Certifications
Standards & Certifications
What each food safety and quality standard covers, who audits it, and which buyers expect it.
- Scope explained
- Audit bodies
- Documentation
Browse by Type
Food safety, quality, organic and sustainability schemes.
All Standards
-
ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management
Quality management system standard — process approach, risk-based thinking and its role alongside food safety certification.
How to read a standard page
Each standard page answers four questions: what the scheme or regulation covers, who issues and audits it, what a valid certificate actually proves, and what it does not prove. The fourth question is the one that saves money, because most disputes about certification come from assuming a certificate covers more scope than it does.
A certificate is site-specific and scope-specific
It names a manufacturing site, a set of product categories and a set of processes. A certificate held by a group head office does not cover a subsidiary plant. A certificate covering a category adjacent to the one you are buying does not cover your product. Read the scope statement on the certificate itself, check the site address against the address on the delivery documents, and verify the certificate number in the scheme owner’s public directory rather than trusting a PDF that arrived by email.
Versions change and audits change with them
Where a page names a scheme version, treat it as the version current at the last review date shown on the page, and verify against the scheme owner’s own site before writing a version number into a contract. Where we could not confirm the current numbering of a scheme, the page says so instead of guessing, because a wrong version reference in a purchase specification is worse than no version reference.
Certification is a floor, not a guarantee
An audited system means the supplier has documented controls and that a third party sampled them on one set of days, usually announced in advance. It does not replace your own goods-in testing, your own supplier approval file, or a visit to the site. Buyers who treat a certificate as the end of due diligence are the ones who discover the gap during a recall.
Regulation and scheme are different animals
Some records here describe law – hygiene, contaminants, residues, official controls – and some describe voluntary schemes that buyers impose commercially. Compliance with the law is not optional and is not certified; compliance with a scheme is optional in law and mandatory in practice for most retail supply. The pages label which is which, because conflating them leads to specifications that demand the wrong evidence.
Start here
Three entry points that answer most first visits to this section.
Food safety schemes compared
How the GFSI-recognised schemes differ and which one a given customer is likely to name.
The supplier approval pack
The document set to request before a first order, and how to check each item.
What auditors actually check
The parts of an audit that fail most often, and what a certificate does not tell you.
Common questions about this section
Are BRCGS and IFS Food interchangeable?
Commercially they are close substitutes and both are GFSI-recognised, but individual customers specify one by name. Ask which scheme your customer requires before assuming an equivalent certificate will be accepted.
How do I verify a certificate is genuine and current?
Look it up in the scheme owner’s public directory using the certificate number and the site name. Check the scope statement, the site address and the expiry date, not just the logo.
Does organic certification cover food safety?
No. Organic certification covers production method and input use. Food safety management is a separate scheme with a separate audit and a separate certificate.
Is ISO 22000 enough for a retail customer?
Often not on its own. Many retailers require a GFSI-recognised scheme, and ISO 22000 is typically combined with a prerequisite programme specification to reach that recognition.