Manufacturing sector

Dutch HACCP

Dutch HACCP¹⁶¹ is a certification scheme developed in 1996 by the National Board of Experts HACCP (NBE). Since its start, the standard is regularly adapted to new developments. On the initiative of the Central Body of Experts food safety and its affiliated certification bodies in 2004 founded the ‘Stichting Certificatie Voedselveiligheid’ (SCV). Dutch HACCP is the only standard developed by certifying bodies themselves. The Foundation was established to provide a legal entity to the NBE. SCV facilitates the board and is the legal owner of the standard ‘requirements for a HACCP based food safety system’ (Dutch HACCP) and manages the copyright on this standard through user agreements.

The standards has 2 versions: management/system certification (option A) and process/product certification (option B). A distinctive difference between the two versions is how the pre-requisites programme is implemented. There is also a difference in the auditing and reporting method by the certification body. Dutch HACCP option B is approved by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

Dutch HACCP can be applied in the entire food production chain: primary production, processing and manufacturing industry, transport, storage, distribution and trade. The standard does not apply to supplying and service providers, such as suppliers of machinery, packing materials and cleaning companies. At the time of writing approximately 2,000 certificates were issued by the 12 certifying bodies.

BRC Global Standards

In the UK in the 1990s a number of supermarket chains (including Tesco, Sainsbury, Somerfield, and Safeway) united themselves on the area of quality and founded

161 http://www.foodsafetymanagement.info.

Inventory of private food law

the British Retail Consortium (BRC).¹⁶² They developed a standard (the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety) and then made compliance with this standard a requirement for all suppliers (food businesses). The BRC Global Standard requires that a quality system is used, that HACCP is applied and that the establishment, the product, process and personnel are included into this system.

The BRC-scheme (see also section 4.2) consists of an inspection protocol and a technical standard. The inspection protocol was developed for inspecting bodies.

The technical standard, an extensive checklist, is relevant to the suppliers of food.

The technical standard was set up in 1998 and celebrated its 5^th version in 2008.

The BRC code was corrected and approved in 2008 by the GFSI. The 6th version is expected at the of 2011.

With a BRC-certificate a producer complies in principle at once with all the requirements of the British (and also other) international supermarkets. Because this is cost-saving for both the producers and users the BRC certificate is widely appreciated. Most British and many other European large supermarkets and brand owners only do business with suppliers certified for to BRC Global Standard for Food Safety.

IFS

In Germany and France a number of supermarket chains (among others Aldi and Metro) have developed a food safety standard and made it a requirement to their suppliers. This standard was called the International Food Standard (IFS), now International Featured Standards.¹⁶³ In many ways, it is similar to the BRC Standard:

there is an overlap of 90 to 95%. The first version of the IFS standard dates back to 2002 and was developed by the German retailers. The fourth version, launched in 2007, was published together with the French companies. The administration of IFS is held by the German retailers united in ‘Hauptverband des Deutschen Einzelhandels’ (HDE) and the French retailers united in the ‘Fédération des entreprises du Commerce et la Distribution’ (FCD). Just like the BRC standard, IFS requires a quality system to be present, in which HACCP is applied and that requirements on the establishment, product, process and personnel are included in the system.

IFS is applied by food businesses that supply mainly to retailers in Germany and France. The IFS standard can be applied in all sectors; there are no specific requirements for sectors of the chain or for specific product groups. Many retailers accept BRC and IFS as equivalent.

162 http://www.brc.org.uk.

163 http://www.ifs-online.eu.

FSSC 22000, ISO 22000 and PAS 220

With the appearance of many large and small standards to ensure the safety of food over the last decades, the desire to stop the appearance of new standards and to develop a single uniformly accepted standard was expressed by the international food business community. Not less than thirty countries contributed to the development of the ISO 22000 standard.¹⁶⁴ This has resulted in this standard being recognised by the ‘big brand’ holders and enjoys worldwide support and recognition. ISO 22000 therefore is an international, chain oriented standard for food safety published in September 2005 by ‘The International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The extent to which retailers will accept this standard is not yet clear. This is one of the reasons why at the end of 2008 the industry developed an additional module: PAS 220 (Publicly Available Specification). Early February 2009 the new standard FSSC (Food Safety System Certification) 22000 was developed by The Foundation for Food Safety Certification, the standard integrates ISO 22000 and PAS 220. In May 2009 the GFSI accepted this new FSSC 22000.

ISO 22000 follows the structure and approach of ISO 9001 and integrates these with food safety assurance based on the HACCP principles. ISO 22000 does not replace standards like ISO 9001. ISO 22000 includes only requirements on food safety while ISO 9001 also includes quality aspects. Since it is an ISO standard, requirements are less clearly described and defined as with BRC and IFS. The BRC and IFS standards include more requirements on GMP.

The additional PAS 220 specifies requirements on the establishment, implementation and maintenance of preconditions for food safety programs that food business operators have to comply with to keep food safety risks under control. PAS 220 is not designed or intended for use in other parts of the food supply chain.

ISO 22000 is applicable to all organisations that are directly or indirectly part of the food chain, regardless of the size or complexity of the organisation. The standard allows also for smaller and/or less-developed organisations (such as a small farm, a small packaging and distribution company or a small food shop) to implement a food safety management system. The standard allows small companies to implement an externally developed combination of management measures.

This approach is similar to that used in hygiene guides, which also use generically developed measures to comply with the HACCP requirements. ISO 22000 is also suitable for organisations that are involved indirectly in the food production chain, such as suppliers of machinery and tools, cleaning and disinfection products and packaging materials. So far the standard is little used. There are also still relatively few qualified auditors.

164 http://www.FSSC22000.com.

Inventory of private food law

SQF 2000

The Safe Quality Food (SQF) 2000¹⁶⁵ Code provides for the food supplier a food safety and quality management certification program. In 1994 the Code was developed and pilot programs implemented to ensure its applicability to the food industry. The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) acquired the rights to the SQF Program in August 2003 and has established the SQF Institute (SQFI) Division to manage the Program. The SQF 2000 Code is recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative as a standard that meets its benchmark requirements. The SQFI Technical Advisory Council reviews and makes recommendations on changes to the Code in line with the current requirements and expectations of the global food sector and other comments received from stakeholders.