Any examples of government regulators recognising GFSI audits?

Hi, This might be a naive question, but are there any examples of government regulators adopting/recognising GFSI standards and audits?

Hi, This might be a naive question, but are there any examples of government regulators adopting/recognising GFSI standards and audits?

One of our clients received a letter from their client in the US stating...

"Effective annual plant audit – An annual plant audit must be performed at your plant by an accredited third party auditor with a passing grade to demonstrate that your plant is disciplined and can produce safe product for the U.S. You are required to send us a copy of the final audit report ( in English) with proper corrective actions performed together with a copy of the auditing certificate for our review every year. (Before FDA finally assigns particular auditors and auditing protocols for annual plant audit, you are requested to use BRC or IFS auditing protocol for you annual plant audit. We require a B grade score for your BRC audit or at least 90 points score or higher for Foundation Level for your IFS audit.).

From this I understand that the FDA is moving towards requiring GFSI certification for imported foods.

Gail
IQC - Israel

I did see a while ago some consultation with regard to EHOs in the UK reducing their audit frequency for BRC certified sites but I've not seen anything definite (can anyone enlighten me?) IME a BRC audit although not perfect is better than an EHO. The problem is BRC is the British Retail Consortium so effectively even though it's independent, outsiders see it as self regulation, i.e. the auditor isn't truly independent (hang on, isn't that a BRC non conformance... )

One of our clients received a letter from their client in the US stating...

"Effective annual plant audit – An annual plant audit must be performed at your plant by an accredited third party auditor with a passing grade to demonstrate that your plant is disciplined and can produce safe product for the U.S. You are required to send us a copy of the final audit report ( in English) with proper corrective actions performed together with a copy of the auditing certificate for our review every year. (Before FDA finally assigns particular auditors and auditing protocols for annual plant audit, you are requested to use BRC or IFS auditing protocol for you annual plant audit. We require a B grade score for your BRC audit or at least 90 points score or higher for Foundation Level for your IFS audit.).

From this I understand that the FDA is moving towards requiring GFSI certification for imported foods.

Gail
IQC - Israel

The FDA seems to be moving toward 3rd party audits.
See:
http://www.fda.gov/F...A/ucm257980.htm
Section I.4

Gail