Global Food Safety Conference - GFSI

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Glossary

1

GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative)

A coalition of action convened by The Consumer Goods Forum that brings retailers, manufacturers, certification bodies and service providers together to benchmark food safety schemes and steer harmonisation across the food supply chain. The conference is where that benchmark work is discussed in public.

2

GFSI benchmarking and recognition

The process by which a scheme owned by a certification programme owner is assessed against the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements. Once recognised, certificates issued under that scheme can be accepted by buyers who specify GFSI-recognised certification in their supplier approval.

3

Certification Programme Owner (CPO)

The body that owns and governs a food safety certification scheme. CPO representatives are a core exhibitor and delegate group at GFSI events, presenting scheme revisions and audit protocol changes.

4

Food Safety Management System (FSMS)

The documented set of policies, procedures, prerequisite programmes and HACCP controls a food business runs to keep products safe. Auditors assess whether the FSMS is implemented in practice, not just written down.

5

HACCP

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points: the systematic method for identifying biological, chemical and physical hazards and putting controls at the points where they matter. It is the backbone of most schemes discussed at the conference.

6

Prerequisite programmes (PRPs)

The basic hygiene and good manufacturing practice conditions - cleaning, pest control, maintenance, personnel hygiene, water and waste - that must be in place before HACCP controls can work.

7

Unannounced audit

A certification audit carried out without a fixed date window, used by several schemes to test whether the FSMS runs the same way every day. Buyers often ask suppliers to confirm whether their certificate was earned through an unannounced route.

8

Food fraud and vulnerability assessment

A structured look at where a product or ingredient could be economically adulterated or substituted, and what mitigation the business applies. It sits alongside HACCP and is a recurring agenda item when schemes are revised.

9

Traceability and one-up-one-down

The ability to identify the immediate supplier and immediate customer of a batch, plus internal process records. Traceability expectations tighten whenever there is a recall or a regulatory change such as new supply-chain due diligence rules.

10

Allergen management

Controls covering allergen segregation, cleaning validation, label accuracy and cross-contact risk. It is one of the most frequent causes of recalls, so it appears in both certification requirements and buyer specifications.

11

Corrective action and root cause analysis

The nonconformity follow-up cycle in a certification audit: contain the problem, find why it happened, fix the system and verify the fix. Buyers increasingly ask for evidence of the analysis, not just the corrected batch.

12

Food safety culture

The measurable behaviours, leadership commitment and communication that determine whether food safety procedures are followed under pressure. It has moved from a soft topic into scheme requirements and audit questions.

13

Supplier approval and verification

The buyer-side process for deciding which suppliers are acceptable and how their performance is monitored, often built around a GFSI-recognised certificate plus site visits and KPIs. This is where a supplier's certification pays off commercially.