How we provide trust
The Integrity Program aims to provide our stakeholders and the consumer goods industry with a trusted brand certification platform. The program achieves this via the continuous and effective operation of several processes to ensure compliance with Scheme requirements and protect certification integrity and the FSSC brand.
The Integrity Program staff assess and verify Certification Bodies’ performance via several remote and in-person activities. The results of the Integrity Program activities are used to monitor trends and define improvements in conjunction with licensed partners.
Our monitoring activities
The Integrity Program conducts monitoring activities frequently throughout the year to assess compliance with Scheme requirements. These include the following:
- Desk Reviews: offsite assessments of audit packages, certificates, and auditors’ competence registered in our database.
- Office Assessments: assessments are conducted remotely or onsite via interviews with CB personnel. Integrity Program assessors perform both activities.
Continuous Improvement
Embedded within all ISO-based management systems should be a continuous improvement process in an organization’s manner of working to identify opportunities for improvement. The FSSC Integrity Program is no different, and this continuous improvement extends to our CB performance evaluation systems.
One of our performance evaluation systems is the Onboarding Program (OBP). This program was officially launched in January 2021 and is designed to support newly licensed Certification Bodies in understanding performance expectations. The requirement for complying with the OBP was included in version 5.1 of the FSSC 22000 Scheme. Its completion is mandatory for all new CBs entering a licensing agreement with the Foundation.