Certification
NSF provides food safety certification to Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked standards as well as for food equipment and nonfood compounds.
Due to complex challenges in today’s food supply chain, many of the world’s largest food retailers are mandating supplier certification to GFSI standards, which include BRC, IFS, SQF, FSSC 22000, GLOBALG.A.P. and BAP.
NSF companies are the leading global certifier to GFSI benchmarked standards, with exceptional technical expertise, consistently calibrated auditors and a timely path to certification. Backed by over 70 years of food safety expertise and a current average of 35,000 GFSI certification audits performed annually, we enable companies around the globe to demonstrate compliance with the most recognized food safety standards in the world.
GFSI, a consortium of global retailers and food manufacturers, was established to ensure confidence in the delivery of safer food to consumers, while continuing to improve food safety throughout the supply chain. GFSI global standards address food, packaging, packaging materials, and storage and distribution for primary producers, manufacturers and distributors.
BRC
NSF is recognized by BRC Global Standards as an excellent provider with a 5-star performance rating, the highest rating bestowed on a certification body. The standard helps promote consistency across the supply chain for food and ingredient manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors. It also reduces the number of customer audits and consolidates customer requirements.
IFS
NSF certifies to the IFS Food standard and the IFS Logistics standard for the storage and distribution sector.
Achieving NSF certification to the IFS Food standard provides independent certification that a product or process complies with specific international standards. It enables a food supplier to give assurances that food has been produced, prepared and handled according to the most recognized standards.
It also demonstrates a commitment to quality processes and continual improvement, and enables access to top retailers.
FSSC 22000
FSSC 22000 is a complete GFSI-benchmarked food safety certification system for food manufacturers, based on the ISO 22000, ISO/TS 22002-1 and ISO/TS 22002-4 standards. NSF International Strategic Registrations (NSF-ISR) is accredited to provide this certification under ISO/IEC 17021.
FSSC 22000 was developed to certify food safety systems of companies in the food chain that process, manufacture or transport food, feed for animals, additives, minerals and bio-cultures.
ISO 22000:2018 was published on June 19, 2018. Since ISO 22000 is a large portion of FSSC 22000, the changes are also reflected in the FSSC 22000 Version 5 update.
GLOBALG.A.P
NSF provides certification to the following GLOBALG.A.P. standard sub-scopes:
- Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA)—sub-scopes Fruit & Vegetables, Flowers & Ornamentals and Combinable Crops
- Plant Propagation Material (PPM)
- Produce Safety Standard (PSS)
Based on Good Agricultural Practices, the GLOBALG.A.P. food safety standard encompasses all process activities on the farm and is a business-to-business certification. The GLOBALG.A.P. standard covers 80 countries and is based on review of on-farm compliance against three main scopes: crops, livestock and aquaculture.
Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)
NSF provides certification to the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) standards which address environmental and social responsibility, animal welfare, food safety and traceability for aquaculture facilities. BAP certification defines the most important elements of responsible aquaculture and provides quantitative guidelines by which to evaluate adherence to those practices.
The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), a non-profit non-governmental organization founded in 1997, develops the BAP certification standards and encourages responsible aquaculture practices. GAA also works to improve production and marketing efficiencies, and to promote effective, coordinated regulatory and trade policies.
Food Equipment Certification
For information on this program, please visit the Food Equipment page on our website.
NonFood Compounds Registration and ISO 21469 Certification
For information on this program, please visit the Nonfood Compounds page on our website.