Certifications to Suit Consumer Requirements
As consumers become more label-conscious, more people demand transparency from food and beverage manufacturers. They want to know what’s in their food, how it was made, where it comes from, and that it’s safe and healthy. Obtaining an internationally-recognized food certification proves your commitment to upholding quality and safety standards – helping you build trust with your customer base.
The Importance of Certification in the Food Industry
While food handling and safety certificates ensure your facility operates legally, getting additional, voluntary food certifications shows consumers your dedication to delivering high-quality products that meet specific standards. Your customers appreciate that third-party food certificates are not free and how obtaining them often includes an extensive application and review process.
Having a certification seal on your packaging is a symbol of quality, assurance, and trust. It can convey your commitment to sustainability, ethical manufacturing, natural ingredients, or religious dietary requirements, helping you attract a more diverse audience.
7 Certifications for the Food and Beverage Industry
- ISO 22000
ISO 22000 is an international food safety standard that assesses the entire supply chain, including raw materials, additives, processes, and packaging. It proves to your customers that you have comprehensive safety documentation, excellent traceability, sophisticated communication models, and effective supply chain management. - FSSC 22000
The Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000 includes all the ISO 22000 standards plus an in-depth review of your organization’s risk management plan. It shows consumers that you understand the hazards involved in food or beverage production and have effective control measures and ongoing evaluations to ensure food safety. - BRC Global Standards
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) certification includes internationally recognized food quality, safety, and transparency standards. You must have a documented quality management system that covers your processing facility, storage, personnel, packaging, and distribution systems to obtain BRC certification. - Non-GMO Project Verification
The Non-GMO Project provides non-GMO certification for food and beverages in North America. Obtaining this certificate involves facility inspections and ingredient testing to ensure your products do not contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This certification covers both plant and animal products – you must ensure traceability to verify non-GMO diets for the livestock used in meat and dairy production. - Halal Certification
Halal is an Islamic dietary requirement that forbids the consumption of various foods, including pork, alcohol, and insects. The halal certification process involves an in-depth review and inspection of your ingredients and their sources to ensure that both raw materials and food additives meet halal standards. - Kosher Certification
Kosher food standards are part of Jewish dietary laws that restrict the consumption of various animal products. It also prioritizes a clean food preparation environment and forbids mixing meat and dairy in one meal. A rabbi must inspect your facility during the kosher certification process to ensure meat products never contaminate dairy products and vice versa. Kosher certification also covers the careful handling of wine and grape juice. - Organic Certification
Certified-organic food contains no artificial additives, GMOs, antibiotics, or hormones and must adhere to strict farming standards set out by the USDA. After the organic certification process, you may obtain one of three organic seals: “100% organic”, “organic”, or “made with organic” to print on your food packaging, depending on your ingredient list.
Third-party food certifications can help you build trust with consumers, assuring them of high-quality ingredients and safe handling and preparation standards. Having multiple certifications enables you to reach a wider audience with stricter dietary requirements. Advanced Biotech is committed to traceability and quality control, and our food flavoring ingredients are USDA organic, halal, kosher, and BRC certified. Please contact us for more information.