GLOBAL SAFETY | June/July 2010

Food Safety through a Global Lens

By Catherine François

Global food trade is expanding, providing consumers with access to a wider year-round
variety of foods at lower prices. Expanding trade has brought into sharper focus the
divergence among countries’ food safety regulations and standards. These variations
may reflect differences among their populations’ tastes and preferences, ability to
produce safe food and willingness to pay for risk-reducing technology. Private food
safety initiatives, such as voluntary quality assurance standards, are also contributing to
the resolution of differences across borders.

Origins of the Global Food Safety Initiative

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a collaboration among some of the world’s
leading food safety experts from retail, manufacturing and foodservice companies, as
well as service providers associated with the food supply chain. It is coordinated by The
Consumer Goods Forum (formerly CIES – The Food Business Forum), the only
independent global network for consumer goods retailers and manufacturers
worldwide.

In May 2000, following a number of food safety incidents, a group of international retail
executives recognized the need to enhance food safety, ensure consumer protection and
strengthen consumer confidence. These same executives launched the GFSI, a nonprofit
foundation created under Belgian law. The GFSI sets requirements for food safety
schemes through a benchmarking process to improve cost efficiency throughout the
food supply chain, develop mechanisms to exchange information, raise consumer
awareness and review good food safety practices. As food safety is paramount, the main
goal of the GFSI is to ensure that the global supply chain is safe for consumers.

Mission and Objectives

Those involved in the GFSI share a basic aim: “Safe Food for Consumers Everywhere.”
The GFSI mission is simple but impactful for all stakeholders interested in ensuring the
production of safe food. The mission is “continuous improvement in food safety
management systems to ensure confidence in the delivery of safe food to consumers.”

The GFSI objectives are as follows:

• promoting convergence between food safety standards through maintaining

a benchmarking process for food safety management schemes;

• improving cost efficiency throughout the food supply chain through the common
acceptance of GFSI-recognized standards by retailers around the world; and

• providing a unique international stakeholder platform for networking, knowledge

exchange and sharing of best food safety practices and information.

Benchmarking
Within the GFSI, benchmarking provides a mechanism for the convergence and
recognition of food safety requirements within food safety schemes and their supporting
standards, and is a procedure by which a food safety-related scheme is compared to the
GFSI Guidance Document. The process is carried out in an independent, unbiased,
technically proficient and transparent manner.

Benchmarking a scheme successfully means that all recognized schemes have a common
foundation of requirements that should provide consistent results, in regard to the
common requirements applied during an audit. However, the benchmarked schemes
cannot be considered fully equivalent, as schemes differ in relation to their level of
prescription and specific needs.

Origins of GFSI-recognized Schemes

All the schemes recognized by the GFSI have been derived, over many years, from
standards developed by individual organizations, such as retailers, industry sectors or
certification organizations. The GFSI-recognized schemes originated from standards
dating back to the early 1980s, with the major influence being the requirements
specified by retailers for their own brand suppliers.

The Benchmarking Process

The GFSI Guidance Document is currently being revised, and during this revision the
benchmarking process currently outlined in version 5 will undergo some major changes.
An entire section of the new modular Guidance Document will be dedicated to
benchmarking.

Standards Benchmarked against the GFSI Guidance Document, 5th Edition:

Manufacturing schemes:

• British Retail Consortium (BRC) Global Standard, version 5

• Dutch Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) Option B
• Foundation for Food Safety Certification (FSSC) 22000
• Global Red Meat Standard
• International Food Standard (IFS), version 5
• Safe Quality Food (SQF) 2000, level 2
• Synergy 22000

Primary production schemes:

• GlobalGAP (Aquaculture and Livestock IFA V3.0) GlobalGAP IFA V.03 (Fruit and
Vegetable, Livestock and Aquaculture scopes)
• SQF 1000, level 2

Primary production and manufacturing scheme:

• PrimusGFS

Although the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 22000 standard is

also meant to be globally applicable, the GFSI does not formally recognize ISO 22000
on its own. The GFSI does not intend to be restrictive in its activities, but by the very
nature of the benchmarking process, any submitted standard must meet the
requirements defined in the GFSI Guidance Document. Differences exist in three main
areas:

• The lack of defined prerequisite programs in ISO 22000

• The accreditation requirement for ISO 22000 differs from that specified in the GFSI
Guidance Document
• Ownership and accountability issues

In September 2007, the GFSI Technical Committee published a document titled, “What
Is ISO 22000?” which paved the way for further work by a number of organizations
interested in gaining recognition by the GFSI. The document is freely available
on www.mygfsi.com.

In early 2010, the GFSI formally recognized the FSSC 22000 scheme, based on ISO
22000 and the British Standards Institute’s PAS 220 specification document, as well as
the Synergy 22000 scheme, which is based on ISO 22000 and ISO/TS 22002-1. Both
the FSSC and Synergy schemes also integrate auditing protocols that are not covered by
either ISO or PAS requirements.

Relationship with Codex

By their very nature, the GFSI-recognized standards are written in differing styles, but
all amplify or describe in more detail the requirements laid down in the Codex
Alimentarius Commission’s General Principles of Food Hygiene Code of Practice. The
GFSI-recognized standards are revised and implemented more regularly than the Codex
standards and thus have attempted to address issues that are currently faced by the food
industry; good examples of this are incident management, food security and allergen
management. In addition, within all GFSI-recognized standards there are requirements
above and beyond those in the Codex standards, which are seen by the food industry as
being important to food safety or highly desirable to ensure continuing compliance with
requirements. Good examples of such requirements are related to product
specifications, product analysis, purchasing procedures, internal audits and full
product/ingredient traceability.

All the GFSI-recognized standards reflect the need for compliance with legal
requirements and all are based on HACCP principles, food safety management
standards and Good Manufacturing Practices. It must be appreciated, however, that
these standards were all based on best practices and therefore, by inference, can be
traced back to the base requirements of Codex standards, but are not particularly
referenced as such.
As the GFSI standards were developed, a relatively small number of requirements were
incorporated that did not originate from the Codex standards. However, such
requirements emphasize business needs between supplier and customer; good examples
of these are stock control, complaint handling and internal audits. A detailed document
has been developed by the GFSI to cross-reference Codex standards to the GFSI
Guidance Document and each of the recognized standards. This document also takes
into account not only food safety requirements but also supporting management
mechanisms. This document is freely available on www.mygfsi.com under “Information
Resources” and “GFSI Recognized Schemes.”

What About a Single Scheme?

Trying to create a single, harmonized scheme was the subject of great debate in the early
years of the GFSI. It was decided that the preferred option was the benchmarking of
existing or new schemes. It was felt that if there had been a move to develop one global
standard, complex issues such as legislative, political and cultural differences would
have been extremely difficult to overcome, and the time frame to actually develop such a
scheme would have been seen as excessive by those who were using the existing
standards.

Common Acceptance of Standards

Under the umbrella of the GFSI, eight major retailers came to a common acceptance of
four GFSI-benchmarked food safety schemes in June 2007. Each scheme has now
aligned itself with common criteria defined by food safety experts, with the objective of
making food production and manufacture as safe as possible. As a result, this will also
drive cost efficiency in the supply chain and reduce the duplication of audits. The GFSI
vision of “once certified, accepted everywhere” has become a reality. In addition to the
original retailers (i.e., Carrefour, Tesco, ICA, Metro, Migros, Ahold, WalMart and
Delhaize) who agreed to reduce duplication in the supply chain through the common
acceptance of any of the four GFSI-benchmarked schemes, many other foodservice,
retail and manufacturing companies have begun using this approach.

While the GFSI encourages businesses within the retail, foodservice and manufacturing
sectors to choose GFSI-recognized schemes, these businesses can make individual
choices about whether or not to implement the GFSI. Although choosing a GFSI-
recognized scheme may initially require a large investment for a business, the number of
audits is expected to decline significantly after implementation. Additionally, an outside
customer may require specific audits, but under the GFSI framework, only one scheme
is required.

Auditor Competence
Auditor competence is a key factor relating to the integrity of any scheme; it has long
been recognized by scheme owners as a matter that must be managed and controlled to
ensure consistency and fairness. At each of the stakeholder meetings held by the GFSI at
previous conferences, auditor competence has been the subject of much debate. Each
GFSI-recognized scheme validates and monitors each auditing company and the
individuals who work for those companies. In addition, GFSI requirements state that
the auditing companies have to follow internationally recognized accreditation rules.
These are validated and monitored on a regular basis by other accreditation bodies to
ensure that the auditing companies abide by these rules. This provides a system of
checks and balances that helps to ensure the integrity of each audit, and that all audits
are carried out in a uniform and consistent manner.

There are a number of areas related to auditor competence in which the GFSI continues
to work:

• As a member of the International Accreditation Forum, the GFSI will be actively

engaged to ensure the food industry’s requirements are made known to the
Accreditation Bodies, and will work cooperatively to develop a harmonized approach to
accreditation processes.

• The GFSI will provide technical support from its Technical Working Group members
to ISO committees that develop standards relating to accreditation and
certification.

The GFSI recognizes the importance of the accreditation process in relation to scheme
ownership and feels that it is essential to gain cooperation with organizations that can
influence accreditation processes on a global or regional basis.

Networking, Knowledge Exchange and Information Sharing

The GFSI Board members are drawn from major retailers, manufacturers and
foodservice operators, and provide the strategic direction and oversight of the GFSI’s
daily management. A new governance structure was implemented in October 2008,
ensuring that the key partners in the supply chain are equally represented in the
decision-making process of the Board. The Board steers initiatives with the support of
the Advisory Council and input from the Stakeholder Group. The GFSI secretariat
ensures the delivery of the objectives set by the Board, integrating the expectations of all
stakeholders.

The GFSI Board’s functions are as follows:

• Oversees and steers the GFSI’s strategy and implementation, with guidance from the
Advisory Council;

• Defines the objectives of the tasks allocated to each Technical Working Group and
ensures progress is being made against agreed timelines and deliverables;

• Assigns one or two Board Member Liaisons to each Technical Working Group to
support and monitor their work and progress;

• Ensures that the GFSI is adequately resourced and oversees the allocation of these
resources.

Consumer Associations
The GFSI was initially formed to address retailer requirements. It was felt that there
were sufficient detailed knowledge and awareness of consumer needs within the GFSI
and the activities were closely related to matters of a highly technical nature. However,
as the GFSI moves forward, involvement with consumer associations will become
essential and extremely valuable, and representation of these associations will be better
integrated into the governance structure of the GFSI.

Current Achievements
Since the GFSI was established, there has been less duplication of audits and continuous
improvement in the content of the standards. Healthy competition has been enhanced
between existing schemes, driving continuous improvement in the delivery of the
standards. The food supply chain has seen increases in cost efficiency and comparable
audit approaches. The most important results, however, have been greater confidence in
sourcing for end-users and safer food for consumers.

On the Horizon
The GFSI strives to obtain wider acceptance and implementation of GFSI-recognized
schemes. Another goal is to develop a tool kit that defines food safety competencies for
small and/or less-developed businesses and provides a checklist for company self-
assessment. The GFSI is also conferring with international regulatory experts in its
Global Regulatory Affairs Working Group to better understand the international legal
framework in which companies are operating to work towards a better alignment and
harmonization of schemes. The major focus this year will be on revising the GFSI
Guidance Document to produce version 6.
The GFSI celebrates its 10-year anniversary this year, and although it has made great
strides in fulfilling its many objectives, there is still much work to be done. The GFSI
Stakeholder Group identified numerous key action items during a meeting in
Washington, DC this past February. This input will be reflected in the strategic plan that
the Board is currently developing for the next five years.

The increasingly diverse tastes of consumers and the realities of the supply chain have
created a global food economy where local ideas and food products are gaining
international currency. Securing a global food supply chain requires a more thoughtful
approach to how food businesses and governments look at ensuring food safety.

Supply-chain collaboration and coordination in the development and implementation of

third-party certification has taken on a new urgency and new focus. Third-party
certification can provide consistency, cost efficiency, less duplication of effort, buying
confidence and safe food for the consumer. More information can be found
onwww.mygfsi.com.
Read the sidebar "Practical Applications of GFSI".

Catherine François is the director of Food Safety Programs at The Consumer Goods Forum
(formerly CIES). She joined The Consumer Goods Forum in 2000 in a coordinating role for the
association's marketing and membership department. After working in both the strategic and
operational management program teams, she was appointed manager in 2003 and spent several
years working with the CEO on the strategic development of The Forum in the context of the
global association landscape. In 2005, she was given the responsibilities for overseeing the
management and international development of the GFSI and the CGF Global Food Safety
Conference. She holds a B.A. (Hons) in Management Studies and French from the University of
Leeds.

Sidebar

Practical Applications of GFSI

Yves Rey, Corporate Quality General Manager, Danone Group, France, responds to questions
about how Danone has applied GFSI.
Has your company implemented the GFSI?
“I strongly support the vision and mission the GFSI stands for, and as Danone
Corporate Quality General Manager, I contribute to the implementation of the GFSI’s
main statement: ‘Once certified, accepted everywhere.’ Concerning Danone’s suppliers,
we have saved about one million Euros per year, because we don’t have to go and audit
our suppliers as they are already certified against one of the GFSI-recognized standards.
Nevertheless, according to a science-based risk assessment, provided it’s necessary due
to the uniqueness of Danone’s products, all we have to ask for is our specific
requirements.

Regarding our production facilities, due to our ISO 22000 background, all of them are
now certified against one of the GFSI-recognized food safety schemes, FSSC 22000,
made up of ISO documents. Now, thanks to the GFSI’s recognition of FSSC 22000, we
don’t have to carry out two certification audits, one against our own certification scheme
and the other one at the request of the retailers. This policy is being implemented as well
by all the big international manufacturers (e.g., Nestlé, Kraft, Unilever and Coca-Cola).”

What have been some challenges? Some successes?

“The first challenge that has been taken up by the GFSI was its evolution from a 100%
retailer-driven organization to a truly international multi-stakeholder one. I was the
first manufacturer that was brought in, in 2006. I successfully broke new ground in food
chain partnerships. Today, the GFSI has succeeded in creating the right mix of supply
chain actors, such as retailers, manufacturers and foodservice companies, as well as
those from various geographic areas, such as the EU, the U.S. and Asia.

The second big challenge was to merge two different food safety backgrounds to create
this common food safety understanding. The manufacturers were very keen on ISO
standards, while the GFSI had, at that time, only recognized as equivalent retailer-
driven standards, such as BRC and IFS. Now, thanks to FSSC 22000, which is made up
of ISO standards, norms and technical specifications, and recognized by the technical
committee as equivalent to the GFSI-recognized standards, we have created this
common food safety platform.

The third challenge will be to convince all the manufacturers that are already certified
only to the ISO 22000 standards (more than 12,000) to extend their audit by half a day
to get their facility certified against FSSC 22000. That will help them work according to
the GFSI Guidance Document, which provides security for both retailers and
manufacturers to convince the non-aligned, non-GFSI retailers to stop asking
manufacturers to be certified against one specific food safety scheme, which creates
useless duplication of costs and effort and causes communication dissonance.”

What have you learned in the process of adapting the GFSI to your business that you can
share with the Food Safety Magazine audience?
“By working together and benchmarking our requirements, we discovered that more
than 95% of food safety requirements were the same, whatever food standard in the
market you may choose. It was only then that we understood that running multiple
audits was really useless and costly. In other words, there’s nothing to stop our progress
toward one unique standard and going for a single audit.

FSSC 22000 is a good start; it shows that a huge part of the food supply chain can get
behind one standard and help bridge the gap between public and private sector
requirements, thanks to its intrinsic ISO make-up.”

What are some tips you would give to a food processor who wants to begin applying the
GFSI?
“I would say to them that food safety hazards at the point of consumption may be
introduced at any point along the food chain. Consequently, it’s obvious that food safety
is the joint responsibility of everyone involved in the food chain, and it requires their
combined efforts.

One weak link can result in unsafe food that is dangerous to health—and when this
happens, the hazards to consumers can be serious and very costly.

These days, the food industry is still subject to an array of standards, while the demands
for safe food, against a background of increasing international trade, are making
international food safety harmonization essential.

If you seek to get started, pick a GFSI-recognized standard; don’t reinvent the wheel.
Enhancing transparency from farm to fork by sharing the same language and best
practices will increase consumer confidence in the food supplied to them for the benefit
of all those along the food supply chain. Food safety is a non-competitive issue.”
Categories: Regulatory: Audits/Certification/GFSI