Published 23 May 2023
What is an FSSC 22000 Audit?
An FSSC 22000 Audit is performed by an ISO 22000 certified auditor in order to verify if a company involved in food processing, food manufacturing, or food packaging meets FSSC 22000 standards for certification. Other prerequisites for FSSC 22000 certification involve meeting ISO 22000 requirements for a Food Safety Management System (FSMS), and ISO/TS 2202-1 for food processors or ISO/TS 2202-4 for food packaging manufacturers. An FSSC 22000 audit checklist is a tool used by organizations to internally evaluate their current performance and determine potential gaps in compliance. Using FSSC 22000 audit checklists help companies take action on areas of improvement to make it easier to prepare for certification.
FSSC 22000 Audit Checklist (Version 5)
Use this digitized template as a guide together with the ISO 22000 Audit Checklist to assess the readiness of the business for FSSC 22000 certification. This checklist covers the other requirements of FSSC 22000 and allows managers to:
- Use the 5 main sections of the checklist to review the other requirements of FSSC 22000.
- Assign tasks to the proper individual/department to work on issues you find while doing the audit.
- Use scoring to determine how close is the business to getting a third-party audit for FSSC 22000 certification.
- SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor) templates are fully customizable - no programming skills needed - to fit your business needs.
In this article
- What is the Difference Between ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000?
- How do I Prepare for FSSC 22000 Audit?
- What are the FSSC 22000 requirements?
- FAQs About FSSC 22000 Audit
- Tools to prepare for FSSC 22000 Certification
- Featured FSSC 22000 Food Safety Audit Checklists
What is the Difference Between ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000?
The difference between the two food safety standards is that while FSSC 22000 is based on the ISO 22000 Food Safety Management Standard, it expands upon the ISO standard with additional requirements. The other major difference is that FSSC 22000 is a standard recognized by the GFSI and designed for food manufacturers who supply their products or ingredients to major food retailers and suppliers.
How do I Prepare for FSSC 22000 Audit?
To prepare for an FSSC 22000 audit, you can follow these 4 steps:
Form a Team
Form a team that will help your organization prepare for the FSSC audit and ideally be composed of persons who are familiar with your processes and procedures.
Become Familiar with FSSC 22000
The team should review and familiarize themselves with the requirements of the FSSC standard in order to be able to effectively identify gaps between the current processes and the standard.
Conduct Internal Audits
Use an available FSSC 22000 checklist to conduct internal audits and discover gaps that should be addressed in order to align with the FSSC 22000 standard.
Get in Touch with Third-party Auditors
Coordinate with recognized auditors and get your company audited for FSSC 22000.
What are the FSSC 22000 requirements?
FSSC 22000 certification requires the following core requirements to be met:
- ISO 22000: food safety management system requirements. FSSC 22000 is based on ISO 22000 but is not sufficient to be recognized by the GFSI on its own.
- Pre-requisite Programmes (PRP): based on ISO/TS 22002-1 which include requirements for construction and layout of the building, maintenance services, product information, personnel hygiene, food fraud and defense systems, etc.
- Additional requirements: inventory of and compliance with applicable regulations, documentation and review of management services (e.g. utilities, transport, maintenance), and supervision of food safety personnel.
FAQs About FSSC 22000 Audit
FSSC 22000 stands for “Food Safety System Certification 22000”. It is an internationally recognized food safety management certification scheme developed by the Foundation for Food Safety Certification.
Yes, FSSC 22000 covers Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) as an important component of the food safety management system. FSSC 22000 requires that the HACCP principles are applied throughout the food chain and that food safety hazards are identified, assessed, and controlled at each stage of the process.
Yes, FSSC 22000 is first recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) in 2010 and has since been re-recognized multiple times. This recognition provides assurance that the FSSC 22000 certification scheme meets international standards and best practices for food safety management systems, plus widely accepted by customers and stakeholders in the food industry.
Tools to prepare for FSSC 22000 Certification
Achieving FSSC 22000 certification and ongoing compliance requires significant documentation, recordkeeping and organization-wide communication efforts. Choosing the right technology is critical to ensuring a smooth implementation process. Spend more time identifying and resolving food safety risks and less time on paperwork and administration.
SafetyCulture can help you streamline your food safety reporting requirements. Conduct paperless food safety inspections onsite with SafetyCulture using your mobile or tablet device. Streamline data collection and analyze trends and points of failure online. Completing a safety inspection automatically generates a report instantly and can be exported and shared in the following formats: weblink, PDF, Word, or CSV.
To save you time, we have prepared these digital checklists you can download for free and use to prepare for FSSC 22000 certification.
Featured FSSC 22000 Food Safety Audit Checklists
ISO 22000 Audit Checklist
This comprehensive ISO 22000 audit checklist can help assess how aligned is your business with ISO’s standard for food safety management system. This checklist assesses internal and outsourced processes that may affect the end product. Managers can use this form to:
- Look into 5 key sections - management responsibility, realization of safe products, validation, verification, and improving the food safety management system.
- Use this together with FSSC 22000 Audit Checklist - Internal Assessment template to check the readiness of your business for a third-party FSSC 22000 certification.
GMP Food Manufacturing Audit Checklist
Based on 21 CFR Part 110, this GMP food manufacturing audit checklist can help guide operations managers to:
- Check if staff are properly trained to follow sanitary procedures and if equipment, process, & controls follow GMP.
- Take photo evidence and annotate on those photos for emphasis on the issues found.
HACCP Checklist
This HACCP plan template can help managers assess critical control points and the system controls food safety hazards. Use this form as a guide to:
- Identify existing Critical Control Point/s (CCP) and food safety hazards.
- Evaluate steps to be taken for the hazards.
- Record as many hazards found in one report that can be generated on a mobile device.
