ANAB Accredits Global Standards S.C. (GSSC) to Certify Foreign Food Supplies Under FSMA Program

ANAB accredited Global Standards S.C. (GSSC) in accordance with ISO/IEC 17065 and Food Safety Modernization Act certification scheme requirements and regulations.

ANAB has accredited Global Standards S.C. (GSSC) in accordance with the international standard, ISO/IEC 17065, Conformity assessment—Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes, and services, and pertinent certification scheme requirements and regulations under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA.

GSSC is accredited to conduct food safety certification for the following programs: a) 21 CFR Chapter 1, Subchapter A Part 1, Subpart M – Third-Party Accreditation (TPA) Final Rule; and (b) Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals.

The FSMA empowers the FDA to take proactive steps to prevent the sale, distribution, and consumption of tainted food products by recognizing accreditation bodies such as the ANSI National Accreditation Board to assess the competence of food safety product certification bodies according to ISO/IEC 17065 and FDA regulations. The goal is to create a food safety system that supports the prevention of contamination—rather than reacting to contagions that have already occurred.

“We’re happy to announce GSSC’s accreditation under the FDA’s accredited third-party certification program of the FSMA,” said Lane Hallenbeck, executive director of the ANSI National Accreditation Board. “This is accreditation reflects another step to ensure food safety practices meet essential requirements on a universal level throughout the supply chain.”

ANAB Accreditation for Food Safety

Through its product certification accreditation program, ANAB currently accredits 36 certification bodies that operate under a number of certification schemes dedicated to assure food safety, in accordance with ISO/IEC 17065. ANAB is also recognized by the FDA, in the FSMA program, as an accreditor of management systems certification bodies under ISO/IEC 17021-1.

Laws in Arizona, California, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas, and West Virginia, as well as some local jurisdictions, require food handlers within their limits to have a food-handling training certificate from an ANAB-accredited certificate program, demonstrating compliance with ASTM E2659, Standard Practice for Certificate Programs, an American National Standard (ANS). Twenty-six states have adopted food-protection manager certification requirements, which the ANSI National Board accredits under the Conference for Food Protection’s Standard for Accreditation of Protection Manager Certification Programs.