# FSSC 22000 or ISO 22000

Source: https://goitf.com/en/resources/fssc-22000-vs-iso-22000

One is a management system standard and the other is a certification scheme built on top of it, and only one of them clears a GFSI clause in a supply contract.

ISO 22000 is a food safety management system standard. FSSC 22000 is a scheme built on ISO 22000 plus a specified prerequisite programme standard plus the FSSC additional requirements, and unlike ISO 22000 alone it is recognised by GFSI. That recognition is usually the whole decision.

## Three parts against one

FSSC 22000 audits against three things: ISO 22000:2018, a sector prerequisite programme standard from the ISO 22002 series, and the FSSC additional requirements. ISO 22000 on its own is the first of those. It requires prerequisite programmes but does not specify which standard they follow.

That difference sounds administrative and is not. Under ISO 22000 your prerequisite programmes are whatever your hazard analysis justifies, argued in your own words. Under FSSC they follow a published standard with prescriptive requirements for the building, the layout, the utilities, the equipment, waste, pest management, personnel facilities and more. Two auditors can disagree about whether your PRPs are adequate under ISO 22000. Under FSSC there is a clause to point at.

The management system underneath is the same management system. If you hold ISO 22000, you already own the largest of the three parts, which is why the upgrade path is common and why nobody should be quoting you for a rebuild.

## Why GFSI recognition settles most of these conversations

GFSI is the Consumer Goods Forum's benchmarking programme. Large retailers and manufacturers write a GFSI-recognised certificate into supply contracts so they can accept one audit instead of running their own. FSSC 22000, BRCGS, IFS and SQF are recognised. ISO 22000 alone is not.

So the question is rarely which standard is better. It is what your customer's contract says. Read the clause. If it names GFSI recognition, or names a scheme, ISO 22000 will not satisfy it however well implemented it is, and no amount of explaining the overlap changes the buyer's audit policy.

If nothing in your supply chain asks for GFSI recognition, FSSC buys you scope you are paying to maintain and nobody is asking for. That is a real cost every year, not a one-off.

## What is current, as of today

ISO 22000:2018 plus Amendment 1:2024 is the current management system standard and there is no 2025 edition. The prerequisite programme series was reissued as ISO 22002:2025 from July 2025, with ISO 22002-100:2025 holding the common requirements.

Amendment 1:2024 is the climate-action amendment that ran across the Harmonized Structure standards. It adds climate to the consideration of context in 4.1 and a note on interested parties in 4.2, and it carries no transition period. If your documented context analysis has never mentioned climate, that is a five-minute gap with a clause number attached.

| Document | Status |
| --- | --- |
| ISO 22000:2018 | Current. The food safety management system standard. No 2025 or 2026 edition exists or has been announced. |
| ISO 22000:2018/Amd 1:2024 | In force with no transition period. Climate added to context in 4.1, a note on interested parties in 4.2. |
| ISO 22002-100:2025 | Published July 2025. The common prerequisite programme requirements across the food, feed and packaging supply chain. |
| ISO 22002 sector parts, 2025 series | Reissued alongside 22002-100. Food manufacturing, catering, food packaging manufacturing, transport and storage, feed and animal food, and retail and wholesale each have their own part, layered on the common one. The farming part is still being revised. |
| FSSC 22000 Version 6 | Published 31 March 2023, mandatory from 1 April 2024, and holds GFSI recognition against the 2020 Benchmarking Requirements. Audits against it continue until 30 April 2027. |
| FSSC 22000 Version 7 | Published May 2026. Upgrade audits against it run from 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028. |

## Version 7, from the scheme document

Foundation FSSC released Version 7 in May 2026. Audits against version 6 run until 30 April 2027, and upgrade audits against version 7 run from 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028. The change list we leave to the scheme document itself.

A certified site plans capital work, training and audit bookings around those dates, so take them from the scheme's own upgrade document rather than from a summary of it.

What we can tell you is what to do. Ask your certification body when your own upgrade audit falls inside that window, in writing. Download the V7 scheme document from FSSC directly and read Part 2 against your current system. Those two actions take an afternoon and replace every article on the subject, including this one.

## What the additional requirements add

The FSSC additional requirements are the third layer, and they are what close the gap between ISO 22000 and the GFSI benchmark. Selected examples from Version 6 are below, several with no equivalent requirement anywhere in ISO 22000. The scheme's Part 2 sets the complete list.

Food defence and food fraud are the two that most often surprise an ISO 22000 site. Both need a documented threat or vulnerability assessment with a mitigation plan behind it, and neither can be produced retrospectively in a way that survives sampling. Food safety and quality culture is the third, because it needs evidence of activity over time rather than a policy statement.

- Food defence
- Food fraud mitigation
- Allergen management
- Environmental monitoring
- Hazard control and prevention of cross-contamination
- Food safety and quality culture
- Quality control
- Equipment management
- Food loss and waste
- Mandatory communication of serious events to the certification body

## Choosing between them, in one paragraph

If you supply international retail, foodservice chains or multinational manufacturers, your customer's contract decides and it usually says GFSI. If you supply domestically and need a credible food safety system for licensing and B2B confidence, ISO 22000 is proportionate.

In Saudi Arabia there is a second, separate driver that should be planned at the same time. SFDA's manufacturer operating licence names a HACCP certificate from an accredited certification body. Both ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 exceed HACCP in scope, but the licence requirement and the retailer requirement are different obligations with different evidence, and we have not been able to confirm that Ghad accepts either in place of a standalone HACCP certificate. Plan for both rather than assuming one absorbs the other.

The sequencing that works: HACCP first because it is a licence condition and has the longest lead time, ISO 22000 next because it turns the plan into a managed system, FSSC when a customer asks and not before.

## What the step up actually costs you

Same management system, more scope. The additional work is the prescriptive infrastructure and hygiene requirements in the PRP standard, the additional requirements, mandatory unannounced audits inside the cycle, and the scheme's own governance obligations.

Audit duration is longer than ISO 22000 for the same site, and the unannounced audit is the operational difference people underestimate. A scheme that can arrive without notice tests whether your system runs on a normal Tuesday rather than on audit day. Sites that prepare for audits rather than run systems find this out expensively, once.

The PRP standard is the other honest cost. Prescriptive infrastructure requirements can mean physical work: drainage, layout, segregation, surface finishes. Read the sector part that applies to you before you commit to a certification date, because a building cannot be re-laid in the closure window for a nonconformity.

## What buyers ask when the contract clause lands

### Is FSSC 22000 better than ISO 22000?

Not better, broader, and GFSI-recognised. If nobody in your supply chain requires GFSI recognition, FSSC buys scope you may not need and maintain it every year. If somebody does, ISO 22000 will not satisfy them no matter how good it is.

### Can we upgrade from ISO 22000 to FSSC?

Yes, and it is the normal route. You already hold the management system, so the work is adopting the prerequisite programme standard for your sector and implementing the additional requirements. Anyone quoting a fresh build has not looked at what you have.

### Which prerequisite programme standard applies to our site?

It follows your food chain category and the scheme version you are audited against, and the scheme document names the PRP standard for each category. Version 7 references the ISO 22002:2025 series, where the common requirements sit in ISO 22002-100:2025 with the sector part on top. Until your upgrade audit, read the category table in Version 6.

### Does ISO 22000 require unannounced audits?

No. FSSC 22000 requires an unannounced audit within the certification cycle. ISO 22000 certification does not, and that single difference changes how a site has to operate day to day.

### What is the current FSSC version?

Version 7, published in May 2026. Audits against Version 6 continue until 30 April 2027, and Version 7 upgrade audits run from 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028. Your certification body sets where your own upgrade audit falls in that window.

### Does an FSSC certificate satisfy SFDA?

It demonstrates considerably more than HACCP. SFDA's licensing guide names a HACCP certificate from an accredited certification body specifically, and we have not been able to confirm acceptance of an FSSC certificate in its place. Ask SFDA and get the answer in writing before you rely on it.

### Do we need BRCGS instead?

BRCGS, IFS and SQF are also GFSI-recognised, so any of them clears a generic GFSI clause. Where a contract names one scheme specifically, that is the one to hold. Ask the customer which they audit against before you choose.

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