FSSC 22000 certification programme

Product safety and quality is key in the food industry where a failure to supply safe product can potentially have devastating consequences on the health of consumers. To identify and mitigate risks along food supply chains, food suppliers must put appropriate control processes in place.  

The Food Safety System Certification 22000 (FSSC 22000) is a systematic programme to managing food organisation's safety responsibilities, is fully recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and follows the food chain category description as defined in ISO/TS 22003. 

What is FSSC Certification? 

FSSC 22000 uses ISO 22000 for the management system requirements and ISO Technical Standards or Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) for prerequisite programme requirements. The standard integrates nicely with other management systems such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. 

By achieving FSSC 22000 Certification, food company will benefit from: 

• Satisfying the HACCP requirement of retailers and food service customers 
• Enhanced food safety and management systems 

• Increased consumer confidence in their products 
• Boosting their brand and corporate image 
• Expanded presence in the market to new and prospective clients 

FSSC 22000 certification features a 3-year cycle. This cycle consists of annual surveillance audits and a recertification audit every 3 years. The initial audit is performed in two stages. Surveillance and recertification audits all take a process based approach, instead of a checklist based audit. 

Scope of FSSC 22000 certification 

This audit scope is suitable for manufacturers of: 

• Perishable animal products (i.e. meat, poultry, eggs, dairy and fish products) 
• Perishable vegetal products (i.e. fresh fruits and fresh juices, preserved fruits, fresh vegetables, preserved vegetables) 
• Products with long shelf life at ambient temperature (i.e. canned products, biscuits, snacks, oil, drinking water, beverages, pasta, flour, sugar, salt) 
• (Bio)chemical products for food manufacturing (i.e. vitamins additives and bio-cultures) but excluding technical and technological aids 

Scheme requirements 

For every food producer it is possible to read about FSSC scheme requirements, even before applying for certification. All FSSC 22000 scheme documents are available for free on their website or can be requested by contacting us https://www.eurofins.com/assurance/food/contact-us/. 

FSSC 22000 web download here.