Four benefits of gaining GFSI certification

Donna Foulis Date published: Feb 14, 24

GFSI is a widely recognized form of food safety certification. While it’s not strictly essential, it’s an important standard to benchmark food safety standards globally and it’s a requirement for some large retailers and manufacturers. Read on to find out exactly what GFSI is, what it covers, how to get certified and what the benefits are for companies working within the food supply chain.

What is GFSI?

GFSI stands for Global Food Safety Initiative. It’s a coalition made up of 44 retailers and food manufacturers to ensure the safe provision of food across the globe, working to strengthen food safety at every stage of the supply chain. GFSI is the most widely recognized form of benchmarking across the global food industry and provides a seal of approval to markets and customers that food has been produced and handled to a high standard.

GFSI doesn’t technically provide certification. Instead, they give recognition to certification programs relating to food safety that meet their criteria, known as ‘GFSI benchmarking requirements.’ Meeting these requirements provides a globally recognized symbol of trust to show marketplaces that these organizations are responsible in their food safety efforts.

As a coalition, they are aligned with The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) which is their parent organization.

What are GFSI standards?

There are various programs, known as ‘certification program owners’ (CPOs) that have been approved by GFSI. This means that these collective programs, and any organization certified by them, have the GFSI stamp of approval. BRCGS, Global Red Meat Standard and Global Seafood Alliance are a few examples. A full list can be found on the GFSI website, alongside the list of CPOs that are currently going through the approval process.

How to get certified with GFSI

If you want to be GFSI certified, you’ll need to go through one of the GFSI recognized certification programs (CPOs). There’s a specific module that GFSI provide which is their ‘recognized CPO module’ where you can select an industry and find programs that are relevant to you. This will involve undertaking a third-party audit which checks against the relevant CPO requirements. Familiarizing yourself with the requirements of your chosen program and ensuring that your food safety management processes meet those is essential.

What are the benefits of GFSI certification?

There are several key benefits to having GFSI certification. This includes establishing a higher level of trust, gaining access to wider markets, finding opportunities to work more efficiently and improving food safety.

Establish trust

With GFSI being recognized globally as promoting the highest standards of food safety, having this linked to your business is a valuable way to establish trust within the marketplace and wider customer base. With trust becoming more important than ever, having the credentials to back up your produce offering goes a long way to improving your brand recognition and reputation, which in turn will have a positive impact on the business overall.

Better access to markets

One of the mottos that GFSI operate with is “once certified, recognized everywhere.” The idea behind this is to make it easier for food manufacturers to operate in different markets. Having the GFSI certification reduces the need for additional audits to quality check the food safety management process, meaning less barriers and hoops to jump through. This is better for business as it allows you to reach a wider consumer base, quicker.

While GFSI isn’t essential from a regulatory point of view, some major retailers or manufacturers look for certification as a requirement. Essentially, it helps establish credibility with everyone in your supply chain.

Improve efficiency

Aligning with the requirements of your chosen CPO to prepare for the third-party audit is an opportunity to review the way you manage food safety. A solution that combines your various processes into one place makes it quicker and easier to access and provide all the necessary information to an external auditor.

This doesn’t just help in the short term though. Having a robust, centralized system increases your visibility of all the necessary workflows and data associated with your day-to-day processes. It allows you to spot potential risks sooner and take action there and then.

Improve food safety

A key priority for any food manufacturer or retailer, maintaining high standards for food safety at every stage of the process is essential. Going through the certification process is a chance to find out if there’s any improvements you could make, getting on top of any risk factors before they become an issue.

Statistics from the World Health Organization state that roughly 600 million people fall ill from food poisoning every year. The provision of safe food is the responsibility of every organization producing and handling food. Aside from the risk it poses to public health, an outbreak of food poisoning can cause long-lasting reputational damage to a business.

Take the next step in preparing your food safety management system

The first step to take towards becoming GFSI certified is to make sure you’ve got a good food safety management system in place. This is more important than ever with the increasing demands from today’s world such as increasing costs, supply chain issues, the impact of climate change and higher expectations from consumers.

Ideagen’s quality solutions help food and beverage organizations to meet the expectations of regulators and customers, making it easier to keep on top of the necessary tasks and tackle the various challenges facing the industry.

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Find out more about how you can meet and maintain the GFSI food safety standards with Ideagen’s quality solutions.

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