What are the Benefits of Obtaining GFSI Certification?
Jennifer Kinion
The advantages of becoming certified in a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) scheme span far and wide for food and beverage companies. Not only can maintaining GFSI compliance boost your company’s performance, but the initiative also benefits consumers and the food system as a whole. Here are just a few of the most noteworthy ways in which your company can benefit from GFSI certification.
Competitiveness
GFSI certification helps your company stay competitive. It is especially beneficial for food manufacturers in the B2B space, as many companies have stringent vendor requirements, including GFSI certification. Certification therefore yields broader access to markets. Moreover, many purchasing companies accept GFSI certificates, which can reduce duplicated audits.
Many of today’s leading companies seek GFSI-recognized programs in their supply chain, including Amazon, The Coca-Cola Company, Nestle, Target, and Walmart, among others. In fact, the leading reasons many food and beverage companies seek certification are to continue doing business with an existing customer or to begin doing business with a new customer. Ultimately, to contend with leading brands, today’s food and beverage companies can leverage GFSI certification to demonstrate their commitment to quality and safety.
Better Performance
In addition to staying competitive in the market, certification can also drive internal business results as well. According to a study of 15,000 members of GFSI-certified food manufacturing facilities and food suppliers across the globe, nearly 90% of respondents felt becoming certified aided in addressing food safety concerns, and 74% would become certified again even if their customers did not require it. The majority of companies also witnessed an improvement in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the year directly following GFSI certification.
Safer Food
The reason more and more buying companies are seeking GFSI-certified suppliers is simple: the standards help to ensure a safer product. GFSI-recognized schemes provide shared risk management tools, so food safety management is optimized across all levels of the supply chain. When your company becomes certified, your food safety management system will continuously improve with evolving standards. You’ll therefore be positioned to keep up with the latest requirements in safety at any given time. This also provides a foundation for a strong legal defense, and it can even work side-by-side with any efforts you’ve already put in place for compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
Resource Optimization
While becoming certified requires an initial investment of time and labor, the benefits of certification have a lasting impact. It gives the food industry a comparable approach to audits, which can prevent audit fatigue. With fewer redundancies in audits, you can focus your company’s time and efforts on more strategic initiatives. Additionally, complying with GFSI standards helps you achieve reduced failure, which can also positively impact your bottom line.
About SafetyChain Software
SafetyChain is a Digital Plant Management Software that helps food and beverage companies improve productivity, profitability, and compliance with a flexible, user-friendly software platform that captures, manages, and analyzes real-time operations data.
