Following a 14-month consultation process with industry, certification bodies, accreditation bodies, training organisations and governments, FSSC 22000 has launched version 4 of its international food safety management system certification scheme. The new scheme requirements include several major changes to improve consistency and to address the growing international focus on food fraud prevention.
Unannounced audits, the introduction of critical nonconformities, prevention of intentional product contamination, and a standardised audit report are all new elements within the GFSI-recognised scheme. There are also new requirements for transport and storage, food service and catering, retail and wholesale industries. The new scheme requirements can be downloaded for free here and all certified sites will need to be audited against the new version from 1 January 2018.
Commenting on the new version of the standard, Remco Pieters, LRQA’s Technical Manager Food, explained, “The new requirements in FSSC 22000 version 4 respond to stakeholder and market expectations and needs, to provide an up-to-date and rigorous management system for food safety control throughout the supply chain. We are now reviewing the documents in detail and preparing for implementation into our service delivery.”
Please note that as of January 2018, we have moved to the LRQA brand and retired the LRQA name.