Name: Understanding FSSC 22000 Version 7: Key Changes, Transition Timeline, and Implementation Roadmap
Uploaded: 2026-05-20T10:16:14.503Z
Duration: 1 h 22 min 40 s
Description: Understanding FSSC 22000 Version 7: Key Changes, Transition Timeline, and Implementation Roadmap

Transcript for "Understanding FSSC 22000 Version 7: Key Changes, Transition Timeline, and Implementation Roadmap": Good day. Good day, everyone. Special thank you for joining us at this hour. Welcome everyone to the webinar on understanding FSSC 22,000 version seven, key changes, transition, timelines, and implementation roadmap. So we are super excited to have you here to learn more about the brand new FSSC 22,000 version seven standard and its implementation. My name is Prateek, and I'll be your moderator for today. First of all, there are a few housekeeping announcements that I need to take care of to ensure that we deliver this webinar seamlessly to ensure optimal broadcasting efficiency. Only speakers have the access to the microphone during the webinar. All other, participants are muted by default. Similar case with the cameras. We encourage you to use the chat feature, which is located on the right side of your screen to share your thoughts or any questions. We will address the questions during the dedicated q and a session at the end of the webinar. So we have got a substantial number of questions as part of our registration, process. And, those will be taken up first. And, yep, as I said, there is a dedicated session at the end. So if you experience any technical difficulties, we will address them. Do please try and refresh your browser and, check your Internet connection. If, the things don't get better, please do let us know in the chat, and we'll try our best to, support you there. Okay. So can we quickly have a look at today's agenda? We have, basic introductions that will be done by me. We have a esteemed the panel of, experts, from, the industry, from FSSE and from NSF. So we will have a basic round of introduction followed by a brief overview of what NSF stands for and some of the solutions that we offer for the food industry. We will also then deep dive, into the main focus of today's webinar about the foundation FSSE and the introduction to FSSE '20 2,000 version seven, the brand new standard that we all have been waiting for, which will be followed by, second, section within the same presentation, which will talk about the top nonconformances. As I said previously, there is also a dedicated session on q and a, which will be at the last of the webinar. So, please ensure that you attend the entire session to benefit from the q and a's at the last. So before we dive into our webinar, I'd like to introduce our esteemed speakers who will provide their valuable insights and expert opinions. So, we have, Smitha Swithamurthy. She is the India and Sri Lanka representative for FSSE twenty two thousand and has working experience in fields of quality and food safety, having worked for a leading food and beverage company for over twenty years. She holds a master's degree in microbiology and spent over a decade auditing manufacturing units globally for quality food safety environment and occupational safety standards. She also leads the analytical services India for, Global Beverage Multinational. Smita joined the FSSC team in August 2019 and is a local representative of for India and Sri Lanka, as I said. We also have, Nejat who is, the local representative, for FSSE again, for, Middle East, the Central Asia, and the Turkiye region. He is known face in the food quality circles, having worked, you know, in in this specific domain for decades and has experience working across, the food supply chain as well as is unknown figure in the food quality systems specifically, in the region. We also have Naveen from NSF who is the regional director, and he has been working with NSF for more than a decade, having more than two decades of national and international experience in the tech industry with specific interest in area of food safety, auditing, training, inspection, and certification. He currently is the regional director for, NSF. So that completes the introduction part, and let's get cracking. I'll pass on, the stage to Naveen to share us some more details about NSF and take this, one from. me. Thank you so much. So I'll take you, through the NSF interaction, to also, first of all, good morning and good afternoon, everyone. So we are NSF. We are, most trusted brand in TIC industry, And, our origin is from Michigan, Ann Arbor in US. So our mission is to protect human and public health. We started our operations in 1944. This has last, like, eighty two years. We are, believing in our mission, and we are driving our mission. And our mission is to protect human and public health. So we have our global expertise across the globe. These are our offices and labs across the globe. We are covering, The US, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific, various different regions. So these are the valuable brands we work with. So we, work with the entire, supply chain, you can say, from, farm to fork. So we are covering, the farmers, and we are covering the manufacturers like, PepsiCo or Al Marai of the world. We are, giving our services to the, retailers, like, or retailers like Amazon, and we are giving our services to QSR industry, various QSR industries. So, literally, we are covering from a farm to fork. So when it goes to deep expertise, our deep expertise are more into food and nutrition business. So in food and nutrition business, our, our services are auditing, trading, certifications. And when it comes to water, so anything which comes under the contact of water is fire, pumping, carbon filter, solid chemicals. So those areas that we cover in our, certification or, programs. And during, in the life science, business, so we have our consulting services. We have our auditing services and various certification programs. And as soon as as a business division, it covers it all. In assurance, all over ISO, 9,000, 14,000, 45,000, those kind of certification programs are there. So you can take those services from us. And when it comes to, the impact by our services, so we have high impact on the, industry. So we cover more than 600, 57 key products. Those are listed on NSF website certified by NSF. There are one sixty plus standards written by NSF, and these are, like, quite active, standards. We have, various, programs on, the standard side. So if you go to any restaurant, like, all the equipments there, well, so this equipment carry NSF mark. So this equipment have standard there are, like, 25 different standards by NSF on those equipment, side. And when we try these standards, so we have approximate, like, 1,200 experts from the industry side who help us writing, these standards, for us. And, also, the auditing side, so somewhere like 40,000 audits get conducted by NSF on a annual basis. So this is what, we do and more than 3,000 employees that we have, at NSF. So when it comes to our solutions to food, industry, so our solutions are, spread from food advisory to, training. So and, our solutions are in management system on food claim side or this comes to food, r and d and on the food production side. So you we we covered the whole, cycle of the food, from, farm to fork. And when it comes to the service, the services are more into audit inspection training certification. So that services, we provide, to the industry and especially, to the, supply chain areas. So GFSI is, like, very specific, program. Today, we are are talking about and especially the FSSC certification. Our experts will be talking about the certifications program to you. But beyond GFS, b FSSC, we're also covering BRC, SQF, IFS, those kind of certification programs. We are quite popular in, seafood industry, manufacturing areas, warehouse and distribution. So if you are looking for this kind of certification programs, you can definitely, reach out to us and you can connect us. So food, product claims is another service with NSF. So if, you are looking for non GMO, gluten free, race without antibiotic, or, other certification programs, if there is any claim you are looking for, So you can definitely reach out to NSF, and we can help you, getting your claims, certified. So those are the claims services that we provide. You also see, like, a lot of NSF market various different, products. A lot of bottled waters that carry NSF mark, so you must have seen a lot of different, bottlers. They carry NSF mark on their product. So that is part of our product certification programs. And there are a lot of for that, supplements, that you use. So those dietary supplements that carries NSF mark. So NSF mark is well, noted, well certified, and then well, known feature in the market. So, definitely, you can get, take that NSF for a certified products for, making sure, like, their product is safe for the human, consumption. So this is how we are covering, overall services, and this is how we are, delivering our mission of, protecting the human and planet health. So that's all on the NSF side, and, definitely, we'll, reach out to you again when it comes to more, questions about NSF or NSF services. We'll help you with more details. So, Prateek, over to you. Thank you, Naveen. That was a quick and fast introduction about what NSF is. I think we can, quickly move over, to Nezhat, who is, the FSSE representative, and, I would like to, start proceedings for the SSSC twenty two thousand version seven. Nezhat, over to you, please. Thank you, Pratik. And welcome everyone, and, thank you, Navin. Thank you for this kind introduction also, Pratik. Well, welcome everyone, and thank you joining for today's webinar. I want to also first thank to NSF to bring us all together here. Hopefully, we will have a informative and interesting knowledge sharing webinar today. Our session will be actually in will be two parts. I will, introduce FSSE, our foundation, foundation FSSE, and then make an introduction to FSSE twenty two thousand. And in the second part, basically, Sumita, we're gonna cover the, version seven, changes. So let me start with our foundation who actually we are. We are a foundation FSSE, the governance of the, that two schemes there and which are FSSE twenty two thousand 24,000. And as and Navin talk about they do lots of GFSI different schemes. But what differs us from other, GFSI schemes, we are an independent nonprofit, foundation, and we which I am really proud of, and we deliver trust and impact beyond certification because we don't look at this, sector as just, certification. We also do lots of capacity building. We do lots of collaboration with the sectors, including Unidaw that we're gonna talk about later. We support consumer goods to achieve their targets through ISO based management system. As you can see from the right side, if you're just already implemented or you're familiar with one of those ISO management system, probably you can easily do a transition to FSSC twenty two thousand because they are after, like, 2015. ISO implemented a high level structure with basically 10 cloud system. So the approach is totally very similar if you're like if you already implemented ISO 9,001 or 27,001 or even environmental management system. FSSC 22,000 or our other schemes, social management system 24,000 is not that hard to implement. We, by implementing those, two schemes, we're also trying to help organization to contribute sustainable development goals. And for sure, eventually, this is all, aim to, create a better world. And after a short introduction about foundation, the governance, and the owner of the schemes, let's talk about what actually FSSC 22,000. I am sure, most of you are already familiar, but there might be some people or, some professionals here and then maybe or even from other schemes, not that much familiar with FSSC 22,000 or there might be people from small, medium enterprises that we also have a solution for them. Usually, as GFSI schemes might sounds a bit complex, complicated for them. So, in the middle side, you can see some of the FSSC 20,000 certified organization. Whenever you go to a supermarket or you just walk in the street, you can see most of those, I guess, brands, everywhere in the world. And and Navin basically talk about so many brands. They they gave them in in a slice, but ours is not that much difference. Almost all big brands and many small small medium enterprise also work with us, implement FSSC 22,000 on their size from, like, Pepsi to Coca Cola to, Baila to Luckalis, Nestle, Dunham, Heineken. So whatever organization or brands you think they're using, implement the FSSC 22,000 on their size. So when I when I say just implement, I don't trying to say, like, one single site indeed. Like, for example, Coca Cola is already implemented more than on their, 500 sites. They implement the FSSC 22,000, which is great. And Also, now we talk about that they are more than 40,000 client size. Ours is not much difference than this. We are also more than 41,500 currently, and we are the leading position worldwide as in terms of TFSI schemes, but we are also increasing. But in these numbers or the number of our, FSS 20,000 never, became our aim or target. We always says, quality before quantity. So, we just really think that each certificate that was provided, those those size should be awarded not just given. So, we also, work with 170 partners, which are the basically certification body and accreditation. And but this we do lots of, collaboration with ISO, GFSI, Unidore. And there's also there might be sometimes it's challenging for small, medium enterprises for working, implementing GFSI schemes. We have a solution for small, medium enterprises, which is like unlimited resources in terms of human or financial resources. We have a development program, which is basically a simpler version of GFSI schemes or FSSE 20,000, which act like as a stepping stone, to go to GFSI schemes that you can see. So you can just basically go to our website and download and see all our documents are totally free on our website. And, Navin also talk about their their scope was so extensive. Ours is not that much also different. From the bottom side, you can see, from farm to fork, almost we cover each sector in the food supply chain from retailer to trading, brokering, from catering, from transport to storage. Many people have a misunderstanding or misinterpret FSSC twenty thousand is basically only for food manufacturing, but it is not really. As you can see from even the examples that a certified organization, there are like hotels, packaging companies that already using on their size FSSC 20,000 to show that they comply with food safety and also quality requirements. So, after this basically introduction, I guess, I can briefly talk about benefits of FSSC 22,000. We have a robust integrity program that I think I'm gonna mention a bit later, so this is just what I'm gonna pass. And we have GFSI recognized globally accepted worldwide. So almost, like, more than, 160 countries. We have FSSC 22,000, certificates, which is really great for us, and we are, really proud of it. DFSI recognition is also separates us from ISO 22,000. So many, ISO 20,000, certified organizations worldwide. But ISO 20,000 is not based. Although, FSIS 20,000 based on ISO 20,000, ISO 20,000 is not GFSI recognized. This is differentiate for us. We support SDH with different requirements. It was already in version six, but we also, made them more robust in version seven and that, Smith are gonna talk about it like food loss and waste. And we have public register, systems. If you're FSSC 20,000, certified, your name will be appear on our website. I just mentioned that if you're already familiar with any other ISO management system, it is really so much easier, to integrate FSSC 22,000 to your system. And we are globally, trusted and recognize, so many big brands and companies, retailers. By getting an FSSE 22,000 certificate, it's gonna just help you to facilitate export and market access. It is, one different what differentiate FSSC 20,000 from other, GFSI schemes is totally risk based approach and flexibility because usually, when you go and check other GFSI schemes, they just tell you what to do and how to do. But FSCC 22,000 is also 22,000 base and it is more flexibility provides you because nobody can know your site more than you do and what's your hazards are, how you need to handle your hazards. So this is totally, FSSC 20,000 provides you flexibility to implement it. And, I just said that we are real proud to be a nonprofit foundation. That's why we have a very low certification fee, almost like the others, while the others are almost, like, four times higher certification fees in comparison to FSSC 22,000. And by getting an FSSC 22,000, eventually, you're gonna provide customer satisfaction. You're gonna protect your brand. And this is not also about, brand protection. It's gonna also help you, to reduce cost and, operational efficiency. And overall, which is another popular terms that we have been using last fifteen years, that is gonna develop your food safety mindset and culture for sure. And as we are, as I said, we are a nonprofit organization, and whatever we do, we just, we don't it is not about we go beyond certification, and we provide all, guidance, all documents free of charge on our website. You don't need to even just log in or do anything to subscribe anything. You just need to you can go to our website and download lots of guidance documents, including environmental monitoring, equipment management, food defense, food fraud, food loss, and waste. It, you don't need to be FSSE 22,000 certified organization. Even as a professional, I really I would just, advise you to go and download and just check them because they are so much useful. I'm sure you're gonna benefit them in your, professional life even you have, others you're using another scheme, on your side. It's gonna help you. Got basically almost I mean, many of those KPI or recognized schemes. Most of those requirements are very similar, so it's gonna just help you eventually. Bit version seven, we also released another great documents on our website. Now we have audit reporting. This audit reporting, you can go and download for free. Basically, when an auditors comes to your site, what do they do? What do they look at it? This shows that the approach of auditors. Either you're an auditor, you're a professional, or you're a site, you can just check them. You can use it, and just tweak it a bit and use it as as an internal, audit, audit reports for yourself even. And I just mentioned that integrity, program. So this is what also separates, FSCC 20,000 from other ISO management systems, including ISO 22,000. We have a robust integrity, program that, we monitor performance of our certification bodies continuously because we really believe that it is not about numbers, it is about quality. Every certificate we provided, every size that certified for FSSE 20,000 should really deserve it. Because when an auditors come to your site and do all the reporting, audit your organizations, after that, they have to upload those reports to our portal. So we don't just check those reports if the every classes were, just including and filled, in a right way. We also, with our integrity program, we check auditors' work experience. We check their training. So all includes we just check every part of it. So, apart from that, we also continuously visit those certification bodies and sites offices to make sure that they are doing their job right. So basically, this is what integrated program is about. So, these were the main, parts of about FSCC 20,000. There was, like, a basic brief introduction. I guess I'm gonna give the stage to Sumita now. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Nishat. Okay. Let's, jump into the main changes and why we are all here today. Okay. So, as you can see, we are now a sixteen year old organization, and FSMS has been increasing in complexity, over the years. We even within FSFS FSSC, we started way back in 2016, with our first version, and now we are at version six. So as you can see from this slide, the most basic level you talk about hygiene, PRPs. And, as you go through the, move through the spectrum, you will reach the food safety and quality culture is where we want to be. The structure of FSSE has not changed, though the some of the parts that go into it have changed now. Like in version six, FSSE, scheme is made up of three parts. At the base, we have our, I mean, it fully includes ISO 22,000 like Nishat mentioned. FSSE scheme is based on ISO 22,000, so it's fully incorporated into our, system, into our scheme. On top of that, you have the sector specific PRPs, and there's a lot of change that has happened here. So we will talk a little more in detail about it as we go through the slides. And, of course, there are additional requirements from the scheme that are there. So that is how the FSSC structure has been. This is how, the version seven structure is also, and there are some changes to it that, we we will talk about. Yeah. So every time we have these webinars, I think the question in everybody's mind is why does FSCC change the version so often, and why do they trouble organizations so much with newer and newer versions? The reason is, couple of reasons. The, the main reason this time for changing, from version six to version seven is the change in the ISO PRP standards. So for all of you, those who remember, earlier, there was an ISO 22,000 two's, technical specification, t s, that they used to say, and that is basically where your PRPs work. In July 2025, this entire structure was changed, and, there is a new release of ISO 22,002 series of, standards. Now they're not just technical specification. They're a standard, and, they have done a basic restructure of the way these standards, are laid out, and I will talk in the next few slides about that. That is one of the main reasons why we've changed. The other other reason is, that GFSI since we have been benchmarked to GFSI for a long time now, there are benchmarking requirements that we need to, adhere to and some of that has changed. So, that is the second reason. From version six, as you can see, our standard has been developing so that organizations can use them to strengthen these SDGs, the sustainable development goals, and that continues even with this version. There are some changes that have come up because, Nishat talked about the, IP program or integrity program. We have defined some sub subcategories within the, food chain categories so that auditor competence is now defined by it, and that we believe will make the audits even more robust. Of course, over the years, there are some editorial changes that accumulate, and that's another reason why we need to, change from version six to version seven. Okay. So like I said, Samita, the move yeah? before entering the I think we have a a poll question that we can ask before you. entering these. changes. Yes, please. Yeah. So our question is how confident are you that employees understand their food safety responsibilities? I see many attendees are choosing very confident, which is really great. Yeah. It's just really good to see so many professionals that, much awareness. Also, while you talk about, yeah, we have the another questions, environmental monitoring program. Because this is one of the most, I guess, nonconformities that we see when we check the results from, from integrity program. So yeah. Do you have a risk based environmental monitoring program? Usually, when we check the audit reports, what we see, they usually can people get those environmental monitoring program, directly. They don't change the how often they do their analysis, how they swap, they take swaps. So it should be total based on your scope, what you do, what results you get, your trend analysis. Sumita, would you like to contribute and maybe comment on the results, I I'm I'm very the results? to see that 68%, 69% almost think that they have a fully implemented environmental monitoring program. I think, that's very impressive. And if that is already done, I think, you know, their challenges are much lesser with the versions that we introduced. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. We have another poll, gonna it? it will be interest yes. Yeah. It's gonna be interesting to see people, to see if they are, thinking they are prepared for it because it's just been, I guess, on less than twenty days since we released the version seven. At the last part of, the session, we're gonna talk about, transition period from version six to version seven. So, we we have a big interval, window for to do transition. So you don't need to worry about if you do not prepared, which is interesting because it is only, 2%. So you think you're already ready for it. Yeah. I think, NSF, you guys need to take that into account, the need for training. Yeah. And, I think this is the last poll that we have. To be honest, version seven basically most about that PRP change, which is like ISO release because as you know, FSS 20,000 based on ISO 20,000 and also ISO, PRP standards. So since ISO released the NIF standard, we had to also as part of as well as GFSI benchmark documents. Since it's a mandatory documentary, documents of FSSE 22,000, we also had to update our version. And maybe it's a bit early to give you good news or bad news, but we might have another, standard soon next year, which is called, as you know, ISO 22,000, but it's a bit early to talk about. Yeah. I think we don't need to scare them now with the new changes to ISO. So yeah. I think this is interesting as well. You know, if it says that, improve audit outcomes, very few people have chosen. So, it's it's interesting. Yeah. I think we can yeah. Got it. Thank you. Okay. I think after the, after all the slides we had on the polls, I think I have lost somewhere the slides. I'm sorry. I just need to go back a bit. Yeah. Okay. It was. Yeah. So we are gonna now talk about, the main reason why we've changed from version six to version seven, and this is the new ISO 22,002 series that has come up. Personally, I feel it's a smart way of doing things because, the earlier TS, specifications were a bit jumbled. There were duplications in several parts and, you know, I think it was the reputation happening, across PRP standards. So what they have done, with this new, 22,002 standard is they've cleaned this up. There is now one mother standard, which is at the base of everything, which is 22,100. And then by sector, you have different, additional requirements for each, category in the foods food chain. So if you look at this a little better okay. I think. Okay. Yes. So if you look at, the twenty two thousand two series, it looks very much the layout is like the earlier t s standards, and, all these fifteen, sixteen clauses have been taken into it. This is where I'm gonna explain how it now works with, twin FSSE. So ISO changed from twenty two thousand two TS series to the new twenty two thousand two x series, and this is how it now fits into the entire FSSC, scheme. Like I said, twenty two thousand, the standard from 2018 is fully applied. It always ISO has been at the base. It still applies. Now you have to look at the twenty two thousand c two series, and the 101 applies to every food chain category. And then depending on your product, Yes. you'll have to choose the right, category, PRP from the, from the series that you have. And, of course, then there are FSSE, additional scheme requirements, and we're gonna talk about all of these through the next few slides. So just bear with me here. I'm gonna repeat a little bit again. We have a twenty two thousand two x series now. At the base or at the foundation, there is one overarching parent. Let's call it a parent standard, 22,200. This is applicable across all food chain categories. So whether you're a company manufacturing beverages or ice creams or you're a retail, space where you're selling these things or you're a packaging manufacturer or caterer, twenty two thousand two hundred is applicable across the board to all of you, okay, to every category in this. But then, there are for individual, categories, there are additional requirements that are put out, within each, scope. So for example, if you're a catering company or a restaurant, and you're FSSE cert you want to be FSSE certified, twenty two thousand two hundred, the requirements in that will apply to you. But besides that, because you're a catering company, twenty two thousand two will also be applicable. We will explain a little more on how this works. But as you see from this slide, there is no, 22,003 that that is, farming, and I think that is still under development. It is also out of the scope of, FSSC twenty two thousand, so it's not here right now. What you see new is, like, a PRP specifically defining requirements for retail and wholesale. Okay. Again, here's here are a few examples of the, what is happening because of this change. The clause numbers in the FSSE 22,002 series have now changed a little from the earlier t x TS extract. And, so now when you go back to your documentation, you will have to start looking and aligning, what you've written in your documents, which refers to the earlier twenty two thousand t s series to now to the new clause numbers that are coming from the twenty two thousand two x series that has been released. Alright? And, there are some, important changes like I explained here in this earlier slide. You have to apply twenty two thousand two hundred and then pick up what is applicable to your, food category. So, for example, if you say food manufacturing, 22,200 will talk about, you know, the usual, hygienic practices, the way construction and layout has to be done. But because you are a food manufacturing company, there will be specific requirements for you in twenty two thousand one. For example, when you're designing your food production facility, the drainage the way you do drainages, they cannot, pass over, processing lines, or there can be no drainage line that comes from the contaminated area to the clean area. So this is specific to a food manufacturing company, so you'll see that in twenty two thousand two one. If I have to give you another example, say if you're a catering company, 22,200 requirements will apply, but there will be an extra, requirement for you in twenty two thousand two, part two. That is the catering, specification where it will talk about how do you prepare food, how is it to be thawed, how is it to be frozen, when do you wash your hands between handling raw raw food and cooked food. So all these kind of additional requirements you will find in twenty two thousand two. Okay? That is how the that is how it works. I said there are changes in the clause numbers. So, as you can see, the earlier TS series had these clauses. Four, five, and six are almost the same in twenty two thousand two hundred or twenty two thousand and one, for example. But if you look at clause number seven from the earlier PRP series, it was waste disposal. The new twenty two thousand two series has built in sustainability requirements into the standards. So you will see it's not just waste disposal, but now, it talks about food loss and waste management. It talks about recycling. And the clause number has changed therefore from seven to eight, and the next clauses obviously are now numbered as nine and ten. So these are the kind of changes that have happened to clause numbers. And when you're, reviewing your documentation for version seven, you'll have to make these cross linkages, probably within your documents. The cross references might change because you'll have referred to the earlier pre r p clause numbers. So something for you to bear in mind when you're working towards version seven. Again, some more, examples here. If you look at clause 14, for example, in the, earlier series, it was on rework. If you see now twenty two thousand two hundred, the parent, series that I said, the parent foundational standard, there is nothing around rework. And the reason for this is because this is applicable to all food chain categories, rework might not apply to every category. But if you're a manufacturing company doing, and for you, twenty two thousand one applies, then you still have to think about rework because when you're manufacturing food, rework can happen. Right? But maybe for some other sector, it might not not be applicable. Like, for example, in retail, it might not be applicable. So in twenty two thousand two hundred, it's been dropped, but it is there in the, specific clauses by category. So, again, you have to relook at all this when you're doing your documentation for the version seven changes. So now let's come to the main, changes that are there, in in the clauses itself. For for all of you who know the, scheme outlay looks exactly like it did in, version six. There are, there are different parts and there are annexes that stays the same. If you look at part one, which is the overview, we had defined the categories of food. Again, that is the same as it was in version six. What you see is a new, sub subcategory. You see a column the second column added here. If you're an organization that has implemented FSCC or is implementing, this should not bother you. These subcategory classifications have been made so that, the auditor competence is defined better better. And so this app is more applicable for CVs for certifying bodies to manage auditor competence. So for example, if you look at the c one category, now you have, sub subcategory, c one, two, three, and four there. So the intent is when you have when you're sending auditors to audit these companies, if you are sending an auditor to do a dairy, he has to have qualifications within the dairy. He had somebody doing eggs and egg product needs to have qualifications in that specific scheme. So this is more to manage auditor competence to make it uniform across CVs, and this is something that FSCC has now defined. What are the kind of, qualifications you would need from the auditors to competently audit, these sectors. So there are some sectors that you can see, like c two, c three, or d two g. These guys do not have sub subcategories. But in, within the c category, you have, subcategories defined for a lot of places. Yeah. Again, no. As an organization, this will not apply to you. Now let's come to I suspect most people on the call today are from companies, who are either certified or wanting to go. So let's talk about spend a little more time here on, what are the changes. We've been I've talked about this before. The twenty two thousand two hundred c x series has been, has come up in July. It is part of the normative document, meaning you have to implement requirements in this, series. And I will not explain again, but 22,200 is the foundational thing applicable to everyone. And then depending on your category of food, you choose what applies to you. Alright? This also makes it very easy. If you're, like, a multiproduct company, then twenty two thousand two hundred, you know, will apply everywhere. So it makes it a little easier for organizations which have multiple products as well. Okay? I'm gonna now talk about couple of main changes that have happened to the already existing clauses. Existing clauses, and there is just one new requirement that I will talk at the end. So for whatever I'm talking now, these clauses already existed in version six as well. So laboratory analysis was there in version six, very much there in version seven. There have been some clarifications that have been included now. There was a, as you know, board of stakeholders are the ones who oversee the FSSE, scheme. And, you know, there was a a board of stakeholder decision that was already there in version six, which has now got included in the version seven. And, it's very simple. It says that, when you're verifying or validating parameters critical to food safety within your laboratory or sending it to an external lab, the requirements of 17 o 25 have to be considered. Okay? So, typically, that would mean if you if you like an example here, if you're looking at a scenario where you're sending your samples out for salmonella, testing, then you have to make sure that the lab is 17 o two five certified, that they are using a validated test method, that they have some form of proficiency testing that proves that they're doing it in the right method. So these these have become explicit requirement. If you will find that in the laboratory analysis. Again, this clause was already existing. There there is this clarification now added to it. The other, clarification that, we can see is, regards to, review of raw material and finished product specification. Again, something that was already there in, the earlier version. But, linking this to the GFSI benchmarking requirements, some clarifications have been added. So now, there are when you talk about microbiological, physical, chemical, all all allergen specification, that affect the food safety, these have to be put, you know, you have to look at specific or appropriate scientific documents, scientific principles, and then put up your specification. So if there is no legal requirement within your country and, for example, either you're, making a new tea drink which, you know, which has some alkaloids coming into it, and you say there are no specifications within my country, so nothing is relevant. It doesn't work that way. The expectation is you still go and look at appropriate scientific documents. Maybe your country doesn't have a, relevant legislation on it, but you can find, things maybe in the European specifications or in Australian or the US FDA. And where these are relevant, you have to go look at these scientific, documents and then, come up with specifications, which you can then also use for your suppliers. Okay? The other requirement, again, coming from the GFSI benchmark is on food fraud and food mitigation. Again, this is one, requirement that has been there in FSSE for a while now. The clarification that now has been added is you have to use competent persons, to develop the food defense and food fraud. Again, it means people with experience, people with the knowledge, people who understand your product, its supply chain, and how it's made. They are the ones who will be also helping develop the food, fraud and food defense, documents. Yeah? Food safety quality culture has been there in version six. Again, they're in, the newer version as well. Now there is some clarification added, which comes again from the GFSI bench benchmarking requirement that, you have to be able to demonstrate that you are providing sufficient resources to maintain a positive food safety culture within your organization. And there also has to be now a demonstrable commitment from all the people, all the personnel, to manage and, handle food safely. Okay. Now how this demonstrable commitment is going to be, whether it's gonna be a signed declaration from all your employees, That is something that you will determine. And, when the auditor comes in, obviously, they will be looking for real signs of commitment on the shop floor. Yeah? Again, like I we've talked about food defense and food fraud, and that, the GFSI benchmarking requirement has brought up this thing about having competent persons. Some of the, requirements that were there in our, additional requirements have now been removed. That doesn't mean we have diluted them. We have just not added it into our version seven because it's already covered in the ISO 22,200 series, which is completely applicable, when you're going for a processing. So just to, prevent repetition. The other change, artwork and, artwork management and print control, now it applies to all the organizations, not just category one or the packaging, suppliers. It applies to any organization that prints, its own labels or materials, in their, in their organization. So, you have to, again, follow all the same, rules. Like, you have to approve the standard, artwork material. You have to make sure that obsolete materials are not there, and it's not inadvertently used within your production line. You have to account for any unused, printed material that might be lying around. So these things now apply to all all, categories of organizations that print their own label. There's also clarification on management of allergens, specifically category d for pet food. So there's no, legal requirement within your country. You do not have to you can say, not applicable now, within FSSE version seven. But it also, has one clause that if you are claiming something on your label, for example, hypoallergenic food, then you have to have, you know, you have to look at that, and then you'll have to be able to justify it and have evidence for it. PRP verification also has been existing, but, there is a clarification. Now it applies to also the catering and retail and wholesale categories. Product design and development, another clarification has been added here that, shelf life validation, depend which is based on your frequency. You'll have to have, a method to do shelf life validation and verification, and it it applies to categories from b three, c, d, and k. Okay? So that is plant, the manufacturing, pet animal foods, and, the biochemical space. Traceability, again, not a new standard has been there. There has just been some, changes to the way it's worded now within our additional requirement. There were some requirements previously on the health status of people who are working in category d. This has been deleted because now it's again covered in the twenty two thousand two series. But it's been replaced with, a requirement on traceability for slaughtering. So when you're slot slaughtering animals, the carcasses has to, have traceability until you completely declare it as edit like, fit for human consumption. So you have to maintain the, traceability of the carcass and, all the parts there. Food loss and waste, again, we've introduced this in version six, clarified that you need now to have clear and measurable time targets and also define timelines. So now, actually, if you're coming to one new requirement, that's on packaging design and development. So for organizations that design packaging, primary packaging, they have to take into consideration couple of design principles, and this comes from the Australasian, Institute of Packaging, AIP. And these were the guidelines that came from them and which has been now taken up by the World Packaging Organization. As you all may know, FSSE is an associate member of the WPO, and therefore, we've taken some of these guidelines and some of these guiding principles into our requirement. And when you're if you're designing if you're if you're designing primary packaging for food industry, couple of these principles you have to bear in mind that it has to be effective in protecting your product from damage. It should extend the shelf life or at least not negatively impact the shelf life of the product. It should help you minimize food loss and waste, and there has to be clear communication on how these products have to be handled, prepared, stored. So, there, there is the Australasian Institute of Packaging. You can go to their website and look at these guidelines, and that is what, we are using now also. But please bear in mind, FSSE doesn't has not taken all of their, guidelines and everything into account. You if you're doing packaging design, you should have thought about this and, you know, apply what is relevant to you. The entire guidance has not been copied in, but you can go in and have a look at, the AIP documents for more information on this. Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna quickly run through this part. Doesn't apply to most people here, but there are some changes in the way you do auditor calculation. And I think your CVs will be better placed to talk to you on this. I'm skipping the slide. Coming to the upgrade process now, when how do we do the v seven? So similar to v six, there is a one year timeline. So the audits to the version seven will start from 05/01/2027. It was released on 2026 05/01/2026 this year. So the audits against the new version seven starts next year, May, first May, and it will go until 2028. So you already get one year to prepare, before the version seven audits happen. The final the last date, is 06/30/2028, after which there'll be no other last dates for the c b's to upload all the documents is 06/30/2828. And, all the, remaining v six, certificates after that date will be, you know, withdrawn. So, similar to v six, you have one year to prepare, and, it starts only 2027. Again, like our earlier versions, there are translations available of the scheme documents in all these languages that you see on the screen. Having said that, I'm gonna now just, go back to version six so to speak so to speak because even though we've launched version seven now, there are still something, you know, common findings that have been coming up, and it's not version seven or version six. As you see in my next slide, the kind of findings, the top 15 findings. So let's even take the top five. These are, you know, basic fundamental findings that have been coming up, are still repeated. They still make the bulk of, the nonconformances for 2025. So So if you look at the top five in this list, it's still things like physical contamination, preventive corrective maintenance, traceability, internal structure and fittings, which which are there, you know, from PRPs and HASSUP days and, you know, still these are the bulk of the things that are coming. So what I mean to say is there's still lot of work to be done, whether it's version seven coming up. These basics fundamentally still have to be looked into. Again, if you look at the major n c's, these are all for now version six. Again, it comes look at the top five. It's still something, you know, which irrespective of which version you you are on, you know, these things are coming up again and again. Internal audits, traceability, monitoring of CCPs, OPRPs, management of allergens. These are still fundamental issues that need to be addressed, and they're still coming back. Minor and see, again, similar things coming up here. So that is what I would like to leave you with, whether we when we've moved from version six to version seven, you still need to look at some of the basics while you're prepping for going to the new version and new audits. Thank you so much, and I will hand it back to, NSF to Prateek. Thank you, Smita. I think, that covered the standard very well. I understand that, the window provided was relatively low, you know, to cover such a big standard and so many updates within a span of about fifteen minutes is a hard task. So thank you so much, Smita, and thank you so much, Nezhat. I think, we had a great and an engaging session. I can see some questions which have already been, Can shared in the q and a. Sorry. Prateek, Yeah. sorry? Go on, Can I just add one thing for everyone on the call today? sir. Please go on to the FTC website, and you will find the doc in the scheme documents, you'll find a a document which, you know, tells you what has changed between version six and version seven. It'll make it very easy for you because the changes are highlighted in a red font. So, please do have a look at that. It's very easy to understand then what has changed. Yeah. Sorry, Thank. you, Smita. No worries. And I'll also drop in, the link to the, new standard documents, which are available for free consumption on the FSSC website, which I've just done now. So you guys can, use this, link and check, what what has changed and, how exactly do you think, you know, it will work for your organization. So we do have the question and answers, session coming up next. So what I will, do is, since it was a fifteen minute session for the speakers, so what I'll throw open right now is a small survey, for all the participants to answer. Meanwhile, Anujat and, Asmita can take a breather. Just a small, five question, survey on how the webinar was like, and then we dive right into the q and a. I have got quite a lot of questions already, which are there. I would request all the participants to please ensure, that they fill in the survey so it will help us become better and provide a better user experience in the forthcoming webinars. So, the survey is now live. So I would request all, all the participants to please, fill in the survey and help us, deliver better experience going forward. I do see, that some of us are not able to open the link. So let me just share that, link once again in the chat. Pratik, do we have time to answer some questions that I can see at q a session? Yes. So so we Nezhat, we have received quite a lot of, questions as part of our registration process, so which are already there, with us. So we will take those first and, then we can move to the ones which are there, live. If, obviously, if in paucity of time, we are not able to answer all of those, we will ensure, that I'll share all these questions, to both of you and to Naveen if there are any CV specific questions there, and, we'll get back to you on the email as well. So I think we are on top of the hour. So I'll close the survey now, and we'll move on to the first question. I hope we've got, Naveen, Nejat, and, Smita already on stage. Yeah. So moving to the first question, I. think it has been, shared by. Sharath Industries. are here. YSEALI, we are is asking what are the main changes between version six and version seven, which are applicable for aquaculture products? So very, sector specific question, do you want to answer? Okay. I'll answer that. Like I said, Basically, I guess the whole Go on. Go on, Nishat. thing no. No. You can't think because. it was on, your part. know, like I said, ISO 22,002 x series has come up. You will have to now go into the that series, pick up your, the relevant, twenty two thousand two hundred and the relevant category and look through it. Because you are saying it's, seafood manufacture, you will have to probably go into sec twenty two thousand two one and have a look at what, what is there within, within that, and what is applicable to you. Yeah. Anything you wanna add, Nisha? No. Just I want to say that, farming is not in our scope. So if it's like, your meaning of farming, it's not. But apart from if you're the just. doing a product, your pack, in a package as a consumer products, yes. You have to just go and just check that ISO new PRPs because it's going to just affect all the scopes everyone. Just, I want to also remind that trading and brokering don't need PRP standards. Apart from that scope, the rest has to just reconsider all their documentations and also implementations and what they need to do on-site. Thank you, Michelle. Thank you, Smita. I think next is a a very relevant question, which is asked by Mapa Seka from South Africa. So she wants to understand what advice would you give to companies that are still hesitant to start their FSSC certification journey due to cost or resource concerns. Okay. I think the simple answer, I think Nishat tried to explain to you the benefits of FSSC, which, first of all, is GFSI, certified. So if you're wanting to export or, you have you know, it opens doors for you. The second, it's based on ISO. So, extremely robust and scientific, in the way, the thing, the scheme is laid out. Easy to integrate it with every other ISO scheme. And, if you are looking at the cost, but as I think Nishat mentioned also, we are a not for profit organization. So the cost are spread out in in a three year audit cycle. It makes it much, much cheaper than, going in for other certificates, and I think you can reach out to your CVs to figure out, that further. Sure. Anything Yeah. It's add? I also Let go. I. want to add a few sentence. Yeah. Yeah. Top management is always really hard to, convince them to do transition to a GFSI scheme or even any, management systems. But, there are two parts in this. Like, first, for sure, it should be the goal of every, enterprise, every company should be to produce, safe food or end quality food because safe food is already been expected by consumers. But by, implementing FSSC 20,000, it's not gonna minimize the risk that, for in terms of food safety. But also it's gonna just increase, to quality of your products and also if you will contribute to sustainability. But, yes, top management's one of the first priority will be always the financial, challenges. So how can you convince them that how can you convince them? You can just tell them if you get FSSC search because you can sell your products to retailers. You can export your products because now is, compliant with legal requirements only is not is no no retailers will ask you, okay, you just comply with legal requirements, which is like you have to and like base for almost every company. Is like having a hassle or just having a PRP is not enough. While you're selling your products at retailer, each retailer, each of your consumers are going to ask you which certificates do you have or they're going to go to an FSSE website, check your name on public register if you're satisfied or not. So this is how you can convince them. We you can just sell more products, at least for, a top management is how we can convince them. If you have cost and resource is an issue. Because by, just selling your products, actually, you're just making more money. This is, for, I guess, top management. Let's be honest because this is, eventually, is a business. Thank you, Nishat. I think that makes sense. So okay. Moving on to the next question. It's by, Jen from Singapore. So she wants to understand how will the check auditors check, on the sustainability aspect. So is there a dedicated checklist that has been given that will net now get added? So the short answer to that is ISO 22,002 series. The 100 standard now has some things like I mentioned. It talks about food loss and waste. It talks about, reducing recycling. It talks about, how you manage, the entire it's not just waste management anymore. So these are the small changes in which, ISO has integrated sustainability. Within FSCC, of course, you have the food loss and waste, which has been there from version six, which is the way we are looking at helping organizations implement and organize themselves around meeting SDG goals. So, as far as the checklist is concerned, the requirements are there. You can read them in the ISO 22,100. You can read them in the FSSC additional requirements, and you'll have to, work around that. There is no ready made checklist that we can hand over to you. But, Nishat also said, go look on our website. There is a, checklist that auditors use. You might find the important questions from there to think about and do it. Yeah. Is there anything to add from your side? Also, I just, add this part. Yeah. With our new version seven and that, yeah, packaging design, if you're just designing a new packaging, that you have to consider that, that new design, gonna contribute, minimize the food loss and waste. This is one of the things that you can, consider for, sustainability. But also in ISO 22,000 parts, if your scope or your activities, how they are affected the climate change, this is also a part of active sustainability. And for sure, that food loss and, waste requirement itself is totally about it if they are, like, measurable targets. So, if you're an auditor during them, you can just check the documentation and you can check how, in terms of intervals like you and they shouldn't have just, let's say an intent. Oh, we're gonna minimize food loss and waste is not enough, while if you're auditing them. What is their target? Are they measurable? Are they just recording each time, like monthly or for attend of 2026? This is their target. So you need to just go and check them, all of them. I can just see at this. Sure. Thank you. I hope that, answers your questions, Jen. So we've got next question from Marina. So what are the most critical changes in version seven for group one companies? Is additional staff training required specifically for version seven? I'm sorry. I'm not sure what is group one company. She can clarify sure. what the group. I packaging. Group one. Oh, group. I. Group I. I think it is. group I. I. yes. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, whether additional training is required or not, will depend on where you're on your FSMS journey. Certainly, you need to understand what version seven requires of you. For packaging companies, we've also talked about designing packaging and the AIP guidelines. So, you need to think about that when you're designing. It's not like everything has been added into FSSE and you need to comply to all of it. So please, to start with, go have a look at, at the FSSE requirements. Look at what you have in ISO 22,002. And, also, please look at, the AIP guidelines, and that will give you some ideas on what kind of training you might take, what, where, where you are, with respect to all these, and what kind of training you might have to design. I think version seven training, most CVs will be offering, and maybe NSF will have some, training programs coming up. So, I that's that's what, you're asking. Yeah. Yeah. I also just add, many people ask if it's mandatory for organizations. I mean, it's not mandatory. FSSE never says it's mandatory, but it's just a really strongly advice. So I don't know if NSF provides training for version seven, but you can just, I contact NSF or any other people that you want to. So we strongly advise you to get, training for it. And to your question, if you need in terms of your category of packaging, food manufacturing kit, it doesn't matter. You have to be very strategical. What I mean that, like, if you just, color and gather all the people or employees and give them version seven, it might it might be meaningless because every people has a different responsibility. So, first of all, for sure, your food safety, people, team has to, learn about that, what new PRPs are and what this version seven is bringing. They have to learn by themselves. They may get this training or they can just get learn by themselves. But it is totally up to you to get a training or not. But this critical changes, yes, it's gonna affect you and there is really big changes also in it. So, I guess it is totally up to you to get training and to be strategical about it. But especially your food safety team should learn a lot about version seven. Agree. I couldn't agree more. Thank you for that, Nishad and Smita. I think we are running short of time here, but I'll try and take some more pertinent questions. I think there is one question, which should benefit all from Rubel, from Monet India. So what, what is being asked is based on your experience, what are the top three mistakes organizations should avoid during the version seven implementation? It's a threefold question. So what best practices have you observed in companies that successfully transitioned early, and how do you see FSS evolving in the next few years? Nishat, you wanna start? First of all, I mean, what yeah. Sumita already talked about nonconformities. So these are basically because you can, the group them in three. One might be like documentation. One might be culture if there's a poor culture. This might be cause nonconformities. But the idea, the first thing you need to do go as Smitha said, download that version seven changes documents which have a different, like in red color, what's the difference. A gap analysis to see what you need to do. And PRP is different, but from the, as Simitas part, she she showed the title. Titles clauses of the NIPR. They are not that much difference. Most of those requirements were still different, but it's a very nice, much nicer and very simpler English. So what you need to do just do a gap analysis first, then you may need to get, in terms of that gap analysis, just consider to get a training from a certification, from NSF, or from another certification body or another trainer. So, I can just, yes, just, Sumita, you. I I think Nishat has covered everything, but just because you asked me best practices, please remember, like I showed you from version six, the top and sees are still not just the new requirements that we add, but it's also the basic stuff like physical contamination is still a big concern. Traceability is a big concern. So while you're looking at version seven, the basics still remain the same. The foundation is still the very same for food safety that, you know, it has been for years now. So the best practice would be to have a real solid foundation to build that base really up. And then, you know, all the version changes really are, you know, little things that you need to keep adding on top of that. So the best practices would really mean to look at your entire process, figure out you know, you know your product the best, how it's happening, and what are the things that you know, you know your gaps as well, and that will help you then. So the best organizations your second question, what is what are the organization that transition easily do? They have a solid gap analysis, and then they fill those gaps to move on to the next version. Really, that's, in a nutshell what would work. Thank you, Smita. I can see. Totally agree with Samita. yeah. Sorry. Yes. Just it is totally about your scope, your size. So nobody can give you just direct suggestions or what to do for you because you know your size, you know yourself better than anyone, any auditor even. So it's totally up to you. You need to decide based on your gap analysis what to do. Thank you. No worries. Thank you. I can see that, the the worst timer has actually started on us, so we need to wind it up, fast. We're already overtime, but I do have provision for, say, taking two or three final questions before we call it a call. So I will not disappoint the people who have, punched in the live questions. So we have a question from Sushina, which seems to be very pertinent for organizations which are actually getting, certified for version six this month. So when the next year's surveillance audit be conducted against version six or version seven. So this is, I think, a top of mind question for a lot of people. I think NSF will be in a position to answer that as a CB. Definitely, it's on, the latest version. So that's the important, part. So this is how we are planning to upgrade the version, and, we want the people to go with the upgrade upgraded one. Yes. So it is totally about your cycle. If you are just if your audit is, after 2017, May 1, then it's gonna be version seven and it's gonna do it for version seven. But if it's if it's like at until end of this year and next year until '30 of, April, it's gonna be still, version six. So it is totally depend on your, cycle. And also I see so many questions about like unannounced or your cycle. Will it be a full audit or not? It won't change. It won't be, extend the audit time for your site. So it will be still very similar. As the Sumita showed, if it's like a, even a small, we can say, relatively small company, your audit mandate might be also decreased. So the rest is will be sent depending on your, time. So totally, when you have your audit time, if it's first of, May 2017, it's gonna be version seven. Thank you, Vijay. I think that answers quite a lot of other questions as well, which I can see in the chart. So there is lot of ambiguity, it seems, with respect to the transition time lines. So, you know, a lot of, I I think that answer from both of you and from Naveen brought a lot of clarity to people who are actually a little hesitant to understand, you know, what what exactly happens if they take the certification now and, you know, which version would they be, certificated against. So thank you for that. So, can there's another question from Divina Grace. So can companies who are due to this certification already shift to version seven? This is, probably a subset of the previous question. Will the raising of findings be stricter against the version seven or there'll be more tolerances because of the transition? So to answer your question, the audits will start from first of May twenty twenty seven. So, the audits that are gonna happen now are not going to be two version seven. So you have that one year timeline before you switch to version seven. And whether it's gonna be stringent or not, you have to meet the requirements, and the auditors that come will check to see how much you meet the requirements or you don't. So that that still remains the same. Yes. So that is what, is mandatory and fundamentally to ensuring food safety in organization. You know, we we need to have those, tight guidelines in place to ensure that, all the organizations, they follow food safety protocols. So we do have another questions from Vijender Gupta. It says in future, do we anticipate that if consumer facing food safety issues also approaches certification bodies, and will there be some clause in FSSC new version? There already is a requirement, on communication. So if there is something that happens, a recall or some something, some serious event happens, you have to communicate that to your CB, and the CBs also have to communicate that with neccessacy. This clause already, exists. Good. I think that brings clarity, over gender. There is, I think we have time for last two questions, so I will quickly jump over. Okay. So we have one question, from Tamim, from Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia. What are the okay. So this is, something which we have answered. He asked, what are the common nonconformities, but, which high risk areas will auditors scrutinize most when determining compliance and effectiveness? We, which high risk? This is, really, really, totally about the site because about the scope. It might be a for a cutting company, it might be different. For a packaging company, it's, like, might be total different. They may they may need to check the mitigation, about the contamination, about the site, about the, environmental monitoring. So it is totally about the, sites, and the scope. So there is no direct answer for this question. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Nezhat. I I think, we have taken quite a load of questions. The questions that remain unanswered, I'll share it with both Nezhat and, Smita, and I can get back to you over your email. We do have all the details that you submitted during your registration process along with your questions. So, I would like to thank you, all for joining us today. We hope you found this webinar informative and insightful. If you have any specific questions or need more, information, please don't hesitate to contact us on our social channels or please visit nsf.org and help us, to improve future webinars and share your thoughts, by completing the survey which I had already shared. Yes. So thank you, Smita, Nezhat, and Naveen for. the excellent presentation and engaging session. A big thank. you for all of you for participating in the q and a session and making it truly engaging. Till, next time, I'll see you, all, on the next, webinar that we have on plan here. Thank you, everyone. Have a great day ahead. Thank. you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. bye. Bye.