Food Safety Standards and Schemes

This article provides an overview of voluntary food safety and food quality schemes and standards applicable among food business operators (FBOs).1 The chapter includes a variety of private and government certification programs and standards for food safety management recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

The GFSI is a facilitated collaboration between food safety experts in retail, manufacturing, and food service companies, as well as international organizations, governments, academia, and service providers. It provides leadership and guidance on food safety management systems (FSMSs) in the food supply chain. It is managed by the Consumer Goods Forum, a global parity-based food industry network.

GFSI recognition offers a passport to the global market among both recognized certification program owners and the companies they certify. To be recognized by the GFSI, certification program owners must verify that they meet the GFSI benchmarking requirements, one of the most widely accepted benchmarking schemes across food safety programs.

The GFSI benchmarking requirements were created in 2001 by a group of retailers motivated by the need to harmonize food safety standards across the global supply chain. The requirements are frequently updated with input from food safety experts around the world to keep up with food safety trends. They do not constitute a food safety standard in their own right, nor can food businesses be audited or certified against them. Recognized certification program owners are relied on to undertake these roles. In fact, the knowledge possessed by FBOs on these schemes and standards is limited. This is partly caused by the large number of FSMS schemes and standards already in the market.

This article offers an overview of food safety certification programs and standards as an aid in helping FBOs consider which FSMS scheme may be most relevant to them, their customers, and consumers.

BRC Global Standards:

The BRC Global Standards represent a safety and quality certification program used by over 28,000 certificated suppliers in more than 130 countries. Certification is issued through a worldwide network of accredited certification bodies. The BRC Global Standards are a market-leading global brand that helps build confidence in the supply chain. Its standards for food safety, packaging and packaging materials, storage and distribution, consumer products, agents and brokers, and retail set the benchmark for good manufacturing practices (GMPs) and help provide assurance to customers that products are safe, legal, and high quality.

The BRC Global Standard for Food Safety, issue 8, was published in 2018 (BRCGS 2018). It provides a framework for managing product safety, integrity, legality, and quality and for the operational controls of the associated criteria in food and food ingredient manufacturing, processing, and packing.

This BRC Global Standard focuses on the following:

• Encouraging the development of a product safety culture
• Expanding the requirements for environmental monitoring to reflect the increasing importance of this technique
• Encouraging sites to develop systems for security and food defense
• Adding clarity to the requirements for high-risk, high-care, and ambient high-care production zones
• Providing greater clarity for sites manufacturing pet foods
• Ensuring global applicability and benchmarking for the GFSI

International Featured Standards (IFS):

The International Featured Standards were established in 2003 and were eventually expanded. The standards are governed by IFS Management, a legally independent company headquartered in Berlin. The nine standards have been developed for and by stakeholders involved in all parts of the supply chain. They are all process standards that help users implement legal provisions on food and product safety by providing uniform guidelines on food and product safety and quality issues.

The food standard is a GFSI-recognized standard for auditing food manufacturers. The focus is on food safety and the quality of processes and products. This covers food processing companies and companies that pack loose food products.

The standard applies if products are processed or if there is a hazard of product contamination during primary packing. The standard is important for all food manufacturers, especially those producing private labels, because it includes many requirements related to compliance with customer specifications.

The standard supports production and marketing departments in their efforts at brand safety and quality. The standard has been developed with the full and active involvement of certification bodies, retailers, the food industry, and food service companies.

The standard is used to audit food manufacturers on food safety and the quality of processes and products. The list of requirements is organized by the following topics:

• Senior management responsibility
• The quality and food safety management system
• Resource management
• The planning and production process
• Measurements, analysis, and improvements
• Food defense

Food Safety System Certification (FSSC 22000):

Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000 is a certification program for FSMSs and feed safety management systems that are in compliance with the publicly available FSMSs standard International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 22000 (requirements for any organization in the food chain).

FSSC 22000 is used to audit and certify the FSMSs of food chain organizations in farming animals for milk, meat, eggs, and honey; farming fish and seafood; processing perishable animal products, such as meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, and fish products; processing perishable plant products, such as fresh fruits and fresh juices, preserved fruits, fresh vegetables, grains, nuts, and pulses; processing perishable animal and plant products (mixed products); processing ambient stable products with a long shelf life at ambient temperature, such as canned products, biscuits, snacks, oil, drinking water, beverages, pasta, flour, sugar, and salt; manufacturing (bio)chemical food ingredients, such as vitamin supplements, additives, and bio cultures, but excluding pesticides, drugs, fertilizers, and cleaning agents; production of feed and pet food; production of food and feed packaging and packaging materials with direct or indirect contact with food; catering; retail and wholesale; and food transport and storage services.

Global G.A.P.:

GLOBAL G.A.P., formerly known as Eurep-GAP, was launched in 1997 as a retailer initiative rooted in the Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group. Its starting point was an effort to develop standards and procedures for the development of GAPs in conventional agriculture especially by highlighting the importance of integrated crop management and a responsible approach to worker welfare. Over the next 10 years, the initiative spread throughout Europe and beyond. Driven by the impacts of globalization, a growing number of producers and retailers around the globe joined in, gaining the European organization global significance. To reflect both its global reach and its goal of becoming the leading international GAP standard, the name of the organization was changed from Eurep-GAP to GLOBALG.A.P. in 2007. The scheme is managed by Food-PLUS GmbH, Cologne, Germany.

GLOBAL G.A.P. is a private sector body that sets voluntary standards for agricultural product certification around the world. The GLOBAL G.A.P. standard is designed to reassure consumers about how their food is produced on the farm. Focal points include food safety and traceability; biodiversity, minimizing the detrimental environmental impacts of farming operations, and reducing the use of chemical inputs; and ensuring a responsible approach to worker health, safety, and welfare and animal welfare. The organization aims to establish one standard for GAPs, with varied product applications capable of interfacing seamlessly with the whole pattern of global agriculture. This includes integrated crop management, integrated pest control, the quality management system, and HACCP.

GLOBAL G.A.P. is a prefarmgate standard. The certificate covers the process of generating certified products from farm inputs, such as feed or seedlings, including all related farming activities until the product leaves the farm.

The GLOBAL G.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance Standard covers GAPs in agriculture, aquaculture, livestock, and horticulture production. It also covers additional aspects of the food production and supply chain, such as the chain of custody and compound feed manufacturing. The standard is built on a system of modules that enable producers to obtain certification for several sub scopes in one audit. The system consists of the following:

• General regulations: These map out the criteria for successful implementation of control points and compliance criteria and set guidelines for the verification and the regulation of the standard.
• Control points and compliance criteria: These clearly define the requirements for achieving the quality standard required by GLOBAL G.A.P.

The control points and compliance criteria are based on modules consisting of the following:

• The all-farm base module is the foundation of all standards. It consists of all the requirements that all producers must fulfil to gain certification.
• The scope module defines clear criteria in the various food production sectors. GLOBAL G.A.P. covers three scopes: crops, livestock, and aquaculture.
• The sub scope module includes control points and compliance criteria that cover all the requirements for a particular product or the various aspects of the food production and supply chain.

Other GFSI-benchmarked standards and certification programs:

In addition to the benchmarking and recognition of private certification programs, GFSI has introduced a new category, technical equivalence, which is dedicated to government-owned schemes. To take into account the different structures of these schemes, the new category allows for the acknowledgment of a scheme’s equivalence to the relevant technical requirements of GFSI benchmarking. The category is distinguished from GFSI recognition of private certification programs, which also assesses a scheme’s governance and operational management components.

The following standards or certification programs have been acknowledged for technical equivalence with the GFSI technical requirements.

China HACCP

The China HACCP is the national certification scheme implemented by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China. Certification with the China HACCP benefits foreign food producers by bringing them into compliance with Chinese food import regulations and national standards.

The Certification and Accreditation Administration introduced the HACCP system through Announcement 3 in 2002. Since then, the HACCP certification scheme has been updated several times. The latest version of the implementation rules is CNCA-N-008: 2011, “Implementation Rules for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) System Certification,” and the reference standards are GB / T 27341, “Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System: General Requirements for Food Processing Plant” and GB 14881, “General Hygiene Regulation for Food Enterprises Standard.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service GAP+

The Harmonized GAP+ Certification Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service has achieved mutual technical recognition against version 7.1 of the GFSI benchmarking requirements (GFSI 2017).

GAPs and good handling practices are voluntary audits implemented to verify that fruits and vegetables are produced, packed, handled, and stored as safely as possible to minimize the risk of microbial food safety hazards. The audits verify adherence to the recommendations in the USDA “Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards of Fresh-Cut Fruits and Vegetables” and industry recognized food safety practices (USDA 2008).

Canadian Grain Commission Standards

The Canadian Grain Commission has achieved technical equivalence for the Canadian Grain Commission HACCP and the Canadian Identity Preserved Recognition System plus HACCP certification programs against version 7.1 of the GFSI benchmarking requirements.

The Global Markets Program:

The GFSI Global Markets Program represents a useful resource for small or less highly developed businesses that may frequently face difficulties in accessing market opportunities because they lack the expertise or the wherewithal to meet the food safety requirements of the formal supply chain. The program represents a comprehensive step-by-step tool that guides small or less well developed businesses through a continuous improvement process in their FSMSs. This program is voluntary and helps businesses and other interested parties follow a four-phase approach with the ultimate goal of gaining certification with one of the GFSI recognized schemes.

For more information, please Chat with us Ask The Expert.