Standards & frameworks
Food safety & agriculture: standards and frameworks
Food safety standards range from the Codex HACCP method and ISO 22000 to the GFSI-recognised schemes, FSSC 22000, BRCGS, SQF and IFS, and the farm, feed and market-access schemes beside them. This page shows how they connect and helps you find the certificate your buyers will accept.
About this family
What do food safety standards cover, and who asks for them?
This family covers the whole chain, from field and fishery to factory, warehouse and broker. At its base sit the Codex HACCP method and good manufacturing practice; above them, ISO 22000 and the ISO/TS 22002-1 prerequisite programmes for a management system; then the GFSI-recognised schemes that buyers write into supplier approval, FSSC 22000, BRCGS Food Safety, SQF and IFS, with their storage, distribution, agent and broker variants. Beside them are FDA FSMA for food made for or sold in the United States, traceability under ISO 22005, feed safety under FAMI-QS and GMP+, and the farm, sourcing and market-access schemes: GLOBALG.A.P., MSC and ASC, Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade, organic, halal, kosher and vegan labelling. Most requests arrive from outside the business. A retailer’s technical team asks for a GFSI-recognised certificate, a brand owner’s supplier questionnaire lists the schemes it accepts, an importer needs a halal or organic certificate the destination market recognises, or a buyer simply stops ordering until one is in place.
The schemes are built on the same foundations, which is why the choice is usually about recognition rather than content. A HACCP study and sound prerequisite programmes sit inside every one of them; ISO 22000 adds the management system; FSSC 22000 adds sector programmes and scheme requirements to gain GFSI recognition; BRCGS, SQF and IFS prescribe site and product controls and grade or score the result. Ethical, organic and religious schemes then rest on the same traceability and supplier controls. So the sensible first question is which certificate your customers and destination markets will accept, and the second is how much of one system can serve several audits. Sterling answers both before any document is written, then builds the system with your food safety team. You choose Design™, where we develop and your team implements under our expert advice and supervision, or Drive™, where we design and build under your approval as a fully managed service. Effivity is included at no additional cost for HACCP records, supplier approvals, internal audits and corrective actions. An approved certification body audits and decides; Sterling does not certify.
The standards
20 standards, frameworks and schemes in this family
Each card opens the standard or scheme’s page: what it requires, who audits it, and how Sterling helps you prepare.
- ISO 22000ISO 22000 certification consulting: PRPs, a validated hazard control plan, traceability and recall readiness, built with your teams for an accredited audit.
- FSSC 22000FSSC 22000 certification consulting for GFSI-recognised food safety: ISO 22000, sector PRPs and FSSC requirements, ready for a licensed body's audit.
- HACCP (Codex)HACCP certification consulting: hazards analysed, CCPs determined and limits validated and monitored, on good hygiene practices, ready for independent audit.
- BRCGS Food SafetyBRCGS Food Safety certification consulting for food manufacturers: HACCP plan, site standards and controls ready for a graded audit, announced or unannounced.
- Halal (GSO 2055-1 / MS 1500 / UAE.S 2055)Halal certification consulting for food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical makers: ingredients, segregation and traceability ready for your halal authority.
- SQFSQF certification consulting for food, feed and packaging sites: a HACCP-based food safety plan and system elements ready for a licensed body's scored audit.
- IFS Food / Logistics / BrokerIFS Food certification consulting for food manufacturers: HACCP, food fraud, food defence and operations ready for the annual scored IFS audit.
- GlobalG.A.P.GLOBALG.A.P. certification consulting for farms and producer groups: food safety, environment, worker welfare and traceability ready for the annual audit.
- FDA FSMA (US)FDA FSMA compliance for food facilities, importers, farms and carriers: preventive controls, FSVP, food traceability and records ready for FDA inspection.
- BRCGS Storage & Distribution / Agents & BrokersBRCGS Storage and Distribution certification and Agents and Brokers: Issue 4 and Issue 3 requirements, scopes, audits and cost factors, with Sterling's support.
- ISO/TS 22002-1ISO 22002-1 compliance and requirements for food manufacturers: the 2025 PRP areas, how FSSC 22000 and ISO 22000 audit them, and an all-inclusive plan to get ready.
- ISO 22005ISO 22005 certification and requirements: design, test and prove feed and food traceability, then prepare for an accredited audit. All-inclusive support.
- KosherKosher certification and requirements explained: how OU, OK and STAR-K certify, ingredient and supplier controls, labels, and an all-inclusive preparation plan.
- Organic (EU / USDA NOP)EU and USDA organic certification and requirements: Regulation (EU) 2018/848, 7 CFR Part 205 and the SOE rule, the certifier route and how Sterling prepares you
- Rainforest AllianceRainforest Alliance certification and requirements explained: the 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard, the audit route and how Sterling prepares farms.
- FairtradeFairtrade certification and requirements: which Fairtrade International standards apply, FLOCERT's audit, cost and timing, and how Sterling prepares you.
- MSC / ASCMSC and ASC certification and requirements for fisheries, farms, feed mills and chain of custody, prepared by Sterling. An accredited body audits. All-inclusive proposal.
- FAMI-QS / GMP+FAMI-QS and GMP+ certification for feed businesses: how the two schemes differ, their requirement documents, the audit route and how Sterling prepares you.
- Vegan (V-Label)V-Label certification for vegan and vegetarian products: the owner's criteria, licence and audit route, cost and time factors, and how Sterling prepares you.
- GMP (food)GMP compliance consulting for medicine manufacturers: quality systems, batch records and controls ready for your national regulator's inspection on any day.
Halal certification and GLOBALG.A.P. each have a full standard page with its own guides; their cards take you there. Not sure which scheme your buyers will accept? Select the Standard™ and the readiness check point you to the right starting standard.
- 60+countries where Sterling has delivered certification
- 21countries with a Sterling office, eight regions, one coordinated team
- 2003the year the group began implementing ISO management systems; the same method, refined, since
- 8,100+client engagements across the group, from single-site SMEs to multinationals
FAQs
Questions food and agriculture businesses ask about these standards
Which scheme first, whether two can share one system, and what the certification body actually checks.
Which food safety standard should we start with?
Start with the certificate your customers or destination markets will accept. Where buyers ask for GFSI recognition, choose among FSSC 22000, BRCGS Food Safety, SQF and IFS according to the schemes they list; ISO 22000 on its own is not GFSI-recognised. Where no buyer names a scheme, HACCP or ISO 22000 gives a sound, certifiable base. Farms usually start with GLOBALG.A.P., and halal, organic or kosher follow the rules of the market you sell into.
Can one food safety system serve two certificates?
Yes. One HACCP plan, one set of prerequisite programmes and one record system can serve ISO 22000 and a GFSI scheme, or a GFSI scheme and halal, as long as each scheme’s additional requirements are built in. What cannot be shared is the audit: each scheme is audited and decided by a certification body approved for that scheme, against its own rules, and each certificate stands on its own. Sterling designs the combined system so that one set of records answers every auditor.
What does the certification body actually check?
Whether the system works on the floor, not only on paper. Every scheme tests the hazard analysis, the prerequisite programmes, the critical controls and their records, then applies its own rules: ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 audit the management system, with at least one unannounced FSSC surveillance audit in each three-year cycle; BRCGS grades a site from AA to D; SQF scores out of 100; IFS scores each requirement and fails any KO requirement graded D; GLOBALG.A.P. audits every year against its Major and Minor Musts. Halal, organic and kosher bodies verify ingredients, segregation and traceability for the market they serve.
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