The quality of your products is the most important differentiating characteristic for your company against the competition. This includes not only product quality, but also the quality processes and management. The food standard ISO 22000 is the standard for management systems in the food industry. By developing this standard it was intended to harmonise the certification standards in the food sector. It is aimed at companies along the entire production chain. Companies which do not deliver to the retail trade have so far had no comprehensive, generally recognized certification standard for food safety. However, ISO 22000 is not recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) due to the lack of specific requirements in the area of preventive programs (PRP – Prerequisite Programs), regulated certification procedure and defined audit protocol. As a result, the norm could not be compared with standards such as the IFS and the BRC.
FSSC 22000 filled the gaps and is recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). In the FSSC 22000 there are more detailed requirements for the PRPs that result from the ISO / TS 22002-x. For food companies, this means that in addition to the previous requirements of ISO 22000, they also have to comply to the specific requirements of ISO / TS 22002-1 and to some other requirements in order to be certified according to FSSC 22000. The ISO / TS contains specific requirements for PRPs, which are described in ISO 22000 under 7.2.3. PRPs are hygiene measures (GMP) to comply by a company to bring a safe food product on the market and must be
The advantage of the FSSC 22000 standard compared to IFS and BRC is that it is based on an ISO standard and is not the property of an advocacy group. This ensures an independent process. The standard can also be used along the entire production chain and is not only aimed at suppliers to the retail trade. However, the formulation of the requirements in the IFS and BRC standards is often much more specific and detailed. It is often the customer’s requirements that determine which standard is implemented and certified in a company. In the meantime, however, large retail chains no longer require a certificate according to a specific standard such as IFS, BRC or FSSC 22000, but one according to a standard recognized by GFSI, which means that they are free to choose.
Companies, which want to establish an entirely new quality management system, the requirements represent a major challenge. We support you in developing and introducing a quality management and food safety system, as well as reviewing existing systems and developing suggestions for improvement.We support you in the development and implementation according to the FSSC 22000 or ISO 22000 standard up to certification.
- Perform an assessment of current business
- Estabilshing an action plan
- Coaching in implementing certification requirements
- Support the certification process
- Meet customer requirements