Food safety is a basic human right.Compliance to Food Safety Standards and Legislation reduces the risk for producers and manufacturers from being held legally responsible in cases of food-borne sickness. Compliance to food safety standards is also a requirement for market access to lucrative international retailers. Non-compliance to food safety standards is therefore a dangerous and non-beneficial business practice for food operators.
What We Offer
Although we specialize in food safety systems, we strive towards a total
integrated quality management system approach. We are therefore able
to design a customized quality management system according to your
needs incorporating management systems like HACCP, ISO 22000, BRC, ISO
9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 18001.
Legislation
Most countries have laws to protect consumers from unsafe food. In South Africa, all companies involved with the manufacture of foodstuffs must legally comply with Regulation 918 of the Health Act of 1977. Companies that ignore or break these laws will be held legally accountable if they are found to be implicated in a food-borne case or outbreak. Click here for a complete list of applicable legislation for the food industry in South Africa.
The need for food safety standards
Due to the world's ever increasing population, more food has to be produced to meet the demand. There is therefore an ever-increasing demand on governmental authorities (legal compliance) to ensure effective monitoring of businesses involved with the production of food. Some countries have very limited monitoring of businesses involved with the production of food. Food safety laws also vary from country to country.
Big supermarket retailers, especially in the UK, EU and North America who import food from all over the world have developed their own food safety standards.These food safety standards are based on international food safety legislation. This ensures that legal and safe food products are obtained, regardless of the country of origin. Companies wishing to export their products to the UK, EU and North America must therefore comply with these food safety standards. Many retailers in the EU will not accept any fresh products from outside the EU unless a GlobalGAP certificate has been issued to an exporting supplier. It is therefore clear that a GlobalGAP certificate is a passport to international trade.
Following an independent assessment by auditors from an impartial certification body, an accredited certificate is granted to a company that complies with these standards.
