Conduct an FSSC 22000 Audit With a Certified Checklist

What Is FSSC 22000 Standard?

FSSC stands for Food Safety System Certification, and is an important food safety standard recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). An FSSC 22000 audit shows that your company has an efficient and effective food safety management system. In contrast to pure ISO 22000 certification, the FSSC (Food Safety System Certification) is internationally recognized.

The FSSC 22000 standard is suitable for food manufacturers who supply their products or ingredients to large food retailers and suppliers. An FSSC certification increases consumer confidence because it means that each food product manufactured, processed, distributed, or handled by an organization holding the certification meets specific quality and safety standards.

The following topics are covered in this article:

1. What is the requirement for an FSSC 22000 system?

2. The difference between ISO and FSSC 22000

3. Advantages of FSSC 22000 certification

4. Cost of FSSC 22000 certification

5. A digital solution for preparing for FSSC 22000 certification

MAIN PART

What Are FSSC 22000 System Requirements?

A wide variety of areas and services have a direct or indirect impact on food safety. The Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) understands this to include the following five aspects that must be inspected.

1. Supply
2. Transportation and storage
3. Out-sourced processes
4. Cleaning
5. Maintenance

Not all aspects are important for all operations. During the initial inventory, you can find out which relevant services you use. You can go through the following three steps:

1. Conduct a threat assessment
2. Implement measures to reduce threats
3. Create food defence plan

service providers must be given clear and specific instructions in the form of checklists. The following points should be included in the FSSC 2200 internal audit checklists so that the necessary food safety can also be achieved on the part of suppliers and service providers.

1. Scope of activity
2. Targeted cleaning schedules
3. Hygiene rules
4. Materials and equipment

All specifications must be properly implemented by your service provider and monitored by you. This is the only way to ensure that the FSSC requirements can be met.

What’s the Difference Between ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000?

The main difference between ISO and FSSC 22000 is that FSSC has a few additional requirements that are sector-specific. In that way, it’s very easy for organizations who already hold an ISO 22000 certification to become globally recognized for their food safety management system with an FSSC 22000 certification.

As it stands, an ISO certification is not recognized by the GFSI. That being said, companies looking to upgrade from their ISO certification have to review their current prerequisites program’s technical specifications. Here is a list of the additional requirements:

• The FSSC 22000 accreditation requires more thorough documentation due to its stricter requirements and for traceability purposes.
• It also covers certain specifications regarding the use of its. Certified companies are not allowed to use the FSSC logo on their products, labels, or packaging. Instead, they are only allowed to use it for marketing or other promotional endeavors.
• Certified companies must adhere to strict labeling requirements regarding allergens and other information deemed necessary for safe consumption.
• These additional requirements also apply to service management and purchased materials. Where laboratory testing is used, the laboratory must implement test-retest reliability measures for consistency and safety purposes. In addition, the company must also have quality assurance practices in place to ensure food safety and certification standards.
• The certified body must also have an active food defense plan. The plan needs to be in line with the company’s FSMS and include the following four elements: 1) Food inspection, 2) Hygiene control, 3) Thorough documentation, and 4) Employee screening and personal hygiene.
• The company must also have an environmental monitoring program to protect the land from contamination as a result of the manufacturing, transportation, and delivery process.
• Pre-requisites programs are also a must-have. They cover specifications regarding building layout, workplace layout, utilities, inventory, and management, as well as hosting regular internal audits.

Benefits of an FSSC 22000 Certification

The FSSC 22000 standard is designed for suppliers and manufacturers of the food retail industry within the entire supply chain. This includes animal and perishable products, long shelf life products, food ingredients, and food packaging materials that are processed or manufactured.

You will benefit from these 3 advantages of implementing an FSSC 22000 system:

1. Large food retailers in particular require a GFSI certified system for suppliers.
2. The standard makes it easier to introduce a HACCP system.
3. The certification provides a framework that helps companies to organize their food safety management system.

How Much Does an FSSC Certification Cost?

Like so many things in life, the price of certification largely depends on company size, complexity, and the number of infrastructure upgrades needed to meet standard requirements. For that reason, the quote you’ll find on this page might not reflect the true cost of certification for your company, as it is impossible to give an accurate estimate without all the data. That being said, the following are only rough estimates based on the size of the business:

• Small Scale Business - $17,500
• Medium-Sized Business - $21,000
• Large Sized Business - $25,000

Here are some additional factors that could impact pricing

• Consultant fees
• Software costs
• Training courses
• Employee time
• Number of audits conducted
• Infrastructure upgrades
• Certification and accreditation costs

When it comes to selecting the right FSSC certification body for your company, you’ll want to do your research. Get a quote from at least three different certification companies and compare pricing, strategies, and consulting practices. An additional benefit of obtaining multiple quotes, other than being well informed about the product, is you now have negotiating power if the certification body you want to employ gives you a higher quote than their competitor.

A Digital Solution for FSSC 22000 Certification Preparation

With Lumiform's mobile app, you can easily conduct quality and safety audits, report issues on the fly, and quickly assign corrective action requests to responsible colleagues. Easy communication with all team members and third parties allows you to improve internal processes and resolve incidents up to four times faster.

Lumiform's mobile app and desktop software allow you to implement checklists with digital convenience. This offers you many other advantages. All responsible persons can access the respective checklists at any time and from any location. If problems occur and corrective measures become necessary, you can inform the respective service provider directly. In addition, clean, transparent documentation helps to prevent high fines for non-compliance

Digitize checklists and internal processes:

• The flexible checklist builder from Lumiform helps you to convert any individual paper list into a digital checklist in no time.
• In addition, we offer more than 12,000 ready-made templates to help companies get started digitally in no time.
• All results, images, and comments are automatically bundled in a digital report.