Which Certification Body do you use, for what and why?

There is some discussion on the forum right now about a particular Certification Body but I'd like to widen the debate a little and ask members:

Which certification body do you use?
For what standard(s)?
Why do you use them (e.g. tough, easy, good value for money, customer demand etc.)?
Are you satisfied with them?
Which country are you located in?

Regards,
Simon

Dear Simon,

I wonder why no one is replying this topic? Okay, I guess I am the 1st. Lets see, I think I have to use "we" instead of "I". We are a Seasoning Food Industry, PT Foodex Inti Ingredients, coming from Indonesia. We decide to use the SGS as our ISO 22k Certification Body because their reputation, professionalism and for the sake of prestige perhaps... Anyway, thats for me and my company.

IMO, every Certification Body has unique strength and basic core. But no matter how good the Certification Body is, the most important thing is how do we keep up our system (geee, it sounds like a beauty pageant answer...).


Regards,


Arya

Dear Simon,

I wonder why no one is replying this topic? Okay, I guess I am the 1st. Lets see, I think I have to use "we" instead of "I". We are a Seasoning Food Industry, PT Foodex Inti Ingredients, coming from Indonesia. We decide to use the SGS as our ISO 22k Certification Body because their reputation, professionalism and for the sake of prestige perhaps... Anyway, thats for me and my company.

IMO, every Certification Body has unique strength and basic core. But no matter how good the Certification Body is, the most important thing is how do we keep up our system (geee, it sounds like a beauty pageant answer...).


Regards,


Arya

Hey thanks Arya, you're making my day. I'd forgotten about this one.

So why did you choose SGS over other global certification bodies such as say BSI, DNV, etc.

Regards,
Simon

I will jump in...

We chose to use NQA-USA for our ISO 22000 certification because they were one of the few with ties to other US companies and was prepared to audit now (several were working on getting auditors and setting up ISO 22000). It actually turned into a "win-win" for both of us because we were the first "ready to eat" company they certified and it helps to be able to point to a product and say "we were involved in that". Plus we make candy which helps promotion!

We had a tough time finding a company in the US that was ready for ISO 22000 and able to meet our future needs for ISO 9000, 14000 and OHSAS 18000. The funny thing is the final selection came to to NQA-USA and QMI-SAI and two weeks after we chose NQA a customer wanted us BRC certified for their product and they wanted us to use QMI-SAI.

Both did a good job a we are awaiting our official certificates for each.

I have to agree with Arya, a good system will make for a good relationship with any CB!

Hey thanks Arya, you're making my day. I'd forgotten about this one. So why did you choose SGS over other global certification bodies such as say BSI, DNV, etc. Regards, Simon

Dear Simon,

I wish I can give a plain answer to that question. Unfortunately, our top managements who determine it, and I am afraid I dont know whats the real reason is... But overall, I think the SGS has reputation beyond repute, and quite fame in our country. Some big companies in our country using their services for certification. Plus, since our sister company already using them to certify ISO 9001 and 22k, I guess its obvious that we will use them too. Another reason perhaps (a bit 'stealing' tsmith), we are also looking forward for CB that able to cover another area such as OHSAS or ISO 14001. And SGS is well experienced in certifying those areas. Hope it makes you clear (and hope it's true... aah minions, how pity...)


Regards,


Arya

PS: To tsmith, thank you very much for your agreemnet

hi friends,

I am responsible for 2 factories, i use BSI for one of then for BRC and Moodys for the other for BRC and IFS.
Last year i added additional questions about certifications and certification bodies about their reliability, commonly known and customers choice and most of the customers chose SGS and BSI.
I think asking customers is the good way to choose both the certification system and the certification body. :)

Hu,

We Use BSI for ISO 9001 & ISO 22000.
We got the ISO 9001 certification in 1994, one of the first industry certified by BSI in India !.
We are one of the top 10 clients of BSI in india now as per their ratings

Hello. I hope you heard about TUV NORD because it's our certification body. We have ISO 9001 and ISO 22000 (it was HACCP first). I must admit that the biggest advantage of TUV NORD are Quality Thursdays. That are meetings of TUV NORD's customers when we talk about standard. We have a lot great lectures, meet people who work as auditors and the most important thing: we can exchange our experiences.
Best regards

Hi all,

Ø Only Certification Body accredited by NABCB, Quality Council of India under International Standard ISO Guide-65 for the Scopes

o Agriculture production and harvesting on the farm covering fresh fruits, vegetables and combinable crops for Good Agricultural practices

o Hotels, Restaurants and Caterings - Hygiene

Ø Only Certification body Accredited by NABET Quality Council of India for the training course; Food Hygiene (GHP/GMP) Awareness Program .The training program focuses on the basic concepts of Good Hygiene/Good Manufacturing practices as per Codex Guidelines on general principles of food Hygiene as well as their application.

Ø Accredited by NABCB for Food Safety Management Systems: ISO22000 and also approved by The Food Aid Organization of the United Nations under The World Food Program for ISO 22000 Certification for its suppliers

Ø Accredited by Government of India for organic certification scheme under the National Programme for Organic Production (www.apeda.com). FCI name is included under the European regulation (EC) No 537/2009 for organic certification program as a certification body.

Ø FoodCert Inspector at present is the only one in India who has successfully completed and became official GlobalGAP (Global Good Agricultural Practice) Registered Train-the-Public Trainer for conducting the training programs

Ø FCI is the first to introduce Globalgap scheme in India in the year 2003 and so far covered around 3300 farmers cumulatively under option 1 and II.

Ø Facilitates Global Market Access to fresh products for the fresh produce operators www.efresh.com


Further FCI is:

Ø One of the five Committee members of the Task Force-01 constituted under National Technical Working Group set up by GlobalGAP and Quality Council of India for interpretation of provisions of GlobalGAP standards as applicable under Indian situations (‘Think Global, Act Local’)

Ø FoodCert India is nominated as a member of the Technical Committee set up by National Medicinal Plants Board (June 2009) for assistance in preparation of Good Agricultural Practices Medicinal Requirement

Ø One of the Committee members of the Expert Group setup on Food Safety to propose a basic Food Safety Management System for food establishments and a system of certifying food safety professionals under Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (June 09)

Ø One of the Expert Committee members for formulation of Indian Standard – National Agriculture Code – appointed by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

Ø One of the Committee members of Specialized Foods Sectional Committee in the Food and Agriculture Department of BIS

Ø Recognized by APEDA for HACCP Scheme

Besides the above, FCI under the offices of ISACert BV, is offering Registration Services for the following international schemes/standards within the Food-chain

GlobalGAP, HACCP, ISO 22000, HACCP System based Hygienic Codes of Practices (for Supermarkets, Hotels, Restaurants, Catering, Food suppliers in Health Care Organization, Bakeries), BRC Standards and International Food Standard, GMP+ 2006 for feed, BRC – IOP (Food Packaging Material) and ASI Accreditation for Marine Stewardship Council – Chain of Custody for Food Traceability and many more in the list.

The network of ISACert Worldwide offices covers more than 40 countries.

We also represent AQA International (ANAB Accredition)

Under the ANAB brand, the organization is the U.S. accreditation body for management systems and accredits certification bodies for:

ISO 9001 quality management systems (QMS)
ISO 14001 environmental management systems (EMS)
ISO/IEC 27001 information security management systems (ISMS)
ISO 22000 food safety management systems (FSMS)

The ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board was established January 1, 2005. Previously, the accreditation activities of the organization were operated by the ANSI-RAB National Accreditation Program (NAP) under a partnership agreement.

The ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board had it roots in the Registrar Accreditation Board (RAB), which was established in 1989 by the American Society for Quality (ASQ). RAB's original mission was to provide accreditation services for ISO 9000 certification bodies (CBs). When RAB was created, it immediately sought to strengthen the U.S. system for CB accreditation by pursuing a formal relationship with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Any queries......

Regards,
Sandeep Soni

We are using NCSI for our HACCP and BRC Accreditation (we gained HACCP accreditation 2 weeks ago and want to gain BRC and/ or SQF accreditation in the next 2 months).
We use SAI- Global for our local (State) food safety system. SAI- Global are the only company authorised by our State regulatory Authority (Dairy Food Safety Victoria) to audit to their requirements.

I think asking customers is the good way to choose both the certification system and the certification body. :)

I agree.

Hi all,

Ø Only Certification Body accredited by NABCB, Quality Council of India under International Standard ISO Guide-65 for the Scopes

o Agriculture production and harvesting on the farm covering fresh fruits, vegetables and combinable crops for Good Agricultural practices

o Hotels, Restaurants and Caterings - Hygiene

Ø Only Certification body Accredited by NABET Quality Council of India for the training course; Food Hygiene (GHP/GMP) Awareness Program .The training program focuses on the basic concepts of Good Hygiene/Good Manufacturing practices as per Codex Guidelines on general principles of food Hygiene as well as their application.

Ø Accredited by NABCB for Food Safety Management Systems: ISO22000 and also approved by The Food Aid Organization of the United Nations under The World Food Program for ISO 22000 Certification for its suppliers

Ø Accredited by Government of India for organic certification scheme under the National Programme for Organic Production (www.apeda.com). FCI name is included under the European regulation (EC) No 537/2009 for organic certification program as a certification body.

Ø FoodCert Inspector at present is the only one in India who has successfully completed and became official GlobalGAP (Global Good Agricultural Practice) Registered Train-the-Public Trainer for conducting the training programs

Ø FCI is the first to introduce Globalgap scheme in India in the year 2003 and so far covered around 3300 farmers cumulatively under option 1 and II.

Ø Facilitates Global Market Access to fresh products for the fresh produce operators www.efresh.com


Further FCI is:

Ø One of the five Committee members of the Task Force-01 constituted under National Technical Working Group set up by GlobalGAP and Quality Council of India for interpretation of provisions of GlobalGAP standards as applicable under Indian situations (‘Think Global, Act Local’)

Ø FoodCert India is nominated as a member of the Technical Committee set up by National Medicinal Plants Board (June 2009) for assistance in preparation of Good Agricultural Practices Medicinal Requirement

Ø One of the Committee members of the Expert Group setup on Food Safety to propose a basic Food Safety Management System for food establishments and a system of certifying food safety professionals under Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (June 09)

Ø One of the Expert Committee members for formulation of Indian Standard – National Agriculture Code – appointed by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

Ø One of the Committee members of Specialized Foods Sectional Committee in the Food and Agriculture Department of BIS

Ø Recognized by APEDA for HACCP Scheme

Besides the above, FCI under the offices of ISACert BV, is offering Registration Services for the following international schemes/standards within the Food-chain

GlobalGAP, HACCP, ISO 22000, HACCP System based Hygienic Codes of Practices (for Supermarkets, Hotels, Restaurants, Catering, Food suppliers in Health Care Organization, Bakeries), BRC Standards and International Food Standard, GMP+ 2006 for feed, BRC – IOP (Food Packaging Material) and ASI Accreditation for Marine Stewardship Council – Chain of Custody for Food Traceability and many more in the list.

The network of ISACert Worldwide offices covers more than 40 countries.

We also represent AQA International (ANAB Accredition)

Under the ANAB brand, the organization is the U.S. accreditation body for management systems and accredits certification bodies for:

ISO 9001 quality management systems (QMS)
ISO 14001 environmental management systems (EMS)
ISO/IEC 27001 information security management systems (ISMS)
ISO 22000 food safety management systems (FSMS)

The ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board was established January 1, 2005. Previously, the accreditation activities of the organization were operated by the ANSI-RAB National Accreditation Program (NAP) under a partnership agreement.

The ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board had it roots in the Registrar Accreditation Board (RAB), which was established in 1989 by the American Society for Quality (ASQ). RAB's original mission was to provide accreditation services for ISO 9000 certification bodies (CBs). When RAB was created, it immediately sought to strengthen the U.S. system for CB accreditation by pursuing a formal relationship with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Any queries......

Regards,
Sandeep Soni

I have a query Sandeep. Is this some sort of advertisement, if so who is it for and why do you have an interest in the company?

Hello. I hope you heard about TUV NORD because it's our certification body. We have ISO 9001 and ISO 22000 (it was HACCP first). I must admit that the biggest advantage of TUV NORD are Quality Thursdays. That are meetings of TUV NORD's customers when we talk about standard. We have a lot great lectures, meet people who work as auditors and the most important thing: we can exchange our experiences.
Best regards

Dear adobrosielska,

Of course we've heard it. And as matter of fact, it quite a fame in my country, not only it's certification service, but also it's Lab service (no promotion-intended, Simon ).

Speaking the devil, when I am attending a seminar about Food Safety, one of the speaker (promoting his company of course) is coming from TUV SUD. I just realize that they are different from TUV NORD, and even they compete each other! Does anyone ever use the TUV SUD's service before?

Oh yeah, just for the record: NORD means North, and SUD means South. Its Germany if I am not mistaken.


Regards,


Arya

Oh yeah, just for the record: NORD means North, and SUD means South. Its Germany if I am not mistaken.

Well you certainly do learn something new every day. Thank you Arya.

What do you think of NCSI a national accreditation body here in Australia?

We have used them for HAACP accreditation and will probably use them for BRC and SQF accreditation.

I work as a QA Manager in a small, family- owned dairy manufacturer.

[quote name='a_andhika' date='Sep 1 2009, 07:37 AM' post='31710']
Does anyone ever use the TUV SUD's service before?

I have contact with TUV SUD just because of the training materials for auditors. The materials were quite good and they came in handy in my work

Does nobody use LRQA or EFSIS? I thought they had quite a good reputations.