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This information can be used to develop food safety and quality programs that meet the requirements of modern Regulatory, Customer and Industry Standards:
Certification is an industry or regulatory recognition provided to a business entity by an accredited certification body or authorized agency that serves as notification that the food business has been assessed as complying with the requirements of a particular certification standard. Certification may be a requirement of customer demand, regulatory requirements, or it may be a tool by which you benchmark your business in the global food marketplace. Regardless of your decision to gain and maintain certification to specific standards, the process is a substantial investment into your business and should be considered carefully before implementation. haccp.com is designed to assist with the recognition of the Food Industry Certification process for Food Businesses, their Associates, and Clients, in conjunction with formatting resources certified businesses can use to better manage their investments in certification.
Certification to industry standards is no longer considered an optional extra for food producers, manufacturers, and suppliers. In times gone by, these certifications were classed as an activity a business would achieve as a measure of Best Practice. Today, industry certifications are required simply to be able to compete in the high-evolution marketplace which defines modern food industries.
The foundation of certification is not only to adhere to the requirements of relevant Food Industry Legislation and Guidelines but also to consider reputable certifications such as Codex HACCP, ISO 9001, ISO 22000, BRCGS Food, SQF, IFS, Global GAP, and Customer Standards to provide staunch management systems through which your food business can achieve excellence within your food industry sector. Many food businesses may also require certification to specific standards that define the vendor requirements as a prerequisite for supplying to large retail or foodservice groups.
It is important to consider the role that quality management has evolved to co-exist with food safety as a major component of contemporary food industry certifications. The emphasis has shifted towards ensuring foods produced, manufactured, and supplied are not only safe to eat, but are also consistently of substantial quality.
Certification to accepted industry standards provides:
Certification Process
The following steps are generally considered elements of a typical food business certification process:
Any Certification Process should be flexible enough to meet the requirements of anticipated outcomes but must be rigid enough to maintain the integrity of the audited standard in ensuring the outcomes of safety and quality foodstuffs.
The food business decides to apply for a particular certification, for example, Codex HACCP, ISO 9001, ISO 22000, BRCGS Food, SQF, IFS, Global GAP or Customer Standards, or a group of certifications. This decision to apply for certification may be an internal requirement of the food business or maybe through a request from one of the food business’ clients as a form of guarantee for the products or services being supplied to them.
The food business may choose any Certification Body to certify them to the required standard, providing that Certification Body is accredited to deliver certification to that particular standard. This ability to choose the Certification Body offers some impartiality for the process, and requirements from the food business’ clients to use a specific certification body are generally viewed as unacceptable. It is important to consider that more than one Certification Body may be used by one food business, but not for the same certification standard. For example, A food business may have HACCP certified by one Certification Body, and ISO 9001 certified by another Certification Body. It is also important to consider that the Scope and Purpose regarding the certification standard chosen may only relate to a selection of products or processes, rather than the entire business operation. In this context, it is important to consider that some standards require the entire scope of the business operation at a particular site to be audited, rather than nominated products or processes.
Certification bodies are accredited to provide certification services to recognized standards. This process involves an Accreditation Body that accredits the certification body to the requirements of ISO / IEC Guide 65, which provides a foundation of suitability in systemic management to provide certification services.
The food business applies to the Certification Body for the required certifications. This process generally includes contractual agreements, regarding service scope and purpose, applicable fees, and other information which may also include interactions between the food business’ client and the Certification Body.
The application process may include an onsite advisory visit from the Certification Body to discuss the food business’ specific requirements. Most Certification Bodies will require the nomination of an Authorized Representative from the food business; usually, the person who will liaise with the Certification Body for both onsite and offsite interactions. As a part of this process, the food business will also be designated a Client Manager, who is often designated as the contact person representing the Certification Body.
A Gap Analysis is a tool through which the food business is assessed to the required standard. A Gap Analysis is generally conducted as a resource for the food business to identify areas in which the food business requires improvements before the actual certification audit. A Gap Analysis is intended as more of a consultation, as opposed to an audit, where non-conformance issues are raised, rated, and issued as Corrective Action Requests or CARs. Where a Gap Analysis is conducted, and no non-conformance to the relevant standard is identified, some Certification Bodies may upgrade the Gap Analysis to a Certification Audit where circumstances permit. No Corrective Action Requests should be raised during a gap audit. Only observations should be noted.
Gap Analysis’ may be an optional requirement, depending on which Certification Body the food business is using. In this case, the following step will generally be the Certification Audit.
The food business uses the information provided from the Gap Analysis as a stimulus to improve their business management systems, procedures, and practices, where improvement opportunities have been identified. This process may or may not be conducted with the use of a consultant with specialist technical skills in the areas required.
A Certification Audit is the point at which the food business being assessed to the required standard or standards gets an indication of how they’re managing the requirements of the relevant certification standard or standards. This generally includes an auditor or auditor team from the Certification Body visiting the food business site to conduct a thorough audit. Any observed non-conformance is rated, and notified to the food business, usually through a Corrective Action Request or CAR. The CAR is raised by the Certification Body and is designed to identify the severity of the non-conformance. The food business participates in the CAR process by nominating what they will do to get the non-conformance back to within the standard’s acceptable range.
Corrective Action Requests need to be closed out by the food business within specified timeframes; timeframes vary regarding the severity of the non-conformance and are advised by the Certification Body. Several CARs can be raised as part of one audit. Certain certification standards have their nominated requirements for CARs, and these must be adhered to, in ensuring the certification process guarantees consistency.
If the certification audit does not identify any non-conformance, the food business may be granted certification to the applicable standard or standards. In this case, the following CAR Closeout step would be skipped.
Where the food business has been issued a CAR, these must be closed out within specified timeframes, and adequately, as assessed by the Certification Body. This process generally involves the Certification Body visiting the food business again to verify the actions taken to close out the CAR.
Once the Certification Body is happy the applicable standards are being well managed and applied within the food business, they will grant certification, which generally takes the form of a certificate. Under any relevant terms and conditions, the food business may then promote the fact that they have been certified by the Certification Body to the relevant standards.
As an accompaniment to the issuing of certificates detailing the scope and currency of the relevant certification standards, details of certification are generally made publicly available on the Certification Bodies’ web pages, and also on the relevant Accreditation Body’s web pages.
Surveillance and Recertification audits are scheduled as a component of any certification contract. The frequency and scheduling of these are generally dependent on the operational scope and purpose of the food business, and the specific requirements of the relevant certification standard. These scheduled audits are designed to create a solid foundation on which the certified food business can optimize continuous improvement opportunities, and control risk as components of managing their business.
It is important to consider here that the Certification Body or Standard Owner may have the ability as a contractual component, to request extra audits as required. This is commonly undertaken where a critical or major non-conformance has been identified outside the regularly scheduled audits, or trended customer complaints reveal a concern regarding confirmed or potential mismanagement of the food business’ requirements under the applicable standard or standards.
Choosing a Certification Body can be a difficult task at the best of times. It is usually a case of finding out about the services offered by the available Certification Bodies, and making a decision based on how best a particular Certification Body can service your business.
As with any business transaction, risk assessments should be considered before making an informed decision to utilize the services of any particular Certification Body.
The process of selecting a Certification Body may be based on any number of factors including:
Another important factor to consider is that the Certification Body chosen to provide services to your business is not the end choice. Whilst the Certification Body is primarily performing the function of assessing your business’ management systems to the applicable standards, they are contracted by you, and should not pressure you into anything you or your business isn’t comfortable with. Certification Bodies are bound by operational requirements which include the way they interact with their clients, and if at any stage you feel threatened or uncomfortable with the way a Certification Body is interacting with you and your business, seek a second opinion.
Subject to the terms and conditions of certification standards, Standard owners, and other contracts, businesses are free to change their Certification Body as required. The decision to change may be based on the level of services supplied by the Certification Body, the industry reputation of the Certification Body, or as a component of business restructure.
It is generally considered inappropriate for Certification Bodies to only recommend their support services, such as for training and consulting as a resource for a business certified by them, as this may create a conflict of interest. It is generally acceptable where the Certification Body recommends many providers of support services, which may include affiliated services, along with impartial service providers.
As with every business transaction, the etiquette regarding food industry certification is founded on written and unwritten rules of conduct. These defining rules must be adhered to, to maintain the certification process as a respected and valued measure of contemporary business management strategy. Many etiquette requirements are reciprocal between the business holding certification and the relevant certification body Etiquette is a code of behavior that helps people get along with one another. It is simply a set of good manners and it provides guidelines for courteous, considerate, and ethical behavior.
Whilst these suggestions of certification etiquette are based on the normal industry interactions, the discrepancy should be used to identify potential conflicts of interest or discrepancies which may destroy the founding fundamentals of impartiality and confidence, which provide industry and consumer confidence in the certification process. Personal judgment and consideration of morality must be considered when applying or judging any of the following etiquette points.
Certification Bodies and their Auditors should:
Likewise, the business being audited by the Certification Body should reciprocate and facilitate these requirements as a component of their commitment to maintaining the integrity of the auditing and certification process. It is generally not considered appropriate by standard owners for a business being audited by a Certification Body to pick and choose auditors based upon their reputation. Auditors employed by Certification Bodies are made available to audit after rigorous skill, knowledge, and competency assessments, and grievances with performance should be referred to the Certification Body for discussion.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Certification Standards Development requirements in relation to their items.
Document: A document provides guidance and/or direction for performing work, making decisions, or rendering judgments that affect the safety or quality of the products or services that customers receive.
Documented policies, procedures, work instructions, and schedules form the basis of any food safety and quality management system. The following documentation formats may be considered to ensure ongoing compliance with specified requirements for Certification Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Certification Standards Documentation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Certification Standards Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Certification Standards documentation, record, and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Implementation: Implementation is the application of documented food safety and quality system elements into the actual business operation.
The implementation of Certification Standards within any food business requires genuine commitment from senior management, staff, and visitors to ensure the nominated goals of implementation are achievable on an ongoing basis. It is a step that requires significant planning and consideration of general and specific food business circumstances to ensure the outcomes of Certification Standards do not negatively impact the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Certification Standards must include a clear definition of responsibilities and authorities for all levels of participation by senior management, staff, and visitors to the site.
When implementing Certification Standards within the food safety and quality system, you may wish to consider the following requirements before completion:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Certification Standards Implementation requirements in relation to their items.
Monitoring: Monitoring is the act of reviewing and confirming measurable parameters of a defined process or product status.
Monitoring requirements within food industry sectors are generally identified against limits of acceptability defined within HACCP plans, implementation procedures, and work instructions. Monitoring usually includes some element of record-keeping, which may be maintained manually or through digital systems. It is important to consider that advancements in technology have spawned many systems and processes which are self-monitored and or self-adjusted when variances are identified. Regardless of the system used; the goal of any monitoring activity is to provide sufficient evidence that any limit of acceptability has been met.
Traditional Certification Standards monitoring requirements include manual recording and the application of corrective actions when the results of monitoring are found to be outside acceptable limits. Corrective Actions should also generally be strongly linked to the monitoring process where applied to ensure full traceability of the applied actions.
The following examples of monitoring activities and record formats may apply to Certification Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Certification Standards Monitoring requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Certification Standards Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Certification Standards documentation, record, and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Corrective Action: Corrective action is mandatory action to be taken when a deviation to the Quality System occurs, particularly in relation to a Critical Control Point.
Preventative Action: At any step in the process where a hazard has been identified, preventative action must be put into place to prevent re-occurrence.
Corrective Action and Preventative Action are implemented to ensure any identified non-conformance is documented, investigated, and rectified within appropriate timeframes. Corrective action is any action applied to regain control over a product, process, policy, or procedure that has been identified as being non-conforming or outside nominated limits of acceptability. Preventative action is any action applied to prevent any identified non-conformance from reoccurring.
The outcomes of corrective and preventative actions should result in regained process control after effective application. Specified corrective actions are commonly linked to the HACCP Plans and the food business certification process.
Below are Corrective Action and Preventative Action examples which may be associated with Certification Standards related non-conformance issues:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Certification Standards Corrective Action requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Corrective Action and Preventative Action section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Verification: The act of reviewing, inspecting, testing, checking, auditing, or otherwise establishing and documenting whether items, processes, services, or documents conform to specified requirements.
Verification is the detailed review of all food safety and quality system elements to confirm that they are effectively developed, documented, implemented, monitored, and reviewed. All food safety and quality system elements, including documented policies, procedures, training, HACCP plans, and their operational applications must be verified on an ongoing scheduled basis. The verification process commonly includes a defined schedule for which verification activities are required, how often they are conducted, who is responsible, and detailed documented procedures for each nominated verification activity.
The general goal of an established verification process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
The following examples of verification activities may apply to Certification Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Certification Standards Verification requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Verification Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Validation: The process of gathering evidence to provide a scientific basis for the documented act of demonstrating that a procedure, process, and activity will consistently lead to the expected results. It often includes the qualification of systems and equipment.
Validation is the provision of evidence to support the limits of control or acceptability for food safety or quality parameters nominated within systemic elements. Limits of control or acceptability are commonly included within documented food safety and quality systems elements such as procedures, HACCP plans, and specifications.
Common sources of validation include regulatory and legislative standards, finished product specifications and customer requirements, industry codes of practice and guidelines, verified and validated research, historical product, and process control outcomes, and analytical testing.
The general goal of an established validation process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
Validation activities are commonly defined within the verification schedules and procedures of established food safety and quality management systems.
The following examples may apply to validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Certification Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Certification Standards Validation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Validation Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Skills and Knowledge: Skills and knowledge are attributes of human interactions commonly linked to competency within any specific job-related task.
Training and competency requirements for Certification Standards must be ongoing, including regularly scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Certification Standards should have knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Certification Standards should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Certification Standards should have access to resources including:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Certification Standards Training, Competency, and Resources requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Training, Competency, and Resources section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
haccp.com was created to support food businesses and food industry professionals in achieving and maintaining the stringent requirements of food industry compliance.