SQF vs. BRC vs. FSSC 22000: Which Scheme Do You Need?

A major retail customer just asked for GFSI certification. Your current SQF cert covers one facility, but another customer is asking for BRC. Meanwhile, you're hearing that FSSC 22000 Version 6 is now the recognized scheme, and something called Version 7 is already in development. If you're trying to figure out which path makes sense for your plant, this guide is for you.

ISO standards aren't the same thing as GFSI schemes, but you can't understand one without understanding the other. Think of it this way: ISO 22000:2018 is the foundation. FSSC 22000 is built on top of it, the way a house sits on a foundation. The foundation doesn't tell you what the house looks like, but nothing stands without it.

ISO 22000:2018 defines the requirements for a food safety management system (FSMS). It covers hazard analysis, prerequisite programs (PRPs), HACCP principles, management commitment, and continual improvement. In 2024, Amendment 1 was added to address climate change considerations, consistent with updates across other ISO management system standards.

ISO 22000 certification signals conformance to an internationally recognized food safety management framework, and it satisfies many customer and retailer requirements. That said, it operates alongside, not in place of, applicable regulatory obligations. If you're operating in the U.S., FSMA compliance is a separate requirement. In the EU, Regulation 852/2004 applies. Certification doesn't replace those obligations.

ISO 9001 is a general quality management standard that applies to any industry, not a food-specific standard. Its relevance here is structural. Because ISO 22000:2018 is built on the ISO High-Level Structure (HLS), organizations already certified to ISO 9001 can integrate food safety management without duplicating effort. The clause structure is compatible, which reduces the documentation burden for joint certification programs.

Looking for a broader overview of food safety compliance requirements? The key components of food safety compliance guide covers the regulatory foundations that run parallel to certification work.

FSSC 22000 Version 6, recognized by GFSI in August 2024, is built on three distinct layers. Plants that struggle with FSSC audits often don't have a technical problem. They have a structural confusion problem.

Layer 1: ISO 22000:2018 + Amendment 1 (2024) This is the management system foundation. Every FSSC 22000 certification requires full conformance with ISO 22000:2018.

Layer 2: Sector-specific PRP standard from the ISO 22002 series This is where most facilities select the wrong standard. ISO 22002-1 covers food manufacturing, but the series includes six other parts. Choose the wrong one and your PRP documentation won't align with what your auditor is checking against.

Layer 3: FSSC scheme-specific additional requirements These are requirements defined by the FSSC Foundation directly, covering topics like food fraud prevention, food defense, allergen management, and environmental monitoring. They're not in ISO 22000 or ISO 22002. They're a separate document, and they change between versions.

The naming is confusing because these standards were developed by different bodies at different times. ISO 22000 comes from ISO. The 22002 series also comes from ISO. The scheme-specific requirements come from the FSSC Foundation. If your audit prep treats all three as interchangeable, expect nonconformances.

This is the question most QA managers get wrong the first time. Use this table to identify the correct standard for your facility type:

If you're a food manufacturer, ISO 22002-1:2025 is your standard. Note the year: the 2009 version has been superseded. If your FSMS documentation still references ISO 22002-1:2009, that needs to be updated before your next audit.

Multi-category operations, say a manufacturer with an on-site distribution center, may need to apply more than one standard. That's not unusual. Your role of GMP in the food industry documentation will typically reflect both.

GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) benchmarks certification schemes against a common standard, which means SQF, BRCGS, and FSSC 22000 are considered equivalent for most customer and retailer requirements. That's the practical answer to the multi-customer problem many QA managers face: if one customer requires SQF and another requires BRC, either certification generally satisfies both, because both are GFSI-recognized.

Regional context matters here. FSSC 22000 has stronger adoption in Europe. SQF dominates in North America, particularly with retail customers. BRCGS has deep roots in the UK and EU, and is common among suppliers to UK retailers. If your primary customers are U.S. grocery retailers, SQF is often the path of least resistance. If you're expanding into European markets or working with UK-rooted retail chains, BRCGS or FSSC 22000 may be what they're asking for.

Scheme selection has real commercial consequences. Lehi Mills, a flour mill and dry goods manufacturer operating since 1910, had been following GFSI requirements internally but wasn't third-party certified. When leadership committed to market expansion in 2022, they rebuilt the entire QMS to SQF 9 code requirements and implemented digital programs to support it. That certification opened access to larger markets and customers that weren't available to them before. Before committing to SQF, review the SQF Quality Code and changes to SQF Code Edition 9, the Edition 9 updates affect how manufacturers document food safety culture and management system controls.

For a structured comparison of GFSI schemes, the GFSI schemes overview is a useful reference once you've identified your target scheme.

Preparing for your next GFSI audit? A digitized quality management system cuts the documentation burden before and during audits. See how SafetyChain supports food and beverage manufacturers through certification cycles.

Certification isn't a documentation project. Certification isn't a documentation project; it's an execution discipline. The standards define what you need to have in place. Whether you actually have it in place, consistently, every shift, is a different question.

Joyce Farms, a heritage breed meat processor, found out what that gap looks like under audit conditions. Before implementing daily digital record maintenance, their QA manager described audit prep as "flipping through books and documents... ultimately stressed trying to find everything." They received a B on that audit, with write-ups for missing documents. After maintaining records in SafetyChain daily, they received an AA+ on an unannounced BRCGS audit. The auditor was checking in as the QA manager pulled into the parking lot. No prep time. No stress. Just records that were already current.

The lesson isn't "use software." The lesson is that GFSI certification requires ongoing execution, not periodic preparation. If your PRP records, HACCP monitoring logs, and supplier documentation are only organized before audits, you're not running a certified food safety management system. You're running a filing project.

Want to understand what BRCGS auditors are looking for specifically? The BRC audit preparation guide and the full BRC certification guide cover what "audit readiness" actually requires.

FSSC 22000 Version 6 is the current GFSI-recognized scheme as of August 2024. If your facility is certified to V5.1 or V5.2, confirm your transition timeline with your certification body. Version 5.x audits are no longer conducted under the current GFSI-recognized scheme.

Version 7 is already in development. SGS has published an early overview of expected V7 changes and timeline. If you're in a multi-year certification cycle, it's worth tracking now. The FSSC Foundation publishes updates at fssc.com.

The honest reality: major version transitions require updating your FSMS documentation, retraining relevant staff, and often adjusting your internal audit program. Plants that treat scheme updates as a one-time gap assessment tend to find nonconformances at their next external audit. Build version monitoring into your annual management review process instead.

ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 require documented hazard analysis, CCP management, nonconformance records, corrective actions, and supplier controls. For a small QA team, maintaining all of that on paper or across disconnected spreadsheets is a genuine operational burden.

RedBird Farms reduced pre-shipment paperwork review from 12 hours per week to 3 hours after implementing digital forms and real-time exception notifications. Their QA director was the only person authorized to complete paperwork review and pre-shipment sign-off. That's a position most QA managers recognize.

The documentation requirements aren't going to shrink. ISO 22002-1:2025 and FSSC Version 6 additional requirements are detailed. As certification scope grows, supplier controls, allergen management records, environmental monitoring, and CAPA tracking don't scale on a folder and a spreadsheet.

SafetyChain's HACCP software and supplier compliance management capabilities are built around the specific documentation requirements these standards impose. CAPA management, GMP audit digitization, and real-time nonconformance tracking support FSSC 22000's scheme-specific requirements directly. If your current system makes audit prep a multi-day effort, that's the problem worth solving first.

For a clear picture of what a digitized food safety QMS looks like in practice, the food QMS software overview is a practical starting point.

Preparing for your next GFSI audit? Start with your documentation gaps, not your training schedule. SafetyChain's digital plant management platform supports HACCP monitoring, CAPA management, GMP audits, and supplier compliance in one connected system. See how it works.