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GFSI Certification Guide

GFSI is a term frequently referenced in food safety programs. This article will define GFSI, its importance in food manufacturing, and its relationship to various industry-specific certifications.

Key Takeaways

• The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) harmonizes food safety standards across the global food supply chain.
• GFSI has established universal food safety standards and benchmark certification programs to its own standards.
• Major programs like SQF and BRC adhere to the GFSI standards.
• Adherence to GFSI standards ensures safe food production.
• Commercially, adherence to GFSI standards is critical as certification by a GFSI-recognized program is a prerequisite for gaining business with major retailers.

What Is GFSI Certification?

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a non-profit organization founded in 2000 and powered by the Consumer Goods Forum. GFSI’s mission is to ensure safe food for consumers worldwide by harmonizing food safety standards across the global food supply chain. It does this by benchmarking different food safety standards against its own requirements, allowing for mutual recognition of certifications across various schemes. 

Rather than issuing certifications itself, GFSI establishes a set of requirements that food safety certification programs must meet to be “GFSI-recognized.” This helps create consistency in food safety standards worldwide, allowing manufacturers, retailers, and suppliers to work within a common framework.

Why GFSI Certification Is Important for Businesses

Certifications Open the Door to Sales Opportunities

In food manufacturing, adhering to food safety best practices is critical for ensuring food that reaches the market meets the standards of safe consumption. In addition to abiding by these standards, recognition by a third party that these standards are being met is important commercially. Large retailers, foodservice companies, and brand owners require their suppliers to be certified to a GFSI-recognized standard. Being certified ensures that processes meet strict food safety requirements, reducing the risk of contamination, recalls, and brand damage. This, in turn, creates confidence in the food and brand produced by that process. This is why nearly every retailer today requires their suppliers to be certified by a GFSI-recognized program.

Leading GFSI-Recognized Programs

Some well-known food safety programs that are benchmarked against and adhere to GFSI standards are:

• SQF (Safe Quality Food)
• BRCGS (Brand Reputation Compliance Global Standards)
• FSSC 22000
• IFS (International Featured Standards)

GFSI’s influence extends across the global supply chain, helping align safety expectations between ingredient suppliers, processors, and distributors.

The GFSI Certification Process: A Step-by-Step Roadmap

How does a factory get certified in a GFSI-recognized program?

The certification process can be summarized as:

1. Identifying the program requirements
2. Comparing current processes to program requirements
3. Identifying current gaps and creating internal programs to close those gaps
4. Providing evidence that program requirements are consistently being met

The certification process starts with selecting a recognized GFSI program that fits the business’s scope. As a general rule, GFSI-benchmarked programs are accepted interchangeably. However, occasionally a major retailer will dictate required certification. Identify any requirements among existing customers.

Every program has food safety at its core, however the documentation and structure required is unique to each program.  Every program will require evidence of safe practices, documentation of processes in place, periodic internal auditing, and training on these practices. An accredited third-party auditor then performs an on-site audit to verify that the factory’s system meets the chosen requirements. If successful, certification is granted, typically for one year, with ongoing audits to maintain compliance. This cycle promotes continuous improvement and consistent food safety performance.

How Redzone Software Streamlines GFSI Compliance

Achieving and maintaining any new certification requires an understanding of the plant’s current manufacturing processes, knowledge of food safety requirements and best practices, and documentation that processes in place are aligned with program guidelines. What food safety best practices are already in place and being documented affects the amount of work required to close the gaps for certification. Pursuing any certification with a paper-based system puts a tremendous administrative burden on already busy Quality teams. Plants that attempt this with rudimentary digital systems not compliant with 21 CFR part 11 create other problems for themselves and leave themselves open to audit findings and even audit failures.

Redzone’s Compliance module was purpose-built to simplify achieving and maintaining food safety certifications. Digital documentation – with date and time stamps, evidentiary photos, and live pass/fail criteria – means checks are filled out correctly and meaningfully. Custom workflows with automated escalation and alerts ensure issues are identified the moment they arise. All checks in Redzone Compliance are retrieved with just a few taps, eliminating digging through boxes and files, and binders to provide evidence of compliance.

Maintaining food safety systems and documentation is easy with Redzone. Food safety programs require evidence of ongoing compliance with program standards. Surveillance audits are required for recertification review documentation, and factories that are unable to produce documentation may not have their certifications renewed. Redzone Compliance simplifies documentation and ensures factories are audit-ready all the time.

Food businesses can ensure product safety, maintain regulatory compliance, and protect brand reputation – while eliminating administrative burden – using Redzone Compliance.

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Does GFSI certification replace other audit requirements?

Other certifications and audits beyond GFSI programs:

GFSI certification does not replace specific programs. However, once a factory has achieved its certification in one of the major GFSI programs, additional audits, certifications, and compliance programs become much simpler to achieve.

• Niche certifications – gluten-free, non-GMO, Kosher – generally have a small set of unique requirements based on their narrow focus. Basic establishing documents, like a Quality Charter, are often common to all certifications and are part of a GFSI program, so much of the work is already done.
• Good documentation habits (GDP) are in place.
• Customer audits often accept evidence of certification in one of the GFSI-benchmarked programs as fulfilling their own requirements, eliminating the need for on-site audits from customers.