This document is supplemental to ISO/IEC 17065. It specifies the rules applicable for the audit of a food safety system (FSS) and certification of products, processes and services complying with requirements of a certification scheme that is based on the internationally accepted principles of food safety (e.g. CODEX General Principles of Food Hygiene^[8]) and includes management system elements.

This document does not apply to certifications that are solely based on product testing (e.g. performed by an organization applying ISO/IEC 17025) or inspection (e.g. performed by an organization applying ISO/IEC 17020) and does not apply to ISO/IEC 17065-based food safety schemes that do not include both internationally accepted principles of food safety and management system elements.

It also provides the necessary information and confidence to customers about the way certification of their suppliers has been granted.

Certification of FSS is a third-party conformity assessment activity (as described in ISO/IEC 17000:2020, 4.3) and bodies performing this activity are third-party conformity assessment bodies.

NOTE       This document can be used as a criteria document for the accreditation or peer assessment of certification bodies which seek to be recognized as being competent to certify that an organization’s products, processes and services and its FSS comply with the requirements of a certification scheme. It is also intended to be used as a criteria document by regulatory authorities and industry consortia which engage in direct recognition of certification bodies to certify that an organization’s FSS complies with a certification scheme’s requirements. Some of its requirements can also be useful to other parties involved in the conformity assessment of such certification bodies, and in the conformity assessment of bodies that undertake to certify the compliance of an FSS with additional criteria.

FSS certification does not attest to the safety or fitness of the products of an organization within the food chain. However, certification requires an organization to meet all applicable food-safety-related statutory and regulatory requirements through its FSS.