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.
