Hi Charles,
Below is where it says Food Fraud is not mandatory for SQF.
I just want to know if food fraud is required by BRC
FSMA (HARPC) is that required for both BRC and SQF?
Thanks in advance...
2.7.2 Implementation Guidance
What does it mean?
In July 2014, GFSI published a discussion paper “GFSI position on Mitigating the public health risk of food fraud,” in
which it states “The GFSI Board recognizes that the driver of a food fraud incident might be economic gain, but if a
public health threat arises from the effects of an adulterated product, this will lead to a food safety incident.”
Food fraud is often described as EMA, economically motivated adulteration. However, it is more than that. As well as
adulteration, food fraud includes substitution, dilution, addition, misrepresentation or tampering of food ingredients or
food products. It is in fact illegal deception for economic gain.
The economic risks of food fraud to the industry are apparent. It is estimated that fraud costs the global food industry
between $US40bn -$US50bn every year (Australian Food News, 11th July 2017). However, the public health impacts
are less so. In many cases, the health impact of food fraud is not known until after the fact, when consumers become
sick and the adulterant is detected.
GFSI now requires that a food fraud vulnerability assessment and mitigation plan to be incorporated into the food
safety management systems in all GFSI benchmarked schemes. SQF in edition 8 now requires food fraud to be
considered for the site (2.7.2), and for incoming materials and ingredients (2.4.4.5, 2.4.4.6).
What do I have to do?
Although this element is not mandatory, it is a key GFSI requirement and can only be exempted on receipt by the
Certification Body (CB) of a written request from the site justifying exemption. If the justification is accepted by the
CB, the element can be exempted. If not, and the site has not completed a vulnerability assessment and mitigation
plan, then the CB is required to raise a major non-conformance against 2.7.2.