LRQA has been awarded an extension to the scope of its global FSSC 22000 accreditation from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). LRQA Quality Assurance Limited - the accredited body for FSSC 22000 services within the LRQA Group - can now issue accredited certificates for FSSC 22000 Category DII for the production of pet food. Clients with existing unaccredited certificates for this scope will receive a reissued accredited certificate.
The FSSC 22000 food safety management system (FSMS) certification scheme is based on the international FSMS ISO 22000 combined with sector specific technical specifications for prerequisite programs (PRP) including ISO/TS 22002-1 for food manufacturing which is used for pet food certification and PAS 222 for feed and animal food production. The PAS 222 will be replaced by the ISO/TS 22002-6. In December 2016, the Foundation for Food Safety Certification, the owners of FSSC 22000, launched version 4 of the scheme. This has seen the introduction of unannounced audits and a new focus on food fraud prevention. FSSC 22000 is recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), which brings together the world’s leading food safety experts to drive improvement in FSMS.
Remco Pieters, LRQA's Technical Manager, Food, commented, “Pets are an important part of many families and it is vital to ensure that pet food is safe. UKAS accreditation for FSSC 22000 Category DII gives clients additional assurance of LRQA's competence, impartiality and technical expertise in the pet food sector.”
Please note that as of January 2018, we have moved to the LRQA brand and retired the LRQA name.