Can someone please explain the difference between a Food Safety Management System and a Quality Management System?

Hi all,

 

Can someone please explain the difference between a Food Safety Management System and a Quality Management System?  How do these two systems differ?  Does one system cover more than the other? This question stems from me comparing GFSI schemes.  I am trying to determine what GFSI schemes are the best for my company to approve based on a supplier approval program.  I know SQF is no longer using levels, but has a quality audit and food safety audit that is separate and schemes like BRC and IFS 6.1 have quality systems included.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Mbrown

Quality and Food Safety are totally different disciplines that are often managed by the same team (QA). It is very important we understand the differences and similarities in the two. To simplify the two, I like to refer to a Quality System as requirements associated with customer satisfaction. A Food Safety System addresses requirements associated with health, regulatory and legality. Quality requirements can be negotiable and often times can be adjusted frequently whereas Food Safety requirements a absolute and require significant validation studies to make changes.


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Hi all,

 

Can someone please explain the difference between a Food Safety Management System (Former) and a Quality Management System (Latter)?  How do these two systems differ?  Does one system cover more than the other? This question stems from me comparing GFSI schemes.  I am trying to determine what GFSI schemes are the best for my company to approve based on a supplier approval program.  I know SQF is no longer using levels, but has a quality audit and food safety audit that is separate and schemes like BRC and IFS 6.1 have quality systems included.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Mbrown

 

A simple self-question should enable a decision -

 

Do you want to cover Non-Safety + Safety aspects ( > Both), or Only Non-Safety (> Former), or only Safety (> Latter) ?

 

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Food Safety - controlling contamination that could cause sickness or injury.

 

Quailty Management - controlling your processes and products so they meet customer requirements.