Food safety
FSSC 22000 for maintenance teams: what the auditor will ask you to prove
Under FSSC 22000, the auditor wants proof that your equipment cannot become a food safety hazard. For maintenance that means records showing planned maintenance done on time, repairs that did not contaminate product, food-grade lubricants and parts where they can touch food, calibrated measuring devices, and a signed clearance before every machine goes back to production. If you can follow one machine through all of those records without a gap, you are ready.
Where maintenance sits in FSSC 22000
FSSC 22000 is a food safety certification scheme recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). It is built from three layers: ISO 22000 for the food safety management system, a prerequisite programme (PRP) standard from the ISO 22002 series for your sector, and the FSSC scheme's own additional requirements.
Maintenance shows up in all three. The PRP standard for food manufacturing, ISO/TS 22002-1, has a clause on preventive and corrective maintenance (clause 8.6 in the edition that FSSC's own guidance refers to). The ISO 22002 series has since been reorganised, so ask your certification body which edition your audit uses. On top of that, FSSC Additional Requirement 2.5.15 covers equipment management: what you specify when you buy equipment and how you control changes to it.
In India you also work under your FSSAI licence and its hygiene conditions. FSSC 22000 sits on top of those. It does not replace them.
The practical point is simple. The auditor does not audit your maintenance department as a department. They audit whether a machine could put a hazard into food, and maintenance holds most of the evidence that it could not.
What the auditor will ask your maintenance team
Wording differs from one auditor to the next, but the questions usually fall into the same groups. Read each one and ask yourself whether you could show the answer on paper or on screen within a few minutes.
- Is there a planned maintenance programme, and is it followed? Including the devices that monitor or control a food safety hazard, such as metal detectors, thermometers on cookers and pasteurisers, and sieves and magnets.
- Do food safety repairs get priority? A leaking seal on a filler head should not wait behind a tidy-up job in the store.
- How do you control temporary repairs? A temporary fix must not put product at risk, and it must be on a list to be made permanent.
- Are lubricants and parts food grade where they can touch product? The auditor may walk the line and ask what is in a grease gun.
- How does a machine go back to production after work? Cleaning, sanitising where your procedures require it, a check that no tools or debris are left, and a named person who signs.
- Are your measuring devices calibrated? Thermometers, pressure gauges, checkweighers and any device used to monitor a control measure, with a certificate and a due date.
- Are maintenance staff and contractors trained on hygiene and product hazards? Including the rules for working in a food area.
- How do you buy and change equipment? Under 2.5.15, a documented purchase specification that covers hygienic design, legal and customer requirements and intended use, and a risk-based change process with evidence of successful commissioning.
FSSC 22000 maintenance evidence checklist you can copy
Use this to run your own check before the audit. Pick three machines on a food-contact line and try to find each record for each one.
| Area | What the auditor asks | Evidence to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| PM programme | Show me the PM plan for this machine | PM schedule, last three PMs with done dates and checklist results |
| Food safety devices | When was the metal detector last serviced? | PM and test records for each device that controls a hazard |
| Priority | How do you rank repairs that affect food safety? | Work order priority rule and a few closed examples |
| Temporary repairs | Show me your open temporary repairs | List with date raised, risk check and planned permanent fix |
| Lubricants and parts | What lubricant goes on this gearbox? | Lubrication points with food-grade status, supplier certificates |
| Release after work | Who cleared this machine after the last repair? | Signed clearance: tools counted, area cleaned, name and time |
| Calibration | Is this thermometer in date? | Calibration schedule, certificate, result and next due date |
| Training | Has this technician had hygiene training? | Training records for staff and contractors |
| New or changed equipment | How did you approve this new conveyor? | Purchase specification, change risk assessment, commissioning record |
A mock audit in a typical Indian biscuit plant
Mock audit (illustrative)
Take a biscuit plant near Pune with three lines and a maintenance team of eight. Before the certification body visits, the quality head runs a mock audit with the maintenance planner. They pick three machines on line 2: the dough mixer, the oven band and the packing machine. All details below are illustrative.
For each machine they try to follow the trail in the checklist above, starting from the asset and ending at the last restart. They give themselves five minutes per record. If it takes longer, they count it as a gap, because that is how it will feel in front of the auditor.
| Record checked | What they found | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Mixer PM, last 3 months | 3 of 3 done, one done 4 days late with a reason noted | None, the reason is on the record |
| Oven band temporary repair | Guard held with wire since 12 July, no permanent fix planned | Raise a work order for a new guard, add a risk check |
| Packing machine lubricant | Grease gun in the store had no label | Label guns by lubricant, keep the food-grade certificate on file |
| Clearance after the last repair | Night shift bearing change, no clearance signature | Brief the night shift, make clearance a required step |
| Oven thermometer calibration | Certificate expired 9 days ago | Calibrate now, set a reminder 30 days before due |
| New sheeter added in June | Commissioning record present, no purchase specification | Write the specification from the order and the supplier manual |
What changed. Six records checked, four gaps found, all in-house and with time to close them. None of them was hard to fix. Each one would have been a finding if the auditor had found it first.
The riskiest moment: putting the machine back
Most food safety risk from maintenance appears at restart: a forgotten spanner, a shard of a broken part, a non-food-grade grease or a wet area that was never sanitised. Make the clearance a fixed step that a named person signs every time, on every shift, and keep it with the work order.
Common mistakes
- A PM plan that only lives in a spreadsheet. The auditor will ask for done dates and results, not just the plan.
- Temporary repairs with no end date. Tape, wire and cable ties become permanent when nobody owns the fix.
- Unlabelled lubricants. If you cannot say what is in the grease gun, you cannot prove it is food grade.
- Clearance on day shift only. Night shift repairs are where signatures go missing.
- Calibration for the lab, not the line. The thermometer on the cooker and the gauge on the retort matter as much as the lab balance.
- Forgetting equipment changes. A new conveyor or an added hopper needs a purchase specification and a commissioning record, even when it came from a trusted supplier.
- Treating the audit as a binder exercise. Records written the week before rarely match the dates on the job cards. Record the work when it is done.
Frequently asked questions
What does FSSC 22000 require from maintenance?
Proof that equipment cannot become a food safety hazard: a planned maintenance programme that is followed, controlled repairs and temporary fixes, food-grade lubricants and parts where they can touch product, calibrated measuring devices, trained staff and a signed clearance before restart.
Which part of FSSC 22000 covers maintenance?
The sector PRP standard from the ISO 22002 series has a preventive and corrective maintenance clause. For food manufacturing, FSSC guidance points to clause 8.6 of ISO/TS 22002-1. FSSC Additional Requirement 2.5.15 covers equipment purchase and change.
What is FSSC Additional Requirement 2.5.15?
It is the equipment management requirement. It asks for a documented purchase specification covering hygienic design, legal and customer requirements and intended use, and a risk-based change process with evidence of successful commissioning.
Do lubricants have to be food grade under FSSC 22000?
Where there is a risk of direct or indirect contact with product, yes. Keep a list of lubrication points with the lubricant used and its food-grade status, and keep the supplier certificates on file.
How should a temporary repair be handled?
It must not put product at risk, it should be recorded with a risk check, and it should be planned for a permanent fix by a set date.
Does a CMMS make a plant FSSC 22000 certified?
No. A CMMS keeps the records and helps you show them. Certification is decided by your certification body after the audit.