3 replies to this topic

[Simon]

Navigating the Path to Food Safety Certification
Tony Connor, IFSQN.

The purpose of this presentation is to provide participants with an overview of the major GFSI Food Safety Management Systems standards and to present a road map for achieving certification.  It will cover the drivers for seeking certification to FSMS third party standards, how to choose an FSMS standard, the requirements of GFSI and  a comparison of the major FSMS standards.  The second part of the presentation will provide practical guidance on Implementing an FSMS, the Certification Process and a method for Simplifying the Route to Certification.

If you have a question related to this presentation please post it below.

 

 

<<Link to the Webinar recording>>

[Simon]

Last but not least...thank you Tony for the comprehensive and educational presentation, it will be a useful resource for those starting out on the route to certification.
 
Here follows your questions and comments:
 

• Tony, would you recommend FSSC 22000 for a condiments and spices industry that already achieve its HACCP certification (international certification body) and have a solid prerequisites programs? Is a familiar business.
• Thanks for this!
• Is BRC applicable to only manufacturing sectors or can a hotel be certified to BRC?  Or other GFSI standard?
• Very helpful and informative.

[Tony-C]

Is BRC applicable to only manufacturing sectors or can a hotel be certified to BRC?  Or other GFSI standard?

 

Current BRC standards are:
Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 6
Global Standard for Consumer Products Issue 3
Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials Issue 4
Global Standard for Storage and Distribution Issue 2

So there is not a BRC standard for your food sector category.

Hotel businesses will fall into GFSI scope for Catering (The preparation and provision of food, which is consumed outside the home, within a defined premises)
GFSI plan to add catering to the scopes against which standards can be benchmarked in the future.
You can find more information on the current and future scopes for GFSI benchmarked standards here
http://www.mygfsi.co...version-62.html

It is likely that Catering will be added to some the scopes of recognition of some schemes in the future or new standards developed. SQF have made provision to add Catering to their scope in the future, this falls under SQF food sector category 23 Food Catering and Food Service Operations - The SQF Module for this is not available as it will be completed when the GFSI Guidance becomes available.

If you would like certification now you could get certification to ISO 22000 then when the relevant scopes are added and relevant prerequisite standards for your sector are published either as a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) by BSI or Technical Specification by ISO then you could upgrade your ISO 22000 certification to FSSC 22000 certification which should be benchmarked for that standard in the future.
 

Regards,

 

Tony

[Tony-C]

Tony, would you recommend FSSC 22000 for a condiments and spices industry that already achieve its HACCP certification (international certification body) and have a solid prerequisites programs? Is a familiar business.

 

Yes or any other relevant GFSI benchmarked standard.

 

If your systems are well established it should not be too onerous to gain certification. Certification to a recognised standard may well open more markets to your company as well as giving you some peace of mind, having had independent assessment of your food safety management system.

 

Regards,

 

Tony