GFSI, the Global Food Safety Initiative, is an industry solution of The Consumer Goods Forum.
Our mission is to drive progress in food safety from farm to fork, by setting the benchmark for third-party food safety systems certification. Certification programmes that continuously meet that bar obtain GFSI recognition.
“GFSI-recognised” means that a food safety certification programme has been independently assessed and found to meet GFSI’s robust Benchmarking Requirements.
These requirements establish a baseline framework for how certification programmes should manage and deliver food safety certification.
GFSI recognition applies to specific scopes (e.g., farming, manufacturing, distribution) and standard versions. Find the certification programmes that are GFSI-recognised.
Our GFSI Benchmarking Requirements are publicly available and can be downloaded from our website.
They serve as the criteria against which food safety certification programmes are evaluated for GFSI recognition.
Certification Programme Owners (CPOs), also known as scheme or standard owners, are the organisations that own and operate specific food safety certification programmes or schemes. They set the detailed standards for certification.
Certification Bodies (CBs) are independent organisations that carry out the actual third-party audits against a CPO’s standard. They are responsible for issuing certificates to companies that successfully meet the standard’s requirements.
GFSI Scopes define the specific areas of the food supply chain that a GFSI-recognised certification programme covers.
When a CPO’s programme receives GFSI recognition, it’s always against one or more of these specific scopes.
This helps food facilities find a certification programme that precisely matches their business activities.
Achieving certification against a GFSI-recognised food safety programme is a strategic decision that can significantly enhance your brand’s reputation.
To secure this valuable recognition for your site, your company will need to successfully undergo a third-party audit against a programme operated by a GFSI-recognised Certification Programme Owner (CPO).
Here are the five key steps to guide you through that process:
To find the right CPO, we invite you to visit our website and consult the list of GFSI-recognised Certification Programme Owners (CPO) according to the GFSI Scope that is relevant to the activities your business carries out.
Select the scope to identify the appropriate CPO, contact the CPO directly, and request their requirements. Familiarise yourself with the requirements for certification and determine which certification programme is most aligned with your business interests.
It’s important to clarify that GFSI itself does not provide food safety certification.
Instead, Certification Bodies (CBs) issue certificates after a successful audit against a GFSI-recognised scheme or standard.
To verify if your existing certificate has been issued against a GFSI-recognised programme and covers the relevant scope for your business activities:
If you require any further specific information regarding your certificate’s recognition or scope, we recommend contacting the Certification Body (CB) that issued your certificate directly.
It’s important to clarify that GFSI itself does not provide food safety certification.
Certification Programme Owners choose which specific scheme or standard they submit for recognition.
If there are no Certification Programme Owners listed under a specific scope, this means that none have chosen to submit a scheme or standard for recognition for that particular scope.
GFSI has no influence over Certification Programme Owners in this regard. We invite you to discuss this issue with your customer.
It’s important to clarify that GFSI does not recognise all the schemes and standards of any Certification Programme Owner.
Certification Programme Owners choose which specific scheme or standard they submit for recognition.
To check if a Certification Programme Owner (CPO) offers programmes that are GFSI-recognised, please visit our website.
Click on the Certification Programme Owner to view the list of schemes and programmes that are GFSI-recognised.
The Global Markets Programme (GMaP™) is not a food safety standard, and as such, it should neither be audited against nor certified.
Instead, the GMaP™ is a self-assessment tool designed to help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) understand the maturity of their Food Safety Management Systems and identify gaps in relation to being audited against a GFSI-recognised certification programme.
GFSI does not enable or support the use of the GMaP™ as a third-party audit tool. If you are interested in achieving GFSI-recognised certification, your company must successfully undergo a third-party audit against a programme operated by a GFSI-recognised CPO (see answer 2.1).
You download the toolkit by clicking on the Access Toolkit button at the bottom of this page.
Please note: we are currently updating content on the website, including the Global Markets Programme Toolkit, and will inform the GFSI and food safety community once it becomes available.
We invite you to sign-up to the GFSI newsletter to stay up to date with the developments and be informed as soon as it becomes available.
The term “GFSI certified” may not be used, as it implies that GFSI issued the certificate.
GFSI is a benchmarking organisation and does not issue certificates.
GFSI does not permit the use of its logo for promotional, advertising, branded material or stationery.
This precaution is put in place to avoid creating the perception that GFSI provided a certificate or that GFSI has endorsed or approved the activities, products and/or services of your organisation.
Instead, we can suggest that if your GFSI-recognised certification programme owner has authorised use of their logo, a tagline can be added (e.g. “Certification Programme Owner Logo, a GFSI-recognised certification programme”).
Please find our logo usage guidelines here.
If you are ever unsure you can always send through a specific example of what you had in mind and we will let you know if it is allowed or not.
Thank you for your commitment to food safety!
Please note that the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is an industry-led benchmarking initiative. We do not approve or train auditors.
If you wish to become an auditor for one of the GFSI-recognised Certification Programme Owners, we invite you to contact them directly to discuss their programme requirements, and/or contact a Certification Body delivering certification to seek their requirements on auditors.
Please note that the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is an industry-led benchmarking initiative. We do not approve or train auditors.
Instead, our role is to benchmark Certification Programme Owners (CPOs) against a globally recognised set of criteria. These requirements establish a baseline framework for how certification programmes should manage and deliver food safety certification, including expectations for auditor competence and programme governance.
While all GFSI-recognised CPOs must comply with these baseline criteria as a minimum, they also retain the autonomy to go beyond them, introducing scheme-specific requirements. This means that decisions around auditor qualifications are determined and implemented by the individual CPOs and applied by CBs during auditor recruitment or approval processes.
As such, GFSI is not able to assess individual eligibility or comment on scheme-specific qualifications.
For clarity on how your experience aligns with a specific programme, we must refer you back to the relevant CPO or Certification Body.
We are in the process of developing a searchable public database for companies / products that have GFSI-recognised certification.
We will inform the GFSI and food safety community once it does become available.
We invite you to sign-up to the GFSI newsletter for updates and be informed once the database is launched.
It is important to note that GFSI itself does not issue certificates; rather, Certification Bodies (CBs) issue them following a successful audit of each supplier against a food safety certification programme.
To verify if your supplier’s certificate is from a GFSI-recognised programme:
For any further specific information regarding your supplier’s certificate’s recognition or scope, we recommend contacting the Certification Body (CB) that issued their certificate directly.
We’re thrilled you’re interested in GFSI!
GFSI is an industry solution of the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), the number one global network of the consumer goods industry.
There are a number of options for getting involved:
Attend the GFSI Conference: Anyone can attend our annual GFSI Conference. Join us 24-26 March 2026 in Vancouver, Canada.
Sign up for News: Anyone can sign up here to receive GFSI news by email. You will also be notified about opportunities to apply to join our Working Groups or to comment on our documents when they are released for open comment.
Follow us on LinkedIn: Everyone should follow GFSI on LinkedIn.
Become Certified: Food product and service providers can become certified against a GFSI-recognised food safety management certification programme.
Apply to Join a Local Group: Local Groups support GFSI’s efforts to share knowledge and promote a harmonised approach to managing and improving food safety across geographies. Apply to Join a Local Group.
Apply to Join a Working Group: Subscribe to GFSI News to be made aware of Calls for Participation in a technical Working Group.
CGF Membership: Food business owners and some stakeholders can become members of CGF; GFSI participation is linked to CGF membership. Please let us know if you would like one of our colleagues to get in touch with you about becoming a CGF member and what the benefits are.
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