GFSI Opens New Public Consultation on Securing the Future of Food Safety Auditors

Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), The Consumer Goods Forum’s Coalition of Action on food safety, is pleased to announce the launch of a consultation on a new proposed approach to food safety auditors’ qualification, training and ongoing Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The consultation, which will be open for four weeks, relates to Feature 1 of the Race to the Top (RTTT) Framework and is designed to enable the development and implementation of a new set of Benchmarking Requirements for programmes developed by Professional Recognition Bodies to support and verify food safety auditor competence.

The proposed Benchmarking Requirements were developed by a Technical Working Group gathering experts on the topic representing various GFSI and education stakeholders; this enabled consensus building on the content of the document submitted through this consultation, taking into account different points of view, impact of this work on the GFSI community and, more broadly, the food safety community.
The purpose of this consultation is to engage with all interested stakeholders on:

• the technical content of the proposed Benchmarking Requirements; and
• the ability of the new approach to deliver the outcomes of the RTTT feature 1.

Erica Sheward, GFSI Director, The Consumer Goods Forum, said, “Today, many more food safety auditors are needed to ensure that people have access to food they can trust to be safe and so there is an increasing shortage of qualified food safety auditors, requiring urgent action to remedy. To help deliver a collective solution, GFSI is working in partnership with organisations around the world to boost recognition for the profession, attract new recruits, and invest in career development and recognition for auditors already in employment. Building both numbers and competence of auditors will also help ensure consistently high and reliable audit experiences for auditees. This consultation, of course, now gives everyone involved a platform to share their inputs”.

Through the global reach and CEO leadership of The Consumer Goods Forum, GFSI is uniquely placed to help drive positive change in this area, representing some of the largest food businesses on the planet. However, GFSI understands the important role of Professional Recognition Bodies, certification bodies, certification programme owners, as well as the auditors themselves, and is keen to work with all parties to ensure the most holistic solution to boost entry into the profession and support retention.

GFSI invites all interested parties to join this mission to build awareness of the vital role of food safety auditors and transform how food safety auditors are taken care of.

Please read the full consultation document and provide your feedback by completing the online survey, included in the document, before noon CEST on 25th May. We also encourage you to circulate this consultation to other relevant stakeholders in your network to ensure we gain maximum feedback.