and Food Safety Management System Certification Introduction to GFSI and Food Safety Management System Certification

What is GFSI? The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a division of the Consumer Goods Forum and a collaboration of retailers, manufacturers and food service companies that has been working on harmonization of food safety standards.

The food safety schemes currently recognized are: FSSC 22000 BRC Dutch HACCP SQF 2000 Level 2 International Food Standard Global Red Meat Standard Synergy 22000 Global Aquaculture Alliance BAP

GFSI Certification GFSI benchmarks the various food safety standards against a basic set of criteria. Standards meeting the criteria are recognized. Many large retailers and manufacturers are requesting GFSI recognized certification from their suppliers.

Food Safety System Certification (FSSC 22000) FSSC 22000 is one of the benchmarked standards rising in popularity. FSSC 22000 applies to food manufacturers. FSSC 22000 uses the requirements in ISO 22000 and the PAS 220.

ISO 22000 and the PAS 220 ISO 22000 contains the requirements for the Food Safety Management System The PAS 220 contains specific requirements for Prerequisite Programs for food manufacturers. Note: The requirements of the PAS 220 are also documented as the ISO Technical Specification ISO/TS 22002-1:2009.

Choosing a Scheme When choosing a certification scheme keep in mind that FSSC 22000 applies to manufacturers. If you are not a manufacturer, but are a company in the food chain, use ISO 22000. If you manufacture food products you have a choice of ISO 22000 or FSSC 22000. Determine which your customer base prefers. For GFSI recognition, choose FSSC 22000.

How does a company get certification?

Preparing for Certification Once you have determined certification is right for your organization and picked the certification scheme, you will need to implement the food safety management system processes to meet requirements of the standard that you choose.

These processes must address: Food Safety Management Food Safety Policy Food Safety Manual Management Responsibility Management Commitment Management Review Resource Management Documentation Specifications Procedures Internal Audits Corrective Action Control of Non-conformity Product Release Purchasing Supplier Performance Monitoring Traceability Complaint Handling Serious Incident Management Control of Measuring and Monitoring Product Analysis Prerequisite Programs (PRPs) Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)

Steps to Certification A company will generally begin by conducting a Gap Analysis. This is an audit to compare your current system to the requirements of the standard. The analysis will provide important information on what you will need to implement or change in your organization to prepare for certification.

After the Gap Analysis.. The next step is to develop processes or modify current processes to address requirements that are not currently in compliance with the standard.

Assigning Responsibilities A Team Structure will make project management organized and efficient. Steering Team Led by Project Manager Food Safety Team Led by Food Safety Team Leader Procedure Teams

Design and Document Processes The Steering Team, led by the project manager, will coordinate the other teams, assign responsibilities and address management requirements. The Food Safety Team is assigned specific responsibilities by the standard, and will be responsible for some of the procedure development. Each procedure team will design and document the new, compliant process for the procedure they have been assigned.

Obtaining Certification Once the procedures are complete and implemented you will have a registrar come to your facility and perform a certification audit.

Getting Started An effective project will begin with providing the training, knowledge and resources needed to guide your project manager and your teams through each step of the process. This includes: Training Guidance on requirements Presentations Checklists and Task lists Templates: Procedures, Manual and Forms Project Planning Tools All available in “Premium All-in-One Package” by www.22000-Tools.com

Getting Started Get all of the training, documentation, tools and guidance that you need: FSSC 22000 Premium All-in-One Templates & Training Package ISO 22000 Premium All-in-One Templates & Training Package SWF 2000 Premium All-in-One Templates & Training Package