Being ready for emergencies
Plain-language summary
Plan for the food-safety emergencies that could hit your site - power loss, flood, contamination, fire, supply failure - and test your response.
What the clause is really asking
Emergencies create food-safety risk precisely when normal controls are stressed. This clause requires you to identify potential emergency situations and incidents that can affect food safety, and to plan how you will respond - protecting product, communicating, and recovering. The intent is that a crisis does not turn into an unsafe-product release.
What auditors look for
Auditors check you have identified realistic emergencies for your site and have response plans with clear roles and contacts. They look for evidence the plans are tested and reviewed, and that lessons from real incidents or drills were captured.
Typical evidence
Emergency and incident response plans; identified scenarios; drill/test records; emergency contact lists; post-incident reviews
How to comply — recommendations
List the emergencies genuinely plausible for your location and process, and write practical response plans naming who does what. Test the important ones - at least on paper - and keep contact lists current. After any real incident or drill, update the plan with what you learned.
Common nonconformities
Generic plan not tailored to the site; never tested; contact lists out of date; no review after a real incident
Related clauses
ISO 22000 7.4, 8.9; ISO 9001 8.1; FSSC 22000 2.5.17 (inform the CB within 3 working days of serious events)
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Qlause provides interpretive guidance only and is not a substitute for the standard. Refer to your licensed copy of the relevant standard for the authoritative text.