Which GFSI Standard Is Best for a Mixed Fruit and Salad Business?
Good morning Everyone
Please help!
We are a bulk fruit and veg supplier, as well as a precut veg and fruit and Ready to eat salads supplier.
One of our customers recently requested that we be GFSI certified by the end of 2025.
Which standard/s will be the best to implement to conform to GFSI.
One product line is basically just repacking from bulk to smaller quantities and the other two product lines are more manufacturing
We currently have an FSA certificate
Your assistance will be greatly appreciated as I am becoming cross-eyed from all the reading but it just causes more confusion
What do you want to get out of it? I'd say that looking at BRCGS, IFS and SQF there is more prescription than FSSC and if you're new to it, it might be good to use something that explicitly tells you what is required.
I've "grown up" with BRCGS though so it makes sense to me and I find the interpretation guide to be pretty helpful. Do your customers have a preference? Or any other future potential customers?
SQF
I would confer with this customer and see whether they have a favored scheme for their suppliers. Check with your other largest customers for the same and see if a certain scheme will be most beneficial. To GMO's point I started my food career under SQF so I prefer it over others but mostly all GFSI's should be almost the same.
If you were only doing the bulk fruits and vegetables, a PrimusGFS as a packinghouse might fit your needs well. But as you add the cutting part of the business, you are now manufacturing a wholly different product type, so something like "Food Manufacturing" under SQF would be required (which could also cover raw fruits/veg under a separate HACCP flow).
Dear TeresaE,
If you or your company has no favourable one, you can base your decision on:
- favourable system of your customer(s);
- availability of auditors in your region. E.g. in some regions there is less availability of qualified auditors.
BRGC/IFS/SQF/FSSC22000