Pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 in article 5, food business operators are required to set up, apply and maintain one or more permanent written procedures based on the HACCP principles. Likewise, Annex II of the same regulation establishes and defines the different prerequisites for food business operators and Annex I establishes the requirements that must be met in primary production.

All economic operators of food companies that participate in the stages of export, production, transformation and distribution of food after primary production.

A management system such as: ISO 22000, IFS, BRC, FSSC 22000, ISO 9001, among others, could all be summarized as a set of requirements, which are implemented and maintained in an organization to carry out its tasks and activities in a planned, systematic way that allows the organization to continuously improve and make decisions based on objective data.

A management system can be certifiable by an external certification entity, which can give conformity to the requirements and the correct fulfillment of all the points that must be fulfilled according to the standard or standards that have been chosen.

• A prescriptive set of hygiene-related activities (prerequisite program).
• A critical point control scheme (principles associated with HACCP)
• Systematic management procedures. These requirements related to the internal management of the company, which usually reach all the internal processes of the company, from the acquisition and purchase, commercial processes through the strategic processes for decision making.

The growing tendency to export, globalization and the need to create trust with customers, make it necessary in most cases to implement a management system.

• • Improve trust with customers
  • Reduce audits from customers (second party audits)
  • Improves and facilitates export processes

• It provides a framework on which compliance with current regulations can be achieved.

• Unifies work criteria and protocols

• Reduces risks and prevents customer claims and administrative sanctions
• Systematize and improve communication channels throughout the food chain.
• Improves the effectiveness of traceability processes

They represent a competitive advantage for the company.

Phase 1: Diagnosis and analysis of the current situation of the company

• Select the standard to be implemented that best suits the needs.
• Compilation and documentary study
• Diagnosis of infrastructures and key processes
• Establish and define the scope of activities and processes.
• Viability study
• Definition of an investment plan

The objective is to obtain the necessary data to determine the current situation regarding the degree of conformity in relation to the requirements of the management system that is intended to be implemented.

Phase 2: Planning and elaboration of the Documentary Support and Design of the Organizational Structure

• Planning of documentary support and design of the organizational structure
• Preparation of descriptive documents and formats.
• Establish policies and objectives
• Definition and assignment of functions and responsibilities.
• Define and design the operational processes, support processes and strategic processes of the organization

According to the evidence found in the previous phase, the planning and elaboration of the documentary support will be carried out with the aim of providing compliance with the management system requirements together with the legal and regulatory requirements applicable to the organization.

Phase 3: Implementation and monitoring of the management system

• Proposal, revision and approval of the different documents.
• Documentation distribution.
• Dissemination, sensitization and awareness.
• Collection of activity logs.

In this stage, the procedures and work systems are implemented and the records are generated to provide evidence of compliance with the requirements and that in later stages may be requested during the audit process.

Phase 4: Internal or first party audit

• Preparation and submission of the audit plan/program
• Carrying out the internal audit
• Preparation of the audit report
• Resolution of non-conformities and closure of corrective actions.

Once the implementation stage has been completed, an internal audit will be carried out, prior to the request by an external certifying entity, with the aim of providing compliance with the planned provisions, with the requirements of the management system and evaluating the degree implantation.

Phase 5: Resolution of the corrective action plan (PAC) in external or third-party audit.

Once the internal audit has been completed and resolved, a certification entity will carry out an external audit. Once the result of the certification audit is known, by the external certification entity, assistance will be provided to solve the CAP and other observations detected by the auditor, assisting in the drafting and evaluation of the effectiveness of the corresponding corrective actions and with the objective of ensuring the final certification of the system.

CONVET SL from its consulting and advisory department, can provide support for the initial diagnosis, document design, development and implementation of management systems.

A particular standard or certification scheme may or may not be covered by GFSI recognition.

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) emerged in the year 2000, as an international regulatory body of minimum requirements that would guarantee the effectiveness of the different models of food safety management systems that were being issued by the different distribution chains and various standardization bodies.

This entity is sponsored by CIES, an organization that encompasses around 350 companies with a presence in 150 countries and represents around 75% of world distribution and its suppliers.

The GFSI has drafted a document that contains the minimum requirements that any food safety management system must have and, therefore, any protocol, norm or standard that seeks to establish a model to follow and certify. The Guidance Document determines the key elements for food production as requirements for food safety management programs and provides guidance for programs that want to comply with it.

It constitutes a framework within which food safety management programs can be benchmarked and among its main objectives is the harmonization between the different models of food safety management systems.