ISO 22000 for catering: hygiene code or certification?
Most catering businesses work with the national hygiene code and a HACCP system. In the Netherlands, that is legally sufficient for the NVWA (Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority). But when is ISO 22000 a better choice? And what is the exact difference between HACCP and the hygiene code?
The NVWA checks HACCP compliance during inspections. The legal basis is EU Regulation 852/2004 . ISO 22000 certification goes beyond that. It is a voluntary, commercially driven choice.
Rule of thumb for catering: does your business operate locally, supply only the end consumer directly, and have no customers who ask for certification? Then the hygiene code is usually enough. As soon as you supply other businesses, cater for large clients, or want to grow into tenders, ISO 22000 becomes interesting.
Hygiene code vs ISO 22000 at a glance
| Topic | Hygiene code + HACCP | ISO 22000 |
|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | Yes (obligation for catering) | No (voluntary) |
| Certifiable? | Limited, through recognised branch codes | Yes, through an accredited audit |
| Audit depth | NVWA inspection, risk-based | Annual independent audit |
| Market acceptance | Sufficient for consumer-facing catering | Required for B2B, catering, retail and tenders |
| Documentation burden | Limited, practical | More extensive, systematic |
| Lead time | Shorter | On average 4-10 months |
When is the hygiene code enough for catering?
The hygiene code is in most cases sufficient if you:
- run a restaurant, café or bakery with direct sales to consumers;
- do not supply other businesses, institutions or retailers;
- do not follow tenders or public procurement that require certification;
- do not have large-scale production or several sites with a central kitchen.
The hygiene code does oblige you to run a working HACCP system. That means analysing hazards, monitoring critical points and recording deviations. You can read what this looks like in practice on the HACCP and PRPs page.
When does ISO 22000 pay off for catering?
ISO 22000 becomes interesting for catering and foodservice if you:
- supply contract catering to businesses, schools or care institutions that require certification;
- take part in tenders from municipalities, ministries or large companies;
- have a central production kitchen that supplies several sites or clients;
- distribute chilled ready meals or convenience food to retail or other catering businesses;
- want to combine ISO 22000 with a quality system such as ISO 9001.
In all these cases, the certification requirement from the client or customer is the real driver, not the NVWA. You can read what the NVWA looks at on the page NVWA inspection of HACCP. You can find a completed plan from a small caterer in the HACCP plan example.
Many catering businesses only start an ISO 22000 process after they have already lost a tender because they lacked certification. Starting earlier is then more expensive because of time pressure. So spot customer questions about certification early.
What changes when you move to ISO 22000?
Documentation
More structured documentation
With the hygiene code, you work with a practical HACCP plan and logbooks. ISO 22000 requires:
- a documented food safety policy;
- formal hazard analyses per process step;
- CCP/OPRP plans with limits and monitoring obligations;
- a traceability system and recall procedure;
- internal audit reports and a management review.
You can find more detail on which documents these are on the page mandatory documents for ISO 22000.
Case study: a catering company moving into tenders
A catering company with 35 employees has worked with a hygiene code and HACCP logbooks for years. The NVWA is satisfied, and there are no complaints.
The company wants to take part in a tender for school catering from a municipality. The tender requires ISO 22000 or an equivalent certificate.
Without a certificate, the company is excluded. They start a six-month process: professionalise the hazard analysis, improve traceability, set up an internal audit and organise a management review. After certification, they win the tender and also gain other clients who use certification as a selection criterion.