ISO 22000 for Cold Storage & Refrigerated Logistics
What ISO 22000 actually requires from a temperature-controlled warehouse: the clause structure, the prerequisite programmes, the temperature evidence auditors ask for, how it compares to BRCGS and FSSC 22000, and the compliance scope to put in your cold store RFQ so every supplier quotes the same thing.
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The clause structure applied to a cold store
ISO 22000 follows the ISO high-level structure. Clauses 4 to 10 carry the requirements; below is what each one means for a facility that holds and moves third-party product rather than processing it.
| Clause | Requirement | What it means in a refrigerated warehouse |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Context of the organisation | Define the interested parties for a cold store — food manufacturers, retailers, regulators, transport partners — and the scope by site, chamber and temperature class. Excluded chambers cannot be presented as certified space. |
| 5 | Leadership | Documented food safety policy, assigned food safety team leader, and evidence that management funded corrective actions and infrastructure such as standby refrigeration. |
| 6 | Planning | Risk and opportunity register covering plant failure, power loss, excursion during loading and multi-client cross-contamination, with measurable food safety objectives. |
| 7 | Support | Competence and training matrix per shift including agency and night staff, calibration programme traceable to national standards, and controlled documented information with retention rules. |
| 8 | Operation | PRPs, operational PRPs and the HACCP plan: inbound temperature acceptance, chamber holding temperature, blast cycles, dispatch loading, vehicle pre-cool, traceability and recall, plus emergency preparedness. |
| 9 | Performance evaluation | Internal audits covering every clause across the cycle, verification of monitoring data, and management review with excursion trends, complaints and recall test results as inputs. |
| 10 | Improvement | Non-conformity handling with root-cause analysis, corrective action effectiveness checks and continual improvement of the food safety management system. |
Certification roadmap
- 1Define the scope and product classes
List every site, chamber and temperature class (ambient, +2/+8 °C, 0 °C, −18 °C, −25 °C) and the product categories held. ISO 22000 certificates are scope-specific: what is not in the scope statement is not certified.
- 2Appoint the food safety team
Name a food safety team leader with authority and a cross-functional team covering operations, engineering, quality and transport. Multi-client warehouses should include commercial, because client storage agreements carry food safety obligations.
- 3Build the prerequisite programmes
For storage and distribution the relevant PRP specification is ISO/TS 22002-1 adapted to warehousing, or the sector PRP your certification body accepts: fabric and hygienic finishes, drainage, pest control, cleaning, maintenance, waste, personal hygiene and dock control.
- 4Run the hazard analysis
Codex-based hazard analysis for a facility that holds and moves product rather than processes it. Most cold stores end with a small number of genuine CCPs — usually chamber temperature and dispatch loading — supported by strong operational PRPs.
- 5Validate temperature control
Temperature mapping per chamber empty and loaded, sensor placement justified by the mapping study, continuous logging, two-tier alarms with named 24/7 escalation, and calibration certificates traceable to a national standard.
- 6Establish traceability and recall
Forward and backward traceability across multi-client stock within a declared time target, commonly four hours. Run a mock recall and retain the evidence before booking the audit.
- 7Document the management system
Policy, scope, procedures, records, internal audit programme, management review and corrective action with root cause. Auditors test the system through records, not through the manual.
- 8Generate live records
Operate the system for at least three months so there is a real audit trail: logging data, alarm acknowledgements, calibration, internal audits, training and at least one management review.
- 9Select an accredited certification body
Choose a body accredited for ISO 22000 by a recognised accreditation authority, with auditor experience in temperature-controlled logistics and in your language and region.
- 10Stage 1 and Stage 2 audit
Stage 1 is a readiness and documentation review. Stage 2 is the on-site implementation audit, typically one to three days depending on site count and headcount. Non-conformities must be closed with evidence inside the agreed deadline.
- 11Surveillance and recertification
Surveillance audits usually run annually with a full recertification audit in year three. Keep internal audits, calibration, mock recalls and management review on schedule so recertification is routine.
Temperature evidence auditors expect
| Area | Expected evidence |
|---|---|
| Temperature mapping | Every chilled and frozen chamber mapped empty and loaded at commissioning, re-mapped after refrigeration, racking or layout changes. The report justifies each fixed sensor position. |
| Monitoring and logging | Continuous automated logging at 15-minute intervals or better, tamper-evident, time-synchronised and exportable for the full audited period without vendor assistance. |
| Alarm escalation | Two-tier warning and critical alarms, 24/7 escalation to a named on-call responder, documented acknowledgement and response time for every event. |
| Calibration | Annual calibration of fixed sensors and portable probes, traceable to a national standard, with verification checks between calibrations. |
| Excursion handling | Every excursion recorded with product disposition decision, root cause and preventive action — the single most common source of audit non-conformities. |
| Refrigeration resilience | Planned maintenance records, critical spares list, standby or N+1 capacity where product risk requires it, and a written contingency plan for plant failure and power loss. |
ISO 22000 vs BRCGS Storage & Distribution
| Topic | ISO 22000 | BRCGS Storage & Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An ISO management-system standard for food safety across the whole supply chain, including storage and distribution. | A prescriptive, GFSI-recognised warehouse certification with a graded outcome. |
| GFSI recognition | ISO 22000 alone is not GFSI-recognised; FSSC 22000 (ISO 22000 + sector PRPs + additional requirements) is. | GFSI-recognised in its own right. |
| Style | Flexible and risk-based — you justify your controls. | Prescriptive on fabric, temperature control, docks, pest control and traceability timing. |
| Outcome | Pass / fail certificate with non-conformity closure. | Graded certificate (AA to D) that drives audit frequency. |
| When to choose it | Integrating with other ISO systems (9001, 14001, 45001), or when clients accept ISO 22000 / FSSC 22000. | When UK and EU retail or branded manufacturer clients demand it in tender. |
Full BRCGS detail is in the BRCGS Storage & Distribution guide, and the underlying hazard work is covered in the HACCP plan template for cold storage.
Put this in your RFQ
Certifiability is cheapest at design stage. Specifying these items makes every supplier quote the same compliance scope instead of pricing a warehouse you then have to retrofit.
- Chamber temperature mapping and a commissioning report as a contractual deliverable
- Sensor count, placement rationale, logging interval and data retention period
- Two-tier alarm system with 24/7 escalation and remote read-only access for auditors
- Standby or N+1 refrigeration capacity and a written plant-failure contingency plan
- Hygienic wall, floor and ceiling finishes, coving and food-grade drainage
- Dock seals, air curtains and a door strategy that limits ambient ingress at loading
- Layout that allows raw / ready-to-eat zoning and a lockable quarantine bay
- Calibration certificates traceable to a national standard at handover
- As-built documentation, O&M manuals and operator training in the project scope
- Data export format for temperature records, so evidence is not locked to one vendor
Need suppliers who can build to this standard?
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ISO 22000 FAQ
What is ISO 22000?+
ISO 22000 is the international standard for a food safety management system. It combines the ISO high-level management-system structure with HACCP principles and prerequisite programmes, and applies to any organisation in the food chain — including cold stores, refrigerated 3PL operators and transport providers that never process food themselves.
Does ISO 22000 apply to cold storage and refrigerated logistics?+
Yes. Storage and distribution are explicitly inside the food chain scope. For a cold store the standard concentrates on temperature control, traceability across multi-client stock, hygiene and pest control of the building, maintenance and calibration, and emergency preparedness for refrigeration or power failure.
What is the difference between ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000?+
FSSC 22000 is a certification scheme built on ISO 22000 plus sector prerequisite programmes (ISO/TS 22002-1 for food manufacturing, ISO/TS 22002-5 for transport and storage) and additional scheme requirements. FSSC 22000 is GFSI-recognised; ISO 22000 on its own is not, which matters when a retail customer demands a GFSI-recognised certificate.
ISO 22000 or BRCGS Storage and Distribution — which should a cold store choose?+
Choose by customer requirement. UK and EU retail supply chains frequently name BRCGS. Manufacturers running integrated ISO systems, and many Middle East, African and Asian buyers, accept ISO 22000 or FSSC 22000. If a GFSI-recognised certificate is required, go to FSSC 22000 rather than ISO 22000 alone.
How long does ISO 22000 certification take for a warehouse?+
Typically four to nine months for a reasonably well-run existing facility: gap analysis, close documentation and infrastructure gaps, then at least three months of live records before Stage 2. Sites needing physical work — mapping, sensors, dock sealing, hygienic finishes or standby refrigeration — should plan longer and budget the capex.
What does ISO 22000 certification cost?+
Certification body fees for a single-site cold store commonly fall in the USD 6,000–20,000 range for the three-year cycle, driven by headcount, shift pattern and site count. The larger cost is usually internal: consultancy, staff time, monitoring hardware and any physical remediation the gap analysis exposes.
What are the most common non-conformities in cold storage audits?+
Temperature data that cannot be exported for the full period, alarms with no named responder, uncalibrated probes, excursions closed without root cause or product disposition, internal audits that skipped clauses, traceability that misses the declared time target, and training records that do not cover night or agency shifts.
What should a new cold store specify at project stage to be certifiable?+
Temperature mapping and commissioning reports as deliverables, justified sensor count and placement, logging interval and retention, two-tier alarm escalation, standby or N+1 refrigeration, hygienic finishes and drainage, dock sealing, raw / ready-to-eat zoning, a lockable quarantine bay, and calibration certificates at handover. Putting this in the RFQ makes every supplier quote the same compliance scope.