GFSI
The GFSI and BRC Global Standards
GFSI stands for the Global Food Safety Initiative which was a project launched by the business forum CIES in 2000 to harmonise international food safety Standards and reduce the need for multiple supplier audits. The CIES members include the worlds leading retailer organisations and food manufacturers.
Rather than create another Standard the GFSI Technical Committee identified the key components necessary for good food safety Standards and the operating protocols for the delivery of certification and created a benchmarking document. Standard owners such as the BRC were invited to submit their Standards for benchmarking.
The BRC was the first Standard to be recognised as meeting the benchmark and is now one of only 4 Standards which are recognised as meeting the GFSI requirements.
The 4 recognised GFSI Standards are:
- BRC Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 5
- International Food Standard issue 5
- Dutch HACCP Standard
- SQF 2000 Level 2
Benchmarking to GFSI ensures the core of these Standards are equivalent and has allowed many of the worlds biggest retail groups e.g. Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Tesco and Metro to accept audits against any of these Standards.
It is important to recognise that the bench marking process was not designed to create a single super Standard but to allow innovation and competitive development between Standard owners whilst meeting a core set of requirements. The BRC’s ability to react to changing food safety concerns, meet customer requirements and yet provide a simple easy to follow process for manufacturers has led to the Standard becoming the most used GFSI equivalent Standard with over 10,500 certificated sites worldwide.
