GFSI Standards like BRC, IFS and FSSC 22000 are Global Standards, recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), that provide guidelines for a Food Safety and Quality Management System.
- The BRC (British Retail Consortium) provides a framework to manage product safety, quality, integrity and legality and the operational controls for these criteria in the food manufacturing and packing industry.
BRC-Issue 9 is the current version of the food safety standard and it can be applied by any organization in the food chain that wants to have a Global Recognition and cooperates with the UK food retailers. - The IFS Food (International Featured Standards) focuses on the food safety and quality of processes and products and it concerns food processing companies and companies that pack loose food products. The Standard is important for all food manufacturers, especially for those producing private labels, as it contains many requirements related to the compliance with customer specifications. IFS Food version 8 is the latest version of the standard.
- The FSSC 22000 (Food Safety System Certification) provides a framework for the effective management of an organization’s food safety responsibilities and is based on the existing ISO Standards. More specifically, the Scheme consists of three components: ISO 22000 sectors, specific PRPs and specific FSSC 22000 requirements. In order for the standard to meet the requirements for quality as well, an ISO 9001:2015 module has been added to the existing FSSC 22000 standard, the FSCC 22000-Q, making it in this way possible for an organization to get certified with both FSSC 22000 and ISO 9001 standards.
The organizations that choose to implement and get certified with the FSSC 22000 standard instead of ISO 22000 are those who want or are requested by their customers to be Globally Recognized with one of the GFSI Standards.
