Choosing the right food safety certification standard can feel like navigating a complex maze. With numerous third-party certifications available, food business owners often find themselves overwhelmed by options, requirements, and competing standards. Which one will best serve your business needs? Which will satisfy your customers’ demands? And most importantly, which will ensure your food safety processes meet the highest standards?
In this post, I’ll walk you through the process of selecting the most appropriate food safety certification standard for your business. Drawing from years of industry experience, I’ll provide clear, actionable guidance to help you make this crucial decision.
What is food safety certification standard?
A Food Safety Certification Standard is generally a voluntary set of rules that a food business can follow to demonstrate their performance. This performance is then assessed by a 3rd party who is objective and impartial to the food business. The outcome of this assessment results in a food business being certified or not certified or it determines if you can trade with a particular customer or not.
Keep in mind that just because you have certification to a 3rd party HACCP food safety Standard, does not negate your legal responsibility to comply with any food laws required by your food business. For clarity throughout this post, I’ll use the term ‘certification standards’ to encompass both third-party and customer-specific standards.
Why do I need to have food safety certification?
The biggest driver in 3rd party certification is definitely from the customer. The ‘customer’ is generally a trading partner. This may be a business like McDonalds, Aldi, Woolworths, PepsiCo, Nestle, Walmart or Costco or it could be the food business that buys their raw materials from you.
In some areas, it may also be a legal requirement, with governments recognising food safety certification as the basis of legal compliance. Your business may also choose to have certification purely as a means of ensuring business success, risk management and business improvement. Successful certification can then be used in marketing your food business as a point of difference to your competitors.
How do I choose the best food safety certification standard for my business?
I have put together this infographic to explain how I make this decision for my clients. It is based on asking and answering three questions.
- Does the customer state what GFSI scheme you have to have?
- Is it a customer requirement to have 3rd party certification?
- Does it have to be a GFSI-recognised scheme standard?
Note: There is not a massive difference of the compliance requirements between any of the GFSI recognised schemes. This is because all of the schemes are required to comply with benchmarking requirements. However, in saying this, BRCGS Standards are widely recognised and accepted globally. It is often considered a “gold standard” for food safety and quality management systems.
Getting copies of the food safety certification standards
Like any game in life, in order to be truly successful you need to know the rules. It is imperative that you get a copy of the certification standard and know it back-to-front. Knowing the rules and requirements will allow your food business greater success when it comes to certification audits and also allows for robust business practices to be developed and implemented.
Depending on which food safety certification standard you go with, there may be a fee involved in getting a copy of the standard. I have never really understood why standard owners would charge for a copy of the rules considering the level of competition in this marketplace. None the less, visit the website of your proposed standard or check out this article I have written on GFSI Standards.
Same Same but Different
In some parts of the world, a food business may be required to comply with multiple certification standards. In the perfect world this wouldn’t be the case, as all the stakeholders would just agree on one set of rules. Unfortunately, when you actually read these standards, they are generally the same with just a little twist. All food safety and quality standards generally have the foundation of Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene. To help your food business in developing these programs, I have published several resources available to help with this process.
Final Thoughts
In today’s competitive food industry, having the right certification is more than just a compliance checkbox – it’s a strategic business decision. While the certification process may seem daunting at first, taking time to evaluate your specific needs, market position, and customer requirements will lead you to the most suitable standard.
Remember that certification is not just about meeting requirements; it’s about building a robust food safety culture that protects your consumers, strengthens your brand, and drives continuous improvement in your operations.
