FSSC 24000 Achieves SSCI Recognition

PARIS, February 15, 2024 /3BL/ - The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) is pleased to announce that Foundation FSSC has successfully completed the SSCI Benchmarking process and achieved SSCI Recognition for their FSSC 24000 Scheme. The FSSC 24000 Scheme for Social Sustainability Management System Certification, was successfully benchmarked against the SSCI Benchmarking Requirements for Processing and Manufacturing. In achieving SSCI Recognition, FSSC 24000 demonstrates leadership in the effort to build credibility among sustainability standards worldwide.

The aim of the FSSC 24000 Scheme is to ensure that social sustainability management system requirements are met, resulting in certifications that assure organisations provide safe and fair working conditions, meet business ethics requirements, and apply due diligence in their supply chain management. FSSC 24000 provides a strategic approach incorporating the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle and risk-based thinking, which ensures the identification and control of social risk and continuous improvement. This process demonstrates corporate responsibility and facilitates improving the social management systems and performance, thus driving impact.

FSSC 24000’s scope of certification includes the manufacturing and processing sector (food and non-food), including its related service provision. The certificate confirms that the organisation’s social sustainability management system is in conformance with the FSSC 24000 Scheme requirements based on the following normative documents:

• BSI/PAS 24000:2022 – Social management system requirements (Publicly Available Specification)
• FSSC 24000 Additional Requirements (as determined by the FSSC Board of Stakeholders)

The FSSC 24000 Scheme is owned and governed by the non-profit Foundation FSSC and outlines the requirements for the audit and certification of a Social Sustainability Management System of an organisation. More information on the FSSC 24000 Scheme is available on their website.

Elles de Jonge-Bosch, Manager Quality and Sustainability for EMD and SSCI CO-Chair, said, “EMD is excited to see that another social scheme went through the SSCI Benchmarking process successfully. As the retail Co-Chair of the SSCI we are very invested in supporting the SSCI mission. Retailers rely heavily on certification and audit reports from their suppliers. FSSC 24000 now being part of the list of recognised schemes means we can be confident they meet our industry’s social requirements. This is very valuable to us, and we hope more social and environmental schemes will follow FSSC 24000.”

Aldin Hilbrands, Chief Executive Officer for Foundation FSSC, said, “At Foundation FSSC, we are extremely proud to have been successful in demonstrating that our new Scheme FSSC 24000 has been successful in meeting all the expectations of the major retailers and manufacturers in the consumer goods industry. Our innovative FSSC 24000 Scheme allows for integration with existing ISO management system certifications which provides unique efficiency benefits for the industry. In addition, we also offer our Assurance Platform to share data within the supply chain to facilitate risk management and reporting. We thank the SSCI team for their professional support along the way and look forward to working together providing trust and impact to the consumer goods industry”.

Reuben Levy, Benchmark Leader for SSCI, said, “Foundation FSSC clearly created its new FSSC 24000 program by directly embedding SSCI social and scheme management standards. Based on the strengths of its experienced team, comprehensive development process, and robust pilot, FSSC 24000 was set up for a successful launch in line with SSCI expectations. I’m looking forward to reviewing the FSSC team’s ongoing implementation in a year during SSCI’s Monitoring of Continuous Alignment (MoCA) process.”

As it ‘verifies the verifiers,’ the SSCI awards an additional, yet essential, layer of trust to sustainability standards that demonstrate alignment with the SSCI Benchmark Criteria and achieve SSCI Recognition. As SSCI-Recognised standards, third-party auditing, monitoring, and certification schemes and programmes signal a strong commitment to raising the bar in their certification processes and driving harmonisation in a diverse field of sustainability standards, while at the same time remain free to innovate their approaches to ensure sustainability in a dynamic way. Today’s announcement demonstrates that FSSC 24000 meets the industry’s expectations and FSSC 24000 is now fully recognised by the SSCI.

For more info, please contact:

Luiza Reguse

Senior Manager, SSCI

The Consumer Goods Forum