This article focuses on explaining what is EHEDG: its portfolio, collaboration with GFSI, and membership benefits for FSSC.
Foundation FSSC is a proud member of EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group), a non-profit consortium of Building and Equipment manufacturers, Food producers, Service providers, Research institutes and universities, and Public Health authorities and Governmental organizations.
The EHEDG group was founded in 1989 with the objective of developing knowledge and guidance around hygienic design and engineering to assist in ensuring food safety and quality. Despite European origins, it has a global reach.
EHEDG Product Portfolio
The main objective of the organization is knowledge sharing and having a common dialogue about Hygienic Design and Engineering.
- Guidelines – Over 55 guidelines and papers published. Developed by volunteers and covering topics like hygiene design principles, materials of construction, building design, cleaning and disinfection, to name a few
- Testing and Certifications – Closed and open equipment certification in accordance with hygienic engineering and design requirements
- Training and Education – Organized by authorized trainers recognized as subject matter experts. Offering advanced in-person training courses and fundamental courses, both online and in-person.
Kelly Mulholland, our Technical Manager of Safety and Quality, has successfully attended the EHEDG Advanced Course in Hygienic Engineering and Design, to also ensure that Foundation FSSC stays up to date on hygienic design and engineering practices.
Their members range from large organizations, food producers, equipment manufacturers, and even small and medium-sized organizations. EHEDG partners with different organizations such as 3-A SSI that focus on upholding US Regulatory Objectives. 3A provides a framework for meeting US Regulatory Compliance with respect to equipment management. EHEDG and 3A review each other’s standards and guidelines to ensure a harmonized view of what hygienic engineering and design should look like.
EHEDG Collaboration with GFSI
In 2017, both organizations began engaging to establish a technical working group to develop benchmarking requirements for the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). This resulted in 2 benchmarking scopes – JI and JII.
JI – Hygienic Design of Food Buildings and Processing Equipment for building contractors and equipment manufacturers
JII – Hygienic Design of Food Buildings and Processing Equipment for building and equipment users, e.g., food manufacturers
These scopes are entirely voluntary, and users are not obligated to meet these requirements.
EHEDG has written a white paper on GFSI Hygienic Design JI and JII scopes, to support food industry stakeholders in interpreting and applying the benchmarking requirements for these scopes.
How does FSSC benefit from EHEDG Membership?
EHEDG membership provides FSSC’s technical department with access to knowledge (including access to all published guidelines, the e-learning platform, and past webinars) and guidance on hygienic design and engineering of equipment, which links to the FSSC 22000 Additional Requirement 2.5.15 on Equipment Management. FSSC and EHEDG collaborate through joint webinars on equipment management and hygienic design expectations to help increase the knowledge of the FSSC 22000 (certified) organizations on this important topic.
