally used in the recipe or introduced through cross-contact should be identified, controlled, and accurately declared according to the destination market. | Codex General Standard for the Labelling of Pre-packaged Foods, CXS 1-1985, together with Codex hygiene principles. | Allergen matrix, segregation or sequencing controls, validated cleaning procedures, label approval records, and change-control documentation. | Core benchmark |
| Microbiological Safety | Finished products and relevant environmental areas should meet applicable legal and customer microbiological criteria, with sampling based on risk. | Codex principles for microbiological control and applicable national or regional microbiological criteria; limits vary by jurisdiction and product formulation. | Risk-based sampling plan, laboratory results, environmental-monitoring trends, investigation reports, and documented release decisions. | Legal-market dependent |
| Pathogen Control | Controls should address relevant hazards associated with spices, animal-derived ingredients, dry-mix handling, post-process contamination, and moisture ingress. | Codex HACCP principles and WHO food-safety guidance; specific controls depend on the validated process and formulation. | Validated process controls, supplier risk assessments, environmental monitoring, pathogen trend analysis, and documented corrective actions. | Risk-based benchmark |
| Moisture and Water Activity | Dry seasoning cubes should be protected from moisture pickup and monitored against product specifications established through shelf-life and safety studies. | Product-specific prerequisite and HACCP controls under Codex and ISO 22000; Codex does not prescribe one universal water-activity limit for all seasoning cubes. | Validated moisture or water-activity specification, calibrated test equipment, batch-release records, packaging-integrity checks, and trend analysis. | Product-specific |
| Foreign-Material Control | Facilities should prevent, detect, and manage physical hazards from equipment, packaging, raw materials, and the production environment. | Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene and ISO 22000 hazard-control requirements. | Glass-and-brittle-plastic register, sieve or magnet checks where applicable, metal-detector verification, equipment inspections, and incident records. | Core benchmark |
| Packaging Integrity | Packaging should protect the product from contamination, moisture, oxygen, light, and physical damage throughout intended storage and distribution. | Codex hygiene principles and ISO 22000 control of externally provided processes, products, and services. | Packaging specifications, seal or closure checks, transport simulations where justified, storage-condition records, and complaint analysis. | Core benchmark |
| Traceability | Each production lot should be traceable to significant ingredient and packaging inputs and to the immediate distribution stage. | ISO 22000:2018 traceability requirements and Codex food-hygiene principles. | Lot-coding system, one-step-back and one-step-forward exercise results, mass-balance records, and traceability-test completion times. | Core benchmark |
| Recall and Withdrawal Readiness | Documented procedures should enable rapid product withdrawal or recall when a food-safety risk or legal nonconformity is identified. | ISO 22000 emergency preparedness and response requirements; Codex principles for corrective action and food control. | Mock-recall reports, contact lists, decision trees, effectiveness checks, regulator-notification procedures, and post-event reviews. | Core benchmark |
| WHO Five Keys to Safer Food | Operational practices should reflect: keep clean; separate raw and cooked; cook thoroughly where applicable; keep food at safe temperatures; and use safe water and raw materials. | WHO, Five Keys to Safer Food, published as a global food-safety education framework. | Employee training records, hygiene observations, segregation controls, validated cooking or heat-treatment records where applicable, and water-quality documentation. | Practical benchmark |
| Potable Water and Utilities | Water, ice, steam, compressed air, and other utilities that may contact product or food-contact surfaces should be suitable for their intended use. | Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene and ISO 22000 prerequisite-program principles. | Water-quality test results, utility-risk assessment, treatment and maintenance records, sampling plan, and deviation investigations. | Core benchmark |
| Personnel Competence | Personnel should be competent for assigned food-safety responsibilities and receive appropriate hygiene, HACCP, allergen, and emergency training. | ISO 22000 competence and awareness requirements; WHO Five Keys to Safer Food. | Training matrix, competency evaluations, induction records, refresher-training schedule, and supervisor observation records. | Core benchmark |
| Calibration and Measurement | Measuring equipment used for food-safety decisions should be identified, calibrated or verified, protected from damage, and supported by suitable records. | ISO 22000 monitoring, measurement, analysis, and evaluation requirements. | Calibration certificates, verification checks, equipment inventory, out-of-tolerance assessments, and impact evaluations on affected batches. | Core benchmark |
| Internal Audit and Verification | Food-safety controls should be periodically audited and verified to confirm that planned arrangements are implemented and effective. | ISO 22000 performance-evaluation requirements and Codex HACCP verification principle. | Audit program, auditor competence records, findings classification, corrective-action closure, verification results, and management review. | Core benchmark |
| Regulatory and Label Compliance | Product formulation, additive use, nutrition information, allergen declarations, lot identification, and shelf-life information should comply with the target-market rules. | Codex labelling and food-additive standards, plus applicable national or regional legislation. | Regulatory review checklist, approved artwork, formulation-change control, label reconciliation, and market-specific compliance assessment. | Market dependent |
| Continuous Improvement | Nonconformities, complaints, incidents, audit findings, verification results, and performance trends should drive corrective and preventive improvement. | ISO 22000:2018 improvement requirements and Codex HACCP corrective-action principle. | Root-cause analysis, corrective-action effectiveness checks, complaint trends, food-safety objectives, and documented improvement projects. | Core benchmark |
.svg)
