ASC Food Safety Consultants
Leading with Science. Ensuring Food Safety.
Mthokozisi Nkosi, Food Safety Specialist and Lead Auditor 
This article explains what a Certificate of Acceptability is, what are the requirements and the steps to obtain your COA in South Africa.
Do you consider starting a food business in South Africa? This article discusses the steps to take and the regulations to consider. It emphasises the importance of following food safety regulations. A key step is to obtain a Certificate of Acceptability (COA) which requires an inspection of your premises by an environmental health inspector. We also discuss other relevant legislation and the staff training requirements as per Regulations R638. You are welcome to join our very popular free webinar.
Wondering what’s new in GLOBALG.A.P. IFA V6? Find out how new digital tools and stronger sustainability standards are making farming safer, smarter, and more eco-friendly.
What is GlobalG.A.P? GlobalG.A.P. is an internationally recognised certified standard that ensures Good Agricultural Practices. GlobalGAP. outlines international standards that act as a safeguard for food safety, workers’ health and safety, animal welfare, and environmental protection. The focus is on agricultural produce, livestock, and aquaculture. GlobalGAP.’s objective is to promote …
As the retail market demands changed, the Global Food Safety Initiative had to update its benchmarking requirements to align with new food industry trends and information. In February 2020, the GFSI then released the new benchmarking requirements under GFSI V7.2. To maintain its GFSI recognition, GlobalG.A.P, a certification standard …
What is Food Defence and TACCP? Food defence and TACCP consider measures implemented by food companies to protect the food against intentional contamination by individuals normally motivated by hatred, an ideology, disagreement, or any other malicious intent. Organisations, therefore, implement a Threat Assessment Critical Control Point (TACCP), which is …
GlobalG.A.P. has introduced the new GlobalG.A.P. IFA V5.4. The constantly changing market demands pertaining to food safety practices in this rapidly changing global economy have accelerated into major adjustments of policies, regulations, and standards. It is for this reason that GlobalG.A.P. is continuously making efforts of updating its assessment criteria …
The Food Safety System Certification 22000 (FSSC 22000) requires organizations to ensure implementation and continual review of Food Safety Culture. The requirement is that the organisation needs to show evidence that the senior management is committed to ensuring implementation, maintenance, and continual improvement of the food safety management system, and …
Food safety culture goes beyond the need to comply with standard requirements; it is more about the behavioural attitude towards daily activities in an organisation that is committed to ensuring food safety. An organisation that has strong food safety culture puts consumer safety at the core of its business. What …
GlobalG.A.P. is a farm certification scheme that promotes good agricultural practices and the production of primary products in a safe manner while taking into account worker welfare and health. What is GlobalG.A.P.? Global Good Agricultural Practice (GlobalG.A.P.) is an internationally recognised certification standard that promotes Good Agricultural Practices under a …
Quality is providing services or products that are not inferior, meets and exceeds the required standards, and fits the purpose. Quality has two terms; Quality Control and Quality Assurance. Although the two terms seem similar, they mean different things that we shall explain below. What is Quality Assurance? Quality Assurance …
In November 2020, FSSC 22000 published a new FSSC 22000 version to align with the latest GFSI requirements. The new FSSC 22000 V5.1 will come into effect on 1 April 2021, and all sites must be audited against Version 5.1 by 31 March 2022. There are only a few changes …
The main difference between ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 is that ISO 22000 is not GFSI recognised and FSSC 22000 is GFSI recognised. What does this mean and is it important? Other differences lie in the composition of ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 standards. Let’s have a look at each and …
Primary health care is the first contact that communities make with the country’s national health system. It is the first constituent of the health care system. Primary healthcare is meant to facilitate health care provision as close as possible to where communities are. The main focus areas of primary healthcare …
The WHO defines primary healthcare as a concept that considers individuals’ holistic health care needs and their communities. The major components of primary health care are an adequate supply of water, sanitation and health education. These components have never been more critical than now during the COVID-19 pandemic. Good hand …
South Africa is one of the countries where the Public Health System structure was transformed into a district health system. The aim was to deliver health services to people following primary healthcare principles and guidelines. Primary health care is the first contact that communities make with their national health system. …
On 3 November 2020, the Foundation FSSC 22000 has published Version 5.1 of its FSSC 22000 certification Scheme. The main reasons for an updated version are compliance with the latest benchmarking requirements of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and strengthened requirements for Certification Body (CB) performance as part of …
South Africa’s most accredited online R638 Person in Charge course, 8 hours of self-paced video learning across 4 modules, finishing with a live Zoom video-call assessment by a SAATCA-credentialed assessor. Triple-accredited by SAATCA (TC No. 065), FoodBev SETA (F01/585/ASR00067) and the HPCSA. Lifetime course access. QR-coded HPCSA certificate accepted at …
ASC Food Safety Consultants has developed readymade FSSC 22000 V6 audited documentation toolkits to help organisations develop a comprehensive Food Safety Management System in line with the FSSC 22000 Version 6 requirements. FSSC 22000 stands for Food Safety System Certification and is a GFSI recognised scheme. The Foundation for Food Safety …
