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FSSC 22000 and IFS Food Standards (Updated)

FSSC 22000 and IFS Food Standard have been updated recently, with FSSC 22000 Version 6 to be enforced from April 2024, and IFS Food Version 8 enforced from October 2023.

You can get (free) copies of the newly updated standards from the standards owners:

FSSC 22000 Version 6

IFS Food Version 8

Changes to Food Fraud Requirements in the Standards

FSSC 22000

There have been minor changes to the food fraud requirements in FSSC 22000 for Version 6.  The clause numbers remain the same: 2.5.4.1 and 2.5.4.2.

  • The biggest change is that this standard now explicitly requires that the methodology for the vulnerability assessment process be defined.
  • Version 6 does not make any mention of the “documented procedure” for vulnerability assessments that was part of the previous version (Version 5.1).
  • The definition for food fraud in FSSC 22000 (Appendix 1) has had “feed” added to its scope.
  • For businesses within the FSSC category FII (food brokering, trading and e-commerce), they must also ensure that their suppliers have a food fraud mitigation plan.

 

Food Fraud Requirements of FSSC 22000, Version 6 (with new wording in blue)

2.5.4 Food Fraud Mitigation

2.5.4.1 Vulnerability Assessment

The organization shall:

    • Conduct a food fraud vulnerability assessment based on a defined methodology, to identify and assess potential vulnerabilities; and
    • Develop and implement appropriate mitigation measures for significant vulnerabilities.

The assessment shall cover the processes and products within the scope of the Organization.

2.5.4.2 Plan

    1. a) The organization shall have a documented food fraud mitigation plan, based on the output
      of the vulnerability assessment      , specifying the mitigation measures and verification procedures. 

      b) The food fraud mitigation plan shall be implemented and supported by the organization’s
      FSMS.
      c) The plan shall comply with the applicable legislation, cover the processes and products
      within the scope of the organization and be kept up to date.
      d) For food chain category FII*, in addition to the above, the organization shall ensure that
      their suppliers have a food fraud mitigation plan in place.

*FII = Food brokering, trading, and E-commerce activities

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IFS Food

The new version of IFS Food, Version 8, has had its requirements significantly re-worded.  The clause numbers remain the same: 4.20.1 to 4.20.4.

The new wording is easier to understand and makes the requirements more easily enforced for auditing.  But does not change what a food business must do to comply.  For example, while the previous version required that food fraud vulnerability assessments be reviewed “at least annually and/or in the event of increased risks”, the new version says they should be reviewed “at least once within a 12-month period or whenever significant changes occur.”

The only notable change to meaning is that the phrase “full commitment from the senior management” has been removed from clause 4.20.1, presumably because it is not easily auditable.

Food Fraud Requirements of IFS Food, Version 8 (with new wording in blue)

4.20 Food Fraud

4.20.1 The responsibilities for a food fraud vulnerability assessment and mitigation plan shall be clearly defined. The responsible person(s) shall have the appropriate specific knowledge and full commitment from the senior management.

4.20.2 A documented food fraud vulnerability assessment, including assessment criteria, shall be documented, implemented and maintained.  The scope of the assessment shall cover all shall be undertaken on all raw materials, ingredients, packaging materials and outsourced processes, to determine the risks of fraudulent activity in relation to substitution, mislabelling, adulteration or counterfeiting. The criteria considered within the vulnerability assessment shall be defined.

4.20.3 A documented food fraud mitigation plan shall be documented, implemented and maintained developed, with reference to the vulnerability assessment, and shall include the testing and monitoring methods.  and implemented to control any identified risks. The methods of control and monitoring shall be defined and implemented.

4.20.4 The food fraud vulnerability assessment shall be reviewed, at least once within a 12-month period or whenever significant changes occur. regularly reviewed, at least annually, and/or in the event of increased risks. If necessary, the food fraud mitigation plan shall be revised/updated accordingly.

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Takeaways

There are no big surprises in these two updates, but it pays to read all clauses carefully.

The good news is that if you have to stay up to date with multiple standards we’ve got you covered – at least when it comes to staying on top of food fraud requirements 😊

We’ve just released Edition 3 of our authoritative guide to current food fraud requirements in all major food safety standards, for auditors, consultants and food fraud specialists, with updates for the amended FSSC and IFS requirements.

Get all the food fraud requirements of all the major standards in one convenient e-book (updated)

Download it instantly, print or save it and keep it as a handy reference.

It costs USD27, which includes all future updates.  Learn more about it here.

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Honey Fraud – Much Worse Than We Thought?

From the desk of Karen Constable, principal consultant at Food Fraud Advisors.

My daughter loves honey and eats a lot of it. She spent a few months in Europe last year – mostly in Spain –  and told me the honey there had no flavour.  She said it tasted like sugar water.

‘Honey’ that doesn’t taste like honey may have been diluted with water and adulterated with non-bee sugar syrups: food fraud.  Honey is one of the most fraud-affected foods on the planet, so perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising to hear that “honey in Europe just doesn’t taste like honey”.

But I was surprised. Europe takes its honey seriously.  And it takes food fraud seriously, too.  I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear about flavourless probable-fraud-affected ‘honey’ in other parts of the world, but I was surprised to hear my daughter say it was “everywhere” in Europe.

Listen to this post on YouTube by clicking the preview below.

 

The last time I saw Europe-wide honey fraud results they were quite good.  For example, a honey-checking operation that was part of the famous Europol/Interpol anti-food-fraud activity, Operation Opson X, in 2021, found that of the  495 honey samples tested, 93% were compliant.  Separately, a European honey fraud survey in 2015 – 2017 reported only 14% ‘suspicious’ samples.Seven percent, fourteen percent, as non-compliance rates, they are hardly fantastic but they don’t match my daughter’s claim that all the honey she tasted in Europe was affected.

But new results have just been published for a multi-year European anti-honey-fraud operation and they are pretty bad.  Of the 320 samples tested in the operation, almost half were suspected of being non-compliant with the provisions of the European honey standard (the Honey Directive).

What is going on here? Why are these results so much worse than past surveys?

Firstly the samples that were tested do not represent the European-wide honey market.  The sampling focussed only on imported honey and only on adulteration with sugar syrups.

Secondly, the methods used in this most recent round of testing are almost certainly different from previous European surveys.  The test methods are only suitable to identify “suspicions of fraud” by looking for chemical markers of extraneous sugars (presence/absence only) and they are different from the officially-approved honey test methods.

The European Joint Research Council (JRC) says these methods are “the most sophisticated methods” currently available but they have not been validated and they are not part of the regulatory framework.

For this enforcement activity, the analytical results were used only as a tool to decide whether further investigations were needed to uncover fraud in the honey supply chain.  Further investigations included on-site inspections, examination of documents, computers and phone records.

Investigators reported that fraudsters appear to be deliberately adjusting the levels of adulterants so that they can evade border control checks.  The European Union’s Food Safety Commission says that officially-approved honey authenticity test methods are not keeping up with the fraudsters, claiming that analytical methods used for border control checks “lack sufficient sensitivity to detect low and intermediate levels of sugar adulterations”.

Something is just not right with honey in Europe

The investigations began more than eighteen months ago, but it appears likely that there are still high levels of fraud-affected honeys in the European market now. More than sixty percent of importers were found to have imported at least one suspicious consignment.

In fact, the European Food Safety Commission, last week reported that “there is a strong suspicion that a large part of the honey imported from non-EU countries and found suspicious by the JRC of being adulterated remains present and undetected on the EU market” (source).

Takeaways

Honey fraud is difficult to detect and expensive for government agencies to investigate.  Fraud perpetrators have been shown to use sophisticated systems to evade detection, and these investigations appear to show that importers and exporters are working together to defraud customers and governments.

If your business purchases honey, food fraud mitigation activities must go beyond checking documents or relying on letters of guarantee.

As a consumer, it is impossible to tell whether honey is fraud-affected or not, but if you suspect honey of being fraudulent, contact the brand owner as a first step and share your concerns.

…. Or you could seek out incense honey, a premium mono-floral honey from the incense flower in Portugal, for which all samples in a recent analytical test were found to be authentic 😊.

🍏 Source: https://food.ec.europa.eu/safety/eu-agri-food-fraud-network/eu-coordinated-actions/honey-2021-2022_en 🍏

 

*** This post originally appeared in Issue #81 of The Rotten Apple Newsletter.  Subscribe to The Rotten Apple to get unique, helpful food safety and food fraud information direct to your inbox every Monday  ***

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How To Do a Vulnerability Assessment for Food Fraud

Updated 30th December 2022

What is a vulnerability assessment?

 

A vulnerability assessment is a risk-assessment-style evaluation of a food’s vulnerability to food fraud.

A food fraud vulnerability assessment is a documented assessment that identifies vulnerabilities to food fraud and explains how those vulnerabilities were identified.

Vulnerability assessments are also done to assess the threat of a malicious attack on food.  Malicious attacks include attacks conducted for extortion, ideological reasons or terrorism. We call these issues of food defense. To learn more about vulnerability assessments for food defense (intentional adulteration), click here.

Why ‘vulnerability’ and not ‘risk’? 

 

  • A risk is something that has occurred before and will occur again. A risk can be quantified using existing data.
  • A vulnerability is a weakness that can be exploited.  A vulnerability can lead to a risk.

Food fraud is difficult to estimate and quantify, so we use the word vulnerability rather than risk.

Why do a vulnerability assessment?

 

  1. To protect consumers: Food that is vulnerable to food fraud presents significant risks to consumers.  Food that is adulterated or diluted   [Read more…]

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Future and emerging threats of food fraud

Food fraud: you don’t want it.

  • If you are manufacturing, wholesaling or retailing food or beverages, fraudulent activities within your supply chain pose risks to your brand and to your customers.
  • Different food types vary in their susceptibility to food fraud.
  • The risks change over time.
  • Purchasers of food and food ingredients must remain vigilant about new and emerging risks.
  • The requirement to monitor emerging and predicted food fraud issues is a part of all major (GFSI) food safety standards.

Learn how to monitor food fraud threats here.

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Food Fraud Online Training Course

Food fraud requirements of BRC, SQF, FSSC and other food safety standards

How to meet the food fraud prevention requirements of major food safety standards

This course will make audit preparation a breeze.  It contains step-by-step instructions, worked examples and downloadable templates to help you meet the food fraud requirements of all major food safety standards.

sqf edition 8 food fraud

 

  • Learn about food fraud and how it can put your brand and your consumers at risk
  • Hear food fraud stories that will surprise you and learn ways to protect your business
  • Get step-by-step instructions for food fraud vulnerability assessments and food fraud mitigation plans, using real life examples
  • Download templates for vulnerability assessments, mitigation plans and food fraud prevention procedures
  • Proceed at your own pace; skip forward and back through the lessons, start and stop at your convenience*

The content is a mix of written words and short video clips, plus downloadable worked examples.

Ask the trainer a question at any time.

What’s included?

  • Food Fraud Commonly Affected Foods Ebook
  • Food Fraud Vulnerability Assessment template
  • Food Fraud Prevention Procedure template
  • Food Fraud Mitigation Plan template
  • Vulnerability assessment document – worked example
  • Raw Material Specification template
  • Food Fraud Team Job Descriptions
  • Top tips for audit preparation
  • Special 40% discount code for use on www.foodfraudadvisors.com
  • Optional exam and Certificate of Competency

Duration: 3.5 hours

Visit our training academy today

* course is available for 6 months after commencement