Food Safety standards and schemes

The BRC Global Standard for Food Safety was first published in 1998 and released on August 1, 2018 in its 8th issue. The standard provides a framework to manage product safety, integrity, legality and quality for the food manufacturing, processing and packing industry.

BRC Global Standards and Schemes are used by suppliers and global retailers. They facilitate standardization of quality, safety, operational criteria and manufacturers’ fulfillment of legal obligations. They also help provide protection to the consumer.

The BRC Packaging Standard can be used by any manufacturer producing packaging materials for all types of products – from food to consumer goods.

DNA1 consumer assurance from Lloyd's Register and Clear Labs delivers protection for your brand and your consumers.

The US FDA issued FSMA Final Rule on Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) for Importers of Food for Human and Animals is now final. For the purposes of FSVP, an importer is the U.S. owner or consignee of a food offered for import into the United States. How are you ensuring your suppliers are in compliance? LRQA’s foreign supplier verification services can evaluate hazard- and risk specific criteria.

To support this requirement, the FDA FSMA rule on Accredited Third-Party Certification has been finalized, and the program is now open for participation. The rule establishes a voluntary program for the accreditation of third-party certification bodies, like Lloyd’s Register (LR), to conduct food safety audits and issue certifications of foreign entities, including farms, and the foods for humans and animals they produce section 806(d) of FSMA. LR is working towards FDA-recognized accreditation to deliver food safety audits and Accredited Third-Party Certification under FSMA.

To support US food importers who work with their foreign suppliers to meet FSMA requirements, the FDA has introduced the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program (VQIP).

The Food Safety System Certification 22000 scheme - FSSC 22000 - has been developed for food manufacturers that process or manufacture animal or perishable vegetal products, products with a long shelf life and food ingredients such as additives, vitamins and bio-cultures.

FSSC 22000 v4.1 certification puts organizations in a good place to meet the FSMA PCHF Rule; however, the market has increasingly asked for third-party verification of the relevant FSMA requirements.

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), coordinated by CIES – The Food Business Forum, was launched in May 2000. Under the umbrella of the GFSI, seven major retailers, including Walmart and Tesco, have reached a common acceptance of GFSI-benchmarked food safety schemes (including FSSC 22000, BRC, IFS, HACCP). To reduce redundancy in the supply chain, these seven retailers have agreed to common acceptance of certification to any of the GFSI-accepted schemes.

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Global Markets Programme is an initiative launched by the GFSI which offers small and less-developed organizations a step-by-step approach to implementing food safety requirements building to GFSI-recognized food safety standard or scheme certification.