Foundation FSSC released FSSC 22000 Version 7 on 1 May 2026. Nothing changes at your audits yet: every FSSC 22000 audit up to and including 30 April 2027 is still a Version 6 audit. From 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028, each certified site has its upgrade at its next scheduled audit, and that audit is a full audit against Version 7.
The work is mostly in two places. Your prerequisite programmes move from the old ISO/TS 22002 technical specifications to the new ISO 22002 series, with ISO 22002-100:2025 underneath every sector part. And a handful of the FSSC additional requirements in Part 2 have new wording that an auditor will test: laboratory analysis, food defence and food fraud competence, culture resources, packaging design, carcass traceability and food loss and waste targets.
This page sets out what changed, requirement by requirement, from the scheme documents themselves. If you would rather have it as a printable workbook with a gap checklist, download our free FSSC 22000 Version 7 Upgrade Handbook.
When do South African sites have to move to Version 7?
The dates come from the Foundation's Version 7 Upgrade Process, issued on 1 May 2026. They apply the same way in Gqeberha as they do in Rotterdam.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 May 2026 | Version 7 released, with a 12 month window for sites and certification bodies to prepare. |
| By 1 August 2026 | Certification bodies had to tell their certified clients about Version 7 within three months of publication. If you never heard from yours, ask. |
| Up to 30 April 2027 | Every FSSC 22000 audit is still a Version 6 audit. |
| 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028 | Each site's next scheduled audit, surveillance or recertification, is its upgrade audit: a full audit against Version 7. |
| 30 June 2028 | Certification bodies must have finished loading upgrades on the FSSC Assurance Platform. Version 6 certificates still left after this date are withdrawn and drop off the public register. |
Three details catch people out. There is no separate, stand alone upgrade audit. It happens at the audit already in your cycle. The upgrade audit can be unannounced if your three yearly unannounced audit falls due in the window. And if your upgrade happens at a surveillance audit, the certificate keeps the expiry date of your Version 6 certificate. It is reissued to show Version 7, but your three year cycle does not restart.
For a site going for its first certificate, Stage 1 can be done to Version 6 before 1 May 2027 and Stage 2 to Version 7 after that date, or both stages can be done to Version 7 once the window opens. Where a certification body uses the remote plus on site audit approach, both parts must be against the same version. The upgrade audit plan works backwards from your audit date month by month.
Why did FSSC 22000 change?
The Foundation gives five reasons in its key changes note: to take in the new ISO 22002 series on prerequisite programmes, to align with the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements version 2024, to strengthen what the scheme asks of sites on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to give the food chain categories a clearer structure, and to tidy the text.
The GFSI point matters for anyone supplying a retailer that asks for a GFSI recognised certificate. FSSC has applied for recognition of Version 7, GFSI's public consultation on it ran from 1 September to 1 October 2026, and GFSI currently lists Version 7 as undergoing benchmarking. Your Version 6 certificate stays valid until your upgrade audit, within the dates above. The Foundation has also said it cannot rule out new Board of Stakeholders decisions while benchmarking continues, so read the decision list again before your upgrade audit.
What replaced ISO/TS 22002-1 and the other PRP documents?
Version 6 used ISO/TS 22002 technical specifications and, for retail, a British PAS. In 2025 ISO published a new ISO 22002 series as full international standards. ISO 22002-100:2025 holds the prerequisite programme requirements common to every sector, and a sector part adds what is specific to your operation. A food manufacturer now works to both ISO 22002-100:2025 and ISO 22002-1:2025, and the sector part only contains what goes beyond Part 100.
| Food chain category | Version 6 PRP document | Version 7 PRP documents |
|---|---|---|
| BIII pre-process handling of plant products | ISO/TS 22002-1:2009 | ISO 22002-100:2025 and ISO 22002-1:2025 |
| C food manufacturing, including pet food | ISO/TS 22002-1:2009 | ISO 22002-100:2025 and ISO 22002-1:2025 |
| D feed and animal food | ISO/TS 22002-6:2016 | ISO 22002-100:2025 and ISO 22002-6:2025 |
| E catering and food service | ISO/TS 22002-2:2013 | ISO 22002-100:2025 and ISO 22002-2:2025 |
| FI retail and wholesale | PAS 221:2013 | ISO 22002-100:2025 and ISO 22002-7:2025 |
| FII brokering, trading and e-commerce | None | None. ISO 22000 and the FSSC additional requirements only |
| G transport and storage | ISO/TS 22002-5:2019 | ISO 22002-100:2025 and ISO 22002-5:2025 |
| I packaging manufacturing | ISO/TS 22002-4:2013 | ISO 22002-100:2025 and ISO 22002-4:2025 |
| K bio/chemicals | ISO/TS 22002-1:2009 | ISO 22002-100:2025 and ISO 22002-1:2025 |
A packaging converter that makes only packaging applies Part 100 and Part 4, not the food manufacturing part. Keep working to the ISO/TS documents until your upgrade audit, because Version 6 still references them. Our separate guide to ISO 22002-100:2025 covers how to run the PRP gap assessment without rewriting everything.
The FSSC additional requirements with new wording
Part 2 still has eighteen additional requirements, numbered 2.5.1 to 2.5.18, and most read the way they did in Version 6. These are the ones an auditor will look at hardest, with the Version 7 wording. We have quoted the substance from the Version 7 scheme; read your own copy before you change a procedure.
| Requirement | What Version 7 now asks for | What to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| 2.5.1 Services and purchased materials | Where laboratory analysis verifies or validates a parameter critical to food safety, the lab, in house or external, must be competent and the analysis done in line with the applicable requirements of ISO/IEC 17025. Accreditation is one way to show competence; proficiency testing and regulator approved programmes are others. For BIII, C, D, I, FII, G and K, microbiological, physical, chemical and allergen limits used for food safety must rest on sound scientific principles where no law sets them. | A list of every test behind a CCP, allergen claim or release decision, the lab that runs it and its competence evidence. If you rely on accreditation, check the schedule covers that method and product. The source for each specification limit. |
| 2.5.2 Labelling and printed materials | Any organisation that prints labels or printed materials needs artwork management and print control procedures. | An artwork approval and print run control procedure if you print in house, not only if you are a packaging maker. |
| 2.5.3 Food defence and 2.5.4 Food fraud | The threat and vulnerability assessment steps now sit in ISO 22002-100 clauses 16.2 and 16.3. FSSC adds that the plans are developed and maintained by people with the right knowledge and competence. | Named team members and the training or experience records that show they can do the assessment. |
| 2.5.6 Allergens | For feed and pet food, where the country of sale has no allergen law for them, the section may be marked not applicable, unless an allergen claim is made. Allergen awareness training for all personnel still applies to everyone else. | If you mark it not applicable, the legal basis for doing so. |
| 2.5.8 Food safety and quality culture | Version 6 already asked for culture objectives covering communication, training, employee feedback and engagement, and performance measurement, with a plan, targets and timelines. Version 7 adds that senior management provides sufficient resources, and that a demonstrable commitment from all personnel to safe production and handling of food must be available. | Evidence from the floor as well as the boardroom: toolbox talks, near miss reports, survey results, and the resources committed to the plan. |
| 2.5.12 PRP verification | Routine site inspections and PRP checks, with risk based frequency and sampling, now cover catering (E) and retail and wholesale (FI) as well as BIII, C, D, G, I and K. | Catering and retail sites need a written inspection schedule linked to their PRP standard. |
| 2.5.13 Product design and development | For BIII, C, D and K, the procedure must consider the need for production and shelf life trials to validate the formulation and process, with ongoing shelf life verification at a risk based frequency. In Version 7 this item applies only to those four categories. Cooking instructions on ready to cook products must be validated. New item (g): anyone who designs primary packaging or packaging material must consider, as applicable, containing and protecting the product, preserving or extending shelf life, minimising food loss and waste, and telling consumers how to handle, store and prepare the food, without weakening food safety. | Trial records for a recent new or changed product, a shelf life verification schedule, cooking validation for ready to cook lines, and a packaging design checklist on the four principles. |
| 2.5.14 Traceability for C0 | Abattoirs and primary conversion sites must keep traceability of every edible part of the carcass, including blood for human consumption, until the carcass is passed fit for human consumption. | A trace test that links each blood collection batch and the offal to the carcasses they came from, held until every one is passed. |
| 2.5.16 Food loss and waste | Documented policy and objectives to reduce food loss and waste in the organisation and its supply chain, and the objectives must have clear, measurable targets with defined timelines. Controls on donated product and on surplus going to animal feed. Does not apply to category I. | A measured baseline, a target with a date, and the donation and feed controls. |
| 2.5.18 Multi-site | Multi-site certification covers BIII, E, F and G. | Packhouse groups are now in scope. The internal audit team needs set training: a 40 hour lead auditor course for the lead, 16 hours for other internal auditors and at least 8 hours of FSSC scheme training. |
Two more requirements still trip sites up at audits. Requirement 2.5.17 gives you three working days to tell your certification body about serious events, such as a public recall, regulatory action over food safety that requires extra monitoring or stops production, or legal proceedings. Part 3 sets the same three working days for significant changes that affect compliance and for changes to the organisation, such as its name, address, ownership or legal status. Requirement 2.5.7 on environmental monitoring applies to BIII, C, I and K and needs at least an annual review, sooner after triggers such as a repeat pathogen detection or a long run with no positive results, which usually means the swabs are in the wrong places. Our post on environmental monitoring nonconformities covers the second.
What are the new sub(sub)categories, and do they change your certificate?
Version 7 splits several categories so that certification bodies can match auditors to the actual technology on site.
C0 splits into land animals and aquatic animals. CI splits into meat, fish, dairy and eggs. CIV, the ambient stable category that used to cover canned tuna and table salt with the same auditor, now has six parts: thermal or pressure processed, dried, preserved or self-preserved, extruded bakery and confectionery, fats and oils, and beverages. Packaging splits by material into plastics, paper and board, metal, glass and other, and K splits into chemicals and biocultures with enzymes.
These codes are about auditor competence. The Upgrade Process says plainly that sub(sub)categories do not change licensing or the certification body's accreditation scope. What you should do is check that your scope statement still describes what you actually make, and ask your certification body whether the auditor they plan to send is qualified for your sub(sub)category. A Western Cape soft drink bottler and a Gauteng flour mill both used to sit in CIV. Under Version 7 they need auditors approved for CIV-6 and CIV-2.
Audit time under Version 7
It depends on your size. The audit time formula has changed, and your certification body has to recalculate it and give you a new contract or a Version 7 addendum before the upgrade. The base time still comes from ISO 22003-1:2022. What changed is the FSSC time added on top and the rules around it.
| Rule | Version 7 |
|---|---|
| FSSC time added (TFSSC), under 100 staff and up to 2 HACCP studies | 0.5 auditor day |
| TFSSC, 100 to 249 staff and up to 2 HACCP studies | 1.0 auditor day |
| TFSSC, 250 or more staff, or 3 or more HACCP studies | 1.5 auditor days |
| Reductions to the calculated time | None allowed |
| Rounding | Up to the nearest quarter day |
| Minimum for categories C, D and K | Never less than 2 days |
| Small site exemption | Under 20 full time equivalents and no more than 2 HACCP studies: down to 1.5 days, any category. A certification body may decline it. |
Version 7 allows no reductions to the calculated time. The small site allowance no longer requires a simple process and now allows up to two HACCP studies, which helps small single product businesses. The Foundation adds no extra time for the upgrade itself, but a certification body may if it sees a need. Ask for the calculation in writing.
Certification rules to know under Version 7
- Audits must follow the cycle. A surveillance audit cannot be replaced with a recertification audit, and recertifying more than six months before expiry starts a new three year cycle and shortens your current certificate.
- Unannounced audits. At least one surveillance audit in every three year period is unannounced. The auditor starts on the production floor within an hour of arriving, and if nothing is running the audit is rescheduled rather than done on paper.
- Off-site storage. Storage elsewhere that belongs to the same legal entity, in the same country and linked to the site, is audited with the site, adding at least a quarter of an auditor day for each store. If that store also holds stock for sister companies, category G is added. If it stores for other customers, it needs its own certificate.
- New in Version 7: auditors have their own deadline. Every Version 6 auditor must pass exams on Version 7 and on ISO 22002-100 plus the sector parts they audit, and be requalified for the new sub(sub)categories by 1 May 2027.
- New in Version 7: artificial intelligence. Certification bodies that use AI in certification now need a governance framework, risk assessment and validation for it, and AI may support but not replace the auditor's judgement.
FSSC 22000 and South African food law
FSSC 22000 sits on top of the law, not in place of it. Your system still has to show that you meet the regulations for your premises and products. For most food manufacturers that means R638 of 2018 on general hygiene requirements for food premises and the transport of food, and R146 of 2010 on labelling and advertising, both under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, plus regulations under the Agricultural Product Standards Act or the Meat Safety Act where they apply. The draft labelling regulations R3337 are still a draft. Requirement 2.5.2 asks for labels that meet the law of the country where the product is sold, which matters for anyone exporting into SADC.
Check that your certification body is accredited for FSSC 22000, by SANAS or another accreditation body that signs the Global Accreditation Cooperation (formerly IAF) recognition arrangement, and that it appears on the certification body list on fssc.com.
A sensible order of work
- Ask your certification body which audit will be the upgrade, whether it could be the unannounced one, and what your recalculated audit time is.
- Buy ISO 22002-100:2025 and your sector part, run a gap assessment against them and the requirements above, and train the people who own each programme. The Transition course gives the food safety team the changes, and the person rebuilding the system needs the Implementation course.
- Update documents, let each changed programme produce records, then run a full internal audit and management review before the upgrade audit.
The upgrade audit plan turns this into a month by month timetable, and the Version 7 readiness quiz gives you a quick first read of where you stand. For classroom and in house options, see our FSSC 22000 training courses, and for templates, the Version 7 document toolkits.
Our unannounced audit readiness guide and food safety objectives examples cover two of the areas auditors test hardest, and the 25 most common FSSC 22000 nonconformities show where sites lose marks.
Training and documents for the Version 7 upgrade
All of these are online and self paced, so nobody loses a production day. Each module ends with a knowledge check, each course has a graded final assessment, and you receive a certificate when you pass. Choose by the job the person does. The course brochure has the full list on two pages, ready to forward to whoever signs off training.
Our online courses hold a 4.9 average from 2,550 course reviews and more than 7,100 enrolments. ASC is a SAATCA registered online training course provider (TC 065) and FoodBev SETA Accredited Provider No. 587/00337/1900.
For the food safety team leader who needs all three, the practitioner bundle gives one person the Introduction, Additional Requirements and Implementation courses for R6,334 instead of R8,445. New staff who still need the basics can start with the starter bundle, GMP, HACCP and Introduction to FSSC 22000, for R4,823 instead of R6,430. Training a whole team? We enrol teams in bulk on one company invoice. Ask us for a team quote.
If the problem is paperwork rather than knowledge, pick the editable FSSC 22000 Version 7 document toolkit for your food chain category. They cost R6,350 each: Food manufacturing and processing (TK01), Food packaging manufacturing (TK02), Feed and animal food (TK12), Catering and food service (category E), Retail and wholesale (category F), Transport and storage, Bio/chemicals (category K).
A toolkit is a set of templates your team still has to complete for your own site. It saves months of writing, and it does not certify anyone.
Free download: the FSSC 22000 Version 7 Upgrade Handbook. Fifteen pages for South African sites: the dates, every changed requirement, a gap checklist you can print, and a month by month plan to your upgrade audit. Fill in your details and the download opens straight away.
If you would rather have one of us walk the site with you, our consultants are SAATCA registered auditors and do Version 7 gap assessments, document rebuilds and pre-audit internal audits. Free, no obligation quote. Consulting is charged hourly.
See the Transition course, R1,450Get the free handbookAsk for a quoteWhatsApp us
ASC is rated 4.9 out of 5 from more than 400 Google reviews across our three offices (read them for Gqeberha, Johannesburg, Cape Town). Our online courses hold a 4.9 average from 2,550 course reviews and more than 7,100 enrolments. ASC is ISO 9001 certified, a SAATCA registered online training course provider (TC 065), FoodBev SETA Accredited Provider No. 587/00337/1900 and an Exemplar Global Recognized Training Provider.
Questions South African sites ask about Version 7
When was FSSC 22000 Version 7 released?
Foundation FSSC released Version 7 on 1 May 2026. Version 6 audits continue up to 30 April 2027, and Version 7 upgrade audits take place from 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028.
Is the Version 7 upgrade a separate audit?
No. The upgrade happens at your next scheduled surveillance or recertification audit inside the window. It is a full audit against Version 7 and may be your unannounced audit.
Will my certificate expiry date change?
Not if the upgrade happens at a surveillance audit. The Version 6 expiry date is kept and the certificate is reissued showing Version 7. A recertification audit starts a new three year cycle as usual.
What happens if a site is not upgraded by 30 April 2028?
Certification bodies must finish loading upgrades by 30 June 2028. Version 6 certificates still remaining after that are withdrawn and removed from the FSSC public register.
Do I still need ISO/TS 22002-1?
Until your upgrade audit, yes, because Version 6 references it. For Version 7 a food manufacturer needs ISO 22002-100:2025 and ISO 22002-1:2025.
Is FSSC 22000 Version 7 GFSI recognised?
At the time of writing GFSI lists Version 7 as undergoing benchmarking against the 2024 requirements, after a public consultation that closed on 1 October 2026. Check the GFSI site before your upgrade audit.
Sources
- Foundation FSSC, FSSC 22000 Scheme Version 7.0, May 2026, Parts 1 to 3
- Foundation FSSC, Version 7 Upgrade Process, version 1.0, 1 May 2026
- Foundation FSSC, FSSC 22000 Version 7 FAQ
- Foundation FSSC, FSSC 22000 Version 7: Key Changes Explained, 7 May 2026
- GFSI, Public stakeholder consultation for FSSC 22000 Version 7, 1 September 2026, and programmes undergoing benchmarking