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FSSC 22000
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FSSC 22000 v6 / v7 · Food Safety System Certification

FSSC 22000 Certification the GFSI scheme buyers name

Your customer asked for GFSI-recognised certification and ISO 22000 alone did not satisfy them. FSSC 22000 is the scheme that does: ISO 22000 hazard control, sector prerequisite programmes and a set of additional requirements covering food fraud, food defence, allergens and food safety culture. Retailers and brand owners specify it by name.

You need FSSC 22000 if…

  • !A retailer or brand owner has told you ISO 22000 is not enough and named a GFSI scheme.
  • !Your buyer’s vendor questionnaire asks for the FSSC certificate number and scope category before opening a purchase order.
  • !You have moved from bulk supply into packed retail product carrying a customer’s brand on the label.
  • !A recall or authenticity complaint has put your raw material sourcing and supplier approval under customer scrutiny.
  • !You hold ISO 22000 already and want the sector prerequisites and additional requirements added on top.
  • !An unannounced customer audit found gaps in food defence, allergen segregation or environmental monitoring.
What it is

A food safety certification scheme recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative. It combines the ISO 22000 management system, sector-specific prerequisite programmes for your category, and FSSC’s own additional requirements on matters such as fraud, defence and allergens.

Who issues it

Certification is issued by a certification body licensed by the Foundation FSSC and accredited to ISO/IEC 17021-1 and ISO/TS 22003-1. SIS audits and certifies; it does not consult.

Validity

Three-year certificate with an annual surveillance audit, and at least one unannounced audit in every three-year cycle.

Who gets asked for it

Food and feed manufacturers, packers, storage and transport operators, packaging producers, and central kitchens making packed product for retail sale.

4of 25 industries

Where this certification is demanded

FSSC 22000 is applicable across 4 of the 25 industries SIS covers. The pages below set out the specific reason it comes up in each one.

Food and Food ProductsHospitality IndustryHotel, Restaurant and Leisure ServiceImport and Export Industry

What FSSC 22000 Actually Requires

The backbone an implementer has to build, in the order it usually gets built.

1
Scope and category

Define sites, products and processes, and pick the correct FSSC scope category, because the category decides which prerequisite programme standard applies to you.

2
Prerequisite programmes

Construction, layout, utilities, cleaning, pest control, personnel hygiene and waste handled to the sector prerequisite standard for your category, not to general good practice.

3
Hazard analysis and plan

Flow diagrams verified on the floor, hazards analysed at each step, control measures categorised as critical control points or operational prerequisites, with validated limits.

4
Fraud and defence

Documented vulnerability assessment for adulteration and substitution, a threat assessment for deliberate contamination, and mitigation plans covering sourcing, site access and material verification.

5
Additional requirements

Allergen management, environmental monitoring, food safety culture objectives, equipment purchasing specifications and product quality control, each evidenced rather than described in a manual.

6
Verification and recall

Internal audit, management review, traceability exercises and mock recalls run to time, with corrective action closed out and effectiveness checked.

How FSSC 22000 Certification Works

No black box. A defined, time-bound route from first call to certificate in hand.

Application & Proposal

We confirm your scope category, the sites, seasonal production windows and the prerequisite standard that applies, then set audit duration from the FSSC time rules.

1–2 days

Gap Review & Readiness

A plant swabs the same environmental monitoring points every month for two years and never moves them after a positive result. The HACCP plan is rarely the problem here.

1–2 weeks

Stage 1 + Stage 2 Audit

Stage 1 tests scheme readiness and documentation. Stage 2 is on the floor during production: prerequisite conditions, control point records, traceability challenge and interviews with line staff.

Scheduled around production

Certificate Issued

Your certificate and scope category go onto the FSSC public register, where a retailer’s technical team will look them up. Surveillance is annual, and one audit in the cycle arrives unannounced.

Valid 3 years
Most plants already holding ISO 22000 reach certification in 6–10 weeks - name your retailer’s deadline at application and it goes into the scheduling rather than into a later conversation - while a site starting from documented good practice should plan three to four months.

Industries That Need FSSC 22000

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Food and Food Products
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Why it applies hereFSSC 22000 is the GFSI-recognised scheme built on ISO 22000 plus sector prerequisites and additional requirements such as food fraud and food defence. Global retailers and multinational brand owners specify GFSI recognition by name, so exporters and contract manufacturers supplying those brands generally need FSSC rather than ISO 22000 alone.Typical trigger: Global retail and brand owner supply
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Hospitality Industry
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Why it applies hereProperties running central production kitchens, bakeries or packed food for retail sale move beyond service catering into manufacturing. FSSC 22000 is the GFSI-recognised scheme those operations need, covering food fraud and food defence alongside hazard control, and is expected where hotel-branded products reach retail shelves.Typical trigger: Central kitchens; branded retail products
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Hotel, Restaurant and Leisure Service
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Why it applies hereOperators running central production kitchens, bakeries or packing food for retail sale cross into manufacturing. FSSC 22000 is the GFSI-recognised scheme those operations require, adding food fraud and food defence controls, and is expected where branded products reach retail shelves.Typical trigger: Central kitchens; retail-branded products
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Import and Export Industry
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Why it applies hereExporters supplying global retailers and brand owners are usually required to hold GFSI-recognised certification. FSSC 22000 adds food fraud and food defence controls to ISO 22000, addressing exactly the risks buyers associate with intermediated supply chains and multi-origin sourcing.Typical trigger: Global retail and brand supply

Commonly taken alongside

ISO 22000Food Safety Management SystemHACCPHazard Analysis & Critical Control PointsISO 9001Quality Management SystemISO 45001Occupational Health & Safety
FSSC already contains ISO 22000, so most sites add ISO 9001 for commercial quality and ISO 45001 for the safety obligations auditors see anyway, and running them as one integrated audit saves several days on site each year.

Not Sure Which Certification You Need?

Three questions. The selector reads the same industry-to-standard mapping this whole site is built on, then shortlists what applies to you.

Question 1 of 3

Which sector best describes your organisation?

Schedule the audit while the season is running

Wednesday, mid-season, the line running: that is when an audit learns most about a plant. Say when your season peaks and we will plan the visit into it.

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What FSSC 22000 Changes for Your Business

Certification is not a certificate on the wall. It is a working system that pays for itself.

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Retail listings stay open

Global retailers and brand owners screen suppliers for GFSI recognition. Holding FSSC keeps you on the approved list instead of explaining why ISO 22000 should count.

🔍

The buyer stops sending auditors

Buyers often accept the FSSC report in place of their own second-party audit, which removes days of disruption and preparation from your production calendar each year.

🧪

Fraud exposure reduced

Vulnerability assessment and supplier verification catch substitution and dilution risks in raw materials before a customer laboratory finds them in your finished product.

📦

Recalls contained faster

Tested traceability and mock recall drills mean a withdrawal reaches one batch and one distribution lane, not a full product range and a national headline.

🌍

Export paperwork simplified

Importers and their customers recognise the scheme, so shipments clear commercial due diligence without a separate questionnaire for every market you enter.

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Behaviour on the line

Food safety culture requirements push responsibility down to shift supervisors and operators. Hygiene and allergen failures are prevented or caused on the line, not in the manual.

Knowledge Base - Downloads

Practical documents prepared by our auditors. Fill the short form once and every download on the page unlocks.

CHECKLIST

FSSC 22000 readiness checklist

Clause-by-clause self-check covering prerequisite programmes, the additional requirements and the records an auditor asks to see on the first morning.

TEMPLATE

Food fraud vulnerability assessment template

A scored assessment format for raw materials, covering supply history, economic incentive, testing difficulty and the mitigation actually applied.

PDF GUIDE

Choosing your FSSC scope category

How categories map to real operations, why the wrong one invalidates the certificate, and what changes when a site handles several.

WHITEPAPER

Food safety culture beyond posters

What auditors accept as evidence of culture: objectives, measured behaviour, shift-level ownership and what management review does with the result.

🔒 Documents are locked. Fill the form once to unlock every download.

Frequently Asked Questions

Straight answers to what buyers ask before they commit to FSSC 22000.

Is FSSC 22000 the same as ISO 22000?
No. FSSC 22000 contains ISO 22000, then adds two things ISO 22000 leaves open: a sector-specific prerequisite programme standard for your category, and the FSSC additional requirements covering food fraud, food defence, allergen management, environmental monitoring and food safety culture. GFSI recognises FSSC. It does not recognise ISO 22000 on its own, which is why buyers ask for the scheme by name.
What does an unannounced audit involve?
At least one audit in each three-year cycle arrives without a scheduled date. You are told a window, not a day. The audit starts on the production floor rather than in the meeting room, and the auditor sees the site as it normally runs: cleaning between changeovers, actual segregation, records written at the time. Refusing entry ends the certificate.
Can one certificate cover several sites?
No. FSSC is a site-based scheme, so each manufacturing location is audited and certified separately, with its own scope category and audit duration. The multi-site sampling allowed under some management system standards does not apply to production sites. Group functions such as central procurement and specification control are examined during the site audits that depend on them.
How long does certification take?
For a plant already running ISO 22000, six to ten weeks is realistic once the vulnerability and threat assessments and environmental monitoring data exist. Starting from documented good practice, plan three to four months, mostly to build the evidence trail rather than to write procedures. The audit itself is scheduled while representative products are actually being produced.
What happens if the audit finds a major nonconformity?
It does not end the process. Majors must be closed with objective evidence within the period the scheme sets, and depending on severity the auditor may need to return to the site to verify the correction before the decision is made. Certification then proceeds. What does stop a process is a critical finding with affected product already in the market.
Should we certify against version 6 or version 7?
Version 7 published in May 2026 with a twelve-month transition, so version 6 audits are still being accepted while that window runs. A first certification started now is normally scoped against version 7, because certifying to version 6 means paying for the upgrade audit twice inside two years. If you already hold a certificate, the decision turns on your expiry date. Send it and we will tell you which is cheaper.

Get certified against FSSC 22000

Only certification bodies licensed by the Foundation FSSC can issue this certificate. Check that before you compare quotes, because an audit from anyone else buys you nothing.

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