Getting your food safety management system (FSMS) compliant with GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) standards is a multistep process that can greatly benefit your company.
Here's a simplified guide to help you through it:
8 Steps to Achieve GFSI Compliance
1. Choose the Right GFSI Certification Scheme
Picking the right certification scheme is the first step toward meeting the GFSI food safety standards. You see, GFSI, which stands for Global Food Safety Initiative, doesn’t give out certifications itself. Instead, it recognizes different certification schemes, each designed for specific areas of the food industry.
Understanding Your Options
BRCGS (British Retail Consortium Global Standards): This scheme is widely used in Europe and is a good fit for food manufacturers, packaging companies, and retailers. It covers many areas like food safety, quality, and how the business operates.
FSSC 22000: Based on ISO standards, this scheme is great for manufacturers and companies looking for a strong, internationally recognized food safety system.
SQF (Safe Quality Food): This certification is popular in North America and is recognized by retailers and food service providers. It focuses on managing risks and improving food safety continuously.
IFS (International Featured Standards): Mainly used in Europe, this scheme emphasizes food safety and quality, especially during processing and handling.
Why It Matters
Choosing the right scheme is important because each one is designed for different types of businesses and markets. For example, if your business is mostly in Europe, BRCGS might be the best choice. But if you need a certification that’s recognized worldwide, FSSC 22000 could be a better fit.
"It’s important to match your business’s needs with the right GFSI scheme. This helps you meet safety rules and shows you care about making safe, high-quality food."
How to Decide
To make the best choice, think about what your business does, what your customers expect, and what each scheme requires. It might help to do a gap analysis (see below), which compares your current practices with the standards of different schemes. This will show you where you need to improve.
Resources to Help You
2. Conduct a GAP Analysis
Once you've chosen the right GFSI certification scheme, the next step is to conduct a GAP analysis. A GAP analysis is like a check-up for your food safety management system (FSMS). It helps you find out where your current practices are strong and where they need improvement to meet the standards of your chosen GFSI scheme.
Why Do a GAP Analysis?
A GAP analysis is important because it shows you exactly what you need to work on to meet GFSI standards. It’s like having a roadmap that guides you on what changes or improvements are needed in your operations. For example, if you choose the BRCGS scheme, the GAP analysis will compare your current practices with the requirements of BRCGS, highlighting areas that need to be upgraded.
How to Conduct a GAP Analysis
Review the Requirements: Start by carefully reading the requirements of the GFSI scheme you’ve chosen. This will give you a clear idea of what is expected.
Compare with Current Practices: Next, compare these requirements with what you’re currently doing in your company. This involves looking at all parts of your FSMS, including how you handle food, how you train your staff, and how you document processes.
Identify the Gaps: As you compare, you’ll start to see where your practices don’t fully meet the GFSI requirements. These are the gaps you’ll need to address.
Plan for Improvement: After identifying the gaps, create a plan to improve those areas. This might mean changing how you do certain things, updating your documentation, or providing extra training for your team.
Resources to Help You
GAP Analysis Template for the Food Industry from ClickUp, a project management software
A general GAP Analysis Template from Forbes
3. Develop Your Food Safety Plan
After you've done a GAP analysis to find out where your food safety practices need improvement, the next big step is to create and put into action a food safety plan. This plan is a detailed guide that helps keep your food safe from hazards that could harm your customers.
Why Do You Need a Food Safety Plan?
A food safety plan is like a road map that shows how to keep food safe at every step of the production process. It includes things like identifying potential dangers (hazards), figuring out where in the process these dangers could happen, and deciding how to control them. This plan helps make sure that your food is safe to eat and meets the standards required by GFSI.
Steps to Develop Your Food Safety Plan
Identify Hazards: Start by looking at all the possible dangers that could happen during food production. These can be biological (like bacteria), chemical (like cleaning agents), or physical (like metal fragments). Knowing what could go wrong helps you plan to prevent these issues.
Determine Critical Control Points (CCPs): These are the points in the food production process where you can prevent or eliminate a hazard. For example, cooking might be a critical control point because it can kill harmful bacteria.
Set Up Monitoring Procedures: Once you know your CCPs, you need to monitor them. This means keeping track of things like temperature during cooking to make sure it's high enough to kill bacteria. Regular checks help you catch problems before they become serious.
Plan Corrective Actions: If something goes wrong and a CCP isn’t within safe limits, you need a plan to fix it. For instance, if food didn’t cook to the right temperature, you might need to cook it longer.
Verify the Plan: Verification means double-checking that your plan works. This could involve testing food, reviewing records, and having someone else check your process. It ensures that your plan is keeping food safe as expected.
Keep Good Records: Writing everything down is very important. You need to keep records of your monitoring activities, any problems that were fixed, and checks that verify your plan is working. These records prove that you are following your food safety plan.
Resources to Help You
Make sure your plan covers every aspect of food safety, from raw materials to the final product. A good way to build your food safety plan is to use the builder from the FDA.
4. Train Your Employees
After developing your food safety plan, the next step is to train your employees. Proper training is makes a difference because it ensures that everyone in your company understands their role in maintaining food safety. When everyone is on the same page, it's much easier to meet the standards required for GFSI certification.
Why Is Training Important?
Training helps your employees learn the best practices for food safety and understand the specific procedures that your company follows. You spend time on training to prevent mistakes that could lead to contamination or other food safety issues. Well-trained employees are more confident in their roles and can quickly identify and correct potential problems.
Steps to Train Your Employees
Basic Food Safety Training: Start by teaching your employees the basics of food safety. This includes things like personal hygiene, proper handwashing techniques, and understanding the types of hazards that can occur in food production.
Specific Training for Your Food Safety Plan: Each company’s food safety plan is unique, so your employees need to be trained on the specific procedures that are part of your plan. For example, if a critical control point in your plan involves checking cooking temperatures, your staff should know how to do this correctly.
Use Hands-On Training: Hands-on training is one of the most effective ways to teach food safety practices. Let employees practice the procedures they’ll be using every day, like monitoring CCPs or recording data. This helps them feel more confident and ensures they’re ready to apply what they’ve learned.
Continuous Training and Updates: Food safety isn’t a one-time lesson. It’s important to provide ongoing training to keep everyone updated on any changes to your food safety plan or new regulations. Regular refreshers help keep food safety top of mind for your team.
Evaluate and Reinforce Training: After training sessions, evaluate how well your employees understood the material. You can do this through quizzes, practical assessments, or by observing their work. Reinforce the training with positive feedback and additional guidance as needed.
Resources to Help You
5. Conduct Internal Audits
After training your employees, the next step in achieving GFSI certification is to conduct internal audits. These audits are like practice runs before the official certification audit. They help you find and fix any issues in your food safety processes, ensuring everything is in top shape.
Why Are Internal Audits Important?
Internal audits are necessary because they allow you to check if your food safety plan is working as it should. They help identify small problems before they turn into big issues that could affect your certification. Regular audits make sure your company follows GFSI standards, keeping your food safety system strong and reliable.
Steps to Conduct Internal Audits
Plan the Audit: Start by scheduling your internal audits. Decide how often they should happen and what areas or processes you'll be looking at. It's important to cover all the critical points in your food safety plan, such as monitoring critical control points (CCPs), checking records, and observing employee practices. Having a clear plan ensures that no part of your food safety system is overlooked.
Use Checklists: Checklists are very helpful during audits. They help you remember everything you need to inspect, making sure you don't miss anything important. Your checklist should cover all the GFSI requirements that apply to your facility. This could include things like cleanliness, how equipment is maintained, and whether proper documentation is kept.
Conduct the Audit: During the audit, go through the different areas of your facility and watch how employees are following the procedures. Check your records to make sure all monitoring and corrective actions are documented correctly. If you spot any issues, write them down so you can address them later. This part of the process is about being thorough and honest about what's working and what isn't.
Review Findings: After the audit, sit down with your team to discuss what you found. Talk about any problems and come up with solutions together. This is also a great time to provide extra training if needed or make changes to your food safety plan. By involving your team in this process, you make sure everyone understands what needs to be done to improve.
Take Corrective Actions: If your audit shows any problems, take action right away to fix them. This could mean repairing equipment, updating procedures, or retraining staff. It's important to document these corrective actions to show that you've addressed the issues before your official certification audit. Acting quickly helps prevent small problems from becoming bigger ones.
Keep Detailed Records: Make sure to keep detailed records of all your internal audits, including the checklists, findings, and any corrective actions taken. These records are not just for your own use; they're also important for proving to the certification body that you're committed to continuous improvement. Good records are a key part of being ready for the final audit.
Resources to Help You
For more information on conducting effective internal audits, you can explore resources from AIB International which offers comprehensive training and consulting services to help you prepare for audits.
Additionally, Safe Food Alliance provides useful tools and templates for internal audits that can make the process smoother. Another helpful resource is SFPM Consulting, which offers insights into how internal audits can strengthen your food safety management system
6. Schedule the Certification Audit
When you are ready with your internal audits and fixed any lingering issues, the next big step is scheduling your official GFSI certification audit. This is the make-it-or-break it moment: you get to know if your food safety system meets all the required standards.
Getting through this audit successfully is what earns you the GFSI certification.
Why Is the Certification Audit Important?
The certification audit is like the final exam for your food safety management system (FSMS). It’s the moment when an accredited auditor, who is trained and recognized by GFSI, comes to your facility to review everything. The auditor will check your processes, records, and overall operations to ensure they meet the high standards set by GFSI. If everything is in order, your business will earn the GFSI certification, which is recognized globally as a mark of food safety excellence.
Steps to Prepare for and Schedule the Certification Audit
Choose an Accredited Certification Body: The first step is picking an accredited certification body (CB) that’s recognized by GFSI. This organization will conduct the audit and, if you pass, they’ll issue your certification. It’s important to choose a CB that has experience with the specific GFSI scheme you’re aiming for, like BRCGS, SQF, or FSSC 22000. You can find a list of accredited CBs on the GFSI website or through the websites of the specific schemes, such as BRCGS or SQF.
Contact the Certification Body: After choosing a certification body, get in touch with them to discuss the details. They’ll guide you through the process, explaining what you need to do and when. They’ll also help you understand what documentation you’ll need and what the audit will involve. Make sure to ask about the auditor’s experience to ensure they understand your industry well.
Gather and Organize Documentation: Before the audit, make sure all your documents are ready and organized. This includes records from your internal audits, corrective actions, monitoring logs, and any training records. It’s important that all documentation is up to date and easy to access, as the auditor will need to review these records during the audit.
Schedule the Audit: Work with the certification body to set a date for the audit. Choose a time when your facility is running normally, so the auditor can see your processes in action. Also, make sure that key staff members are available during the audit to answer questions and provide information.
Consider a Pre-Audit (Optional): Some companies choose to do a pre-audit, which is like a practice run for the certification audit. This can be done by your internal team or by hiring an external consultant. A pre-audit can help identify any last-minute issues that need fixing before the real audit.
Prepare Your Team: Make sure everyone in your company knows about the upcoming audit and understands what they need to do. This includes being ready to answer the auditor’s questions, show how they follow the food safety procedures, and provide any required documentation. Good communication ensures that the audit goes smoothly and that everyone is prepared.
Resources to Help You
For more detailed information on preparing for your certification audit, AIB International offers comprehensive guidance and consulting services to help you get ready.
Safe Food Alliance is another great resource, providing tools and advice on what to expect during a certification audit. Additionally, GoHACCP offers support throughout the auditing process, helping you ensure that everything is in place for your certification.
7. Fix Any Issues
If the auditor finds any problems, you'll need to correct them and prove that these issues have been resolved. That's because the auditor might find some areas where your food safety management system (FSMS) doesn’t fully meet the GFSI standards.
These areas are called non-conformities. Fixing these non-conformities is a key step to ensuring your company can achieve and maintain GFSI certification.
Why Is Addressing Non-Conformities Important?
Fixing non-conformities is important because it shows that your company is committed to food safety. When you correct these issues, you’re not just solving a problem for now—you’re also making sure it doesn’t happen again in the future.
This process helps you improve your food safety practices, making your system stronger and more reliable. If you don’t address non-conformities, you risk failing the certification audit or losing your certification later on.
Steps to Address Non-Conformities
Understand the Non-Conformity: First, it’s important to fully understand what the non-conformity is. The auditor will explain where your system didn’t meet the standards. If something isn’t clear, don’t hesitate to ask questions. Knowing exactly what the issue is will help you address it correctly. For example, if the non-conformity is related to improper temperature control, ask for details about what was wrong and why it matters.
Find the Root Cause: After you understand the issue, you need to figure out why it happened. This process is called root cause analysis. It’s not enough to just fix the surface problem; you need to dig deeper to find out what caused it. For instance, if a piece of equipment wasn’t cleaned properly, was it because employees weren’t trained well, or was the cleaning schedule unclear? Finding the root cause helps ensure the problem won’t happen again.
Create a Corrective Action Plan: Once you know the root cause, develop a plan to fix the issue. This plan should include the steps you’ll take to correct the problem and prevent it from happening in the future. For example, if the issue was poor cleaning practices, your plan might involve updating the cleaning schedule, retraining employees, and adding regular checks to ensure the cleaning is done properly.
Implement the Corrective Action: After creating the plan, it’s time to put it into action. Make sure that everyone involved understands what needs to be done and why. For example, if the corrective action involves changing how equipment is cleaned, ensure that all employees know the new procedures and understand their importance. Implementing the corrective action quickly and effectively is key to preventing further issues.
Verify the Fix: Once the corrective action has been implemented, you need to verify that it’s working. This means checking to see if the problem has been fully resolved and that the same issue hasn’t reoccurred. You might do this by conducting follow-up audits or by regularly monitoring the area where the issue was found. You have to do the verification because it confirms that your corrective actions were successful.
Document Everything: Throughout the process, it’s important to keep detailed records. Document the non-conformity, the root cause analysis, the corrective action plan, and how you verified the fix. These records are important because they show that you’ve taken the necessary steps to address the issue and improve your food safety system. Proper documentation also helps during future audits, as it demonstrates your commitment to continuous improvement.
Resources to Help You:
List of top 6 sanitation non-conformities from the Food Safety Alliance
How to avoid food hygiene non-conformities from Klipspringer
8. Keep Up With Compliance
The final step on your GFSI certification path is maintaining your compliance. This means continuing to follow the standards you’ve worked hard to achieve. Keeping up with these standards isn’t just a one-time task; it’s something that needs to be done regularly to ensure your food safety management system (FSMS) remains strong and effective.
Why Maintaining Compliance Matters
Maintaining compliance with GFSI standards is important because it shows that your company is consistently committed to food safety. It’s not just about passing the audit; it’s about making sure your food safety practices are solid day in and day out. This ongoing effort helps build trust with customers, meet regulatory requirements, and avoid issues like product recalls or losing your certification.
Steps to Maintain Compliance
Conduct Regular Internal Audits: One of the best ways to stay on top of compliance is by performing regular internal audits. These audits help you identify any potential problems before they become serious. By checking your processes regularly, you can ensure that your FSMS continues to meet GFSI standards. Regular audits also prepare you for any future inspections from external auditors. A resource like AIB International offers detailed guidance on how to conduct effective internal audits.
Ongoing Training for Employees: Training is an ongoing process. It’s important to keep your employees up to date on the latest food safety practices and any changes to your FSMS. Regular training sessions help ensure that everyone knows how to do their job in a way that supports food safety. This includes new employees as well as ongoing refresher courses for existing staff. Training resources and materials can be found through organizations like Safe Food Alliance and AIB International.
Continuous Monitoring: Keep a close watch on your critical control points (CCPs) and other key parts of your food safety plan. Continuous monitoring is important to make sure everything is running smoothly and that no hazards are slipping through the cracks. Regular checks help you catch any issues early and keep your processes in line with GFSI standards.
Update Your FSMS Regularly: Your food safety management system should be a living document, meaning it should be updated whenever there are changes in regulations, best practices, or your operations. This could involve revising procedures, adding new controls, or improving documentation. Staying current with these updates ensures that your FSMS is always compliant and effective. GoHACCP provides resources for updating and maintaining your FSMS as part of ongoing compliance.
Keep Detailed Records: Proper record-keeping is a top priority. You need to document all your activities related to food safety, including audits, training sessions, corrective actions, and monitoring results. These records are not just for your own reference; they are for future audits and inspections. Good documentation shows that you are consistently following your food safety plan and making improvements as needed.
Prepare for Surveillance Audits: After you receive your GFSI certification, you’ll have to go through regular surveillance audits to maintain it. These audits usually happen annually and are meant to ensure that your FSMS is still meeting the required standards. Being prepared for these audits means keeping your records up to date, your employees trained, and your processes continuously monitored. By staying ready, you can pass these audits smoothly and keep your certification.
Why use Inspectle alongside GFSI
Maintaining GFSI certification is an ongoing process that requires diligence and the right tools. Inspectle Food Safety Inspection software simplifies the management of visual inspections, making it easier to stay compliant with GFSI standards. By streamlining inspections, providing real-time insights, and keeping your records organized, Inspectle helps you maintain the high standards that GFSI certification demands.
If you’re looking for a way to make your visual inspections more effective and your audits smoother, give Inspectle a try. It’s a practical tool that can help you keep your food safety system strong and your business audit-ready at all times.
Set up a free trial to see how it can work for you in your facilities.
About the Author: Robert Jakobson
Robert Jakobson has worked in the manufacturing industry since 2010. With over a decade of experience in B2B marketing, he specializes in helping companies improve their operations with software and hardware solutions. His deep knowledge of the industry and passion for technology make him a trusted expert. Robert’s experience ranges from product development to marketing, giving him valuable insights into how businesses can use tools like the Inspectle Food Safety Inspection software to stay compliant and improve their processes.