Certification Bodies

Registration fee

The Danish Agriculture & Food Council requires a registration fee to be levied by the Certification Body from the auditee for every audit undertaken. The fee for issuing audit reports and certificates is currently 250 €.

Requirements for Certification Bodies

Only the Certification Bodies that have GRMS within their ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation scope shall carry out audits against the Global Red Meat Standard and issue reports and certificates. The Accreditation Bodies granting accreditation to the scope of the scheme shall be members of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and shall be signatories to the Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) for the appropriate scope.

For new Certification Bodies wishing to perform audits against the Global Red Meat Standard, accreditation may not yet have been achieved. In such circumstances, the Certification Body will be permitted to perform audits if it can demonstrate:

• An active application for accreditation against ISO/IEC 17065.
• That accreditation will be achieved within 12 months of the date of application
• The experience and qualifications of the auditors are consistent with those specified by DAFC
• A contract is in place with the DAFC and all other contracted requirements have been met

The acceptability of audit reports and certificates generated by Certification Bodies awaiting accreditation but meeting all the above criteria is at the discretion of individual users.

The Certification Body shall have a system in place to evaluate conformance with GRMS and fully comply with other associated requirements of the certification programme.

The Certification Body shall hold and maintain records regarding the qualifications, training and experience of all staff involved in the certification process.

Requirements for auditor training and qualifications

Auditors must have a degree in food related or bio-science discipline or, as a minimum, successfully completed a food related or bio-science higher education course or equivalent. Minimum 5 years of experience within the food industry at the level of Manager Operations or Quality Assurance is required.

Auditors must have knowledge of relevant legislative requirements and a good understanding of quality assurance, quality management and HACCP principles as well as animal welfare issues.

DAFC is offering a mandatory one day training program including the standard requirements, audit protocol and personal examination, including assessment of product category knowledge and understanding of HACCP, food safety and animal welfare issues related to the meat industry.

Upon completion of the GRMS-training and before taking up unsupervised duties auditors shall be assessed on their performance in a combination of 10 audit days and 5 audits on GFSI-recognised schemes. If the specific auditor is already approved for auditing GFSI recognised schemes, only one supervised GRMS audit is required to ensure the assessment of capabilities in relation to GRMS and the meat industry.

The Certification Body shall establish, document, implement and maintain a programme, which shall include at least 5 on site audits per year at different sites against GFSI approved schemes within the food industry.

To ensure specific GRMS scheme knowledge each auditor shall carry out at least 1 on site audit per 12 months against GRMS. If this is not possible DAFC will arrange a mandatory training for the specific auditor to maintain scheme knowledge and to re-qualify the auditor.