Compliance Certification & Auditing

HACCP Certification

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) is a process control based system for food safety. The HACCP principle for Food safety has been developed based on guidelines for HACCP application as per the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

The HACCP system is a process control system guidelines which is applicable to any organization those who are dealing with Manufacturing, trading, supply, retailing, packing, transportation, farming etc of food product. The HACCP system provides the guideline to identify the food safety Hazards (Physical Hazards, Chemical Hazards & Biological Hazards), evaluation of Food safety Hazards and Food safety Risk analysis, establishing the PRP’s, setting of product characteristics, Critical control points, critical control limits, validation , verification , identification of potential emergency situations related to food safety etc.

The summarized requirement details of HACCP are given below :

HACCP Certification Concept

Worldwide Responsible for Accredited Production

WRAP was formed out of the desire to create an independent and objective body to help apparel and footwear factories around the world verify that they are operating in compliance with local laws and internationally-accepted standards of ethical workplace practices. We trace our origins back to the mid-1990s when reports surfaced of sweatshop-like conditions in numerous apparel factories around the world, including excessive working hours, unsafe conditions, and the denial of several legally-mandated benefits to workers. Recognizing that such a scenario could jeopardize the apparel industry as a whole, the American Apparel Manufacturers Association (now the American Apparel and Footwear Association) moved to coordinate an industry response to the issue. A task force was formed which received input from a variety of stakeholders including brands, suppliers, NGOs, academia, and government officials. Based on their findings, the task force recommended the creation of an independent third-party organization free of government or corporate influence that could identify and reduce the prevalence of sweatshop conditions in factories around the world. The first Board of Directors was named in 1999 and WRAP was officially incorporated in 2000.

Recognizing that the program’s credibility depends on ensuring objectivity, WRAP is specifically organized to be independent – both financially and in terms of governance – of the apparel industry. This starts with the make-up of its independent Board of Directors. Although the apparel industry is represented on the Board to provide insight and perspective, by charter the majority of the Board is comprised of individuals not affiliated with the industry. Further, structurally, WRAP is not set up as a membership organization (yet, despite receiving no income from dues, memberships or government grants, WRAP is financially sound, with its revenue being generated entirely through facility registration fees and training revenues).

Today, WRAP has grown to become a global leader in social compliance and a trusted independent supply chain partner for dozens of companies around the world. Its comprehensive facility-based model has made it the world’s largest independent social compliance certification program for the apparel/textile industry (according to a 2010 UNIDO Study, Making Private Standards Work For You, WRAP is the “standard most often cited” for social compliance certification in the textile sector). There are currently over 2,200 WRAP-certified facilities found throughout the world employing over 2 million workers.

SEDEX CERTIFICATION

Sedex, the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange, is a not-for-profit organisation based in London, UK, open for membership to any company anywhere in the world.

Sedex is a membership organisation for businesses committed to continuous improvement of the ethical performance of their supply chains. Companies join Sedex in order to use the Sedex web-based system, participate in Sedex governance , participate in working groups , network and engage with other Sedex members , utilise Sedex value-added services.

Sedex enables member companies to efficiently manage the ethical and responsible practices of their global supply chains, generating transparency through the provision of a data exchange.

Sedex focuses on four pillars. Members commit to improving their supply chain performance accordingly.

Reducing the number of audits

“This membership allows us to respond to our customers’ diversified supply chain needs. We can now help them monitor sustainable performance in the supply chain more effectively, providing more visibility on the results of our audits. By submitting supply chain audit results to the database, we help ensuring transparency and re-use of existing audit data. A manufacturer does not need to re-audit a company to qualify them as suppliers, but rather checks their status in the Sedex database.”

“Our collaboration with Sedex is an important step for the direction we are taking with supply chain activities. We intend to pursue relations with key players in the supply chain arena, underlining the growing importance of supply chain auditing for our business.”

The benefits

SMETA is designed to benefit retailers and consumer brands and their suppliers, reducing duplication of effort in ethical trade auditing. Companies who are not members of Sedex are able and encouraged to use SMETA as well.

Sedex is a comprehensive platform that enables the effective management of complex global supply chains, leading to real business benefits for your organisation.

Improve your reputation

Demonstrate to stakeholders and customers that you are committed to driving improvements in your supply chain.

Gain competitive advantage

Many customers see Sedex as an important part of their responsible sourcing practices and companies increasingly view Sedex membership as a condition of supply.

Reduce risk

The reports available on Sedex, and specifically the Sedex Risk Assessment tool, can help assess the likelihood of issues occurring in your supply chain. Improve supplier relationships

The Sedex model encourages increased supplier engagement, helping you to drive ethical and responsible improvements within your supply chain.

Save time and money

Sedex allows more time and resources to be spent on making improvements rather than on completing multiple audits and unnecessary paperwork.

SMETA is not a new code of conduct or standard to which audits should be conducted. It is rather a compilation of best practice in ethical trade audit technique, intended for experienced auditors to help them to conduct high quality audits that will be accepted by multiple retailers and brands

RoHS, short for Restriction of Hazardous Substances, is specific to the European Union. The law revolves the handling of hazardous materials, ranging from the manufacturing to the disposal of the material. While created inside of Europe for members of the European Union, other regions around the world have utilized and created offshoots of the RoHS. This includes nations throughout Asia (China, Japan and South Korea) and versions of it inside of North America as well. Manufacturers of hazardous material must become RoHS compliant in order to sell and distribute the product inside of the European Union, which is exactly why it is so vital for a company to obtain these credentials. The specific process set in place to assist these companies is rather straight forward though, so it should not prove difficult to follow through with the RoHS certification and RoHS compliance regulations.

In order to obtain the certification, it is necessary to seek out a third party company that provides test reports of the material, material declarations directly from the supplier and what is known as a Declarations of Conformity. It is all about testing the material, making sure its housing, manufacturing and distributing is aligned with the set forward regulations of RoHS,

When working with these third party organizations, they test the presence of different chemical compounds and components, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated diphenyl ethers and polybrominated biphenyls.

Benefits of RoHS

Halal Certification

Halal is a religious standard which comes from Arabic word meaning lawful or permitted. Halal gain popularity in gulf countries by their religious Code of conduct in ISLAMIC Religion.

The opposite of halal is haram, which means unlawful or prohibited.

Halal certification is applicable on FMCG such as Food products i.e. Meat Products, Juices, Spices, Pulses, food ingredients etc. Cosmetics products, Pharmaceuticals, Phytochemicals Ayurveda and Unani products.

As globalization of market is increased and most of demand in GULF MARKET of our FMCG product, these product require religious faith by the consumer in Gulf Market, Halal certification on the product increase the faith of the consumer who consume or used the FMCG Product by seeing the halal certification or logo on them.

Halal doesn’t allows the food Alcoholic drinks and product found as an ingredient in them. i.e. Foods made with pure or artificial vanilla extract coz vanilla is prepared with alcohol.

Pork meat and its by-products e.g. gelatin, lipase, pepsin, land animals without external ears Halal certificate is issued for either one year.

ACASCERT is happy to provide you with information about ingredients and products upon request. Just fill out the Contact Us form with your questions.

We can help you identify Halal compliance of critical ingredients in:

Compliance with GMP requirements entails minimum common sense sanitary and processing requirements applicable to all food processing establishments. Many food industry companies have implemented the GMP certification scheme for food processing as the foundation upon which they have developed and implemented other quality and food safety management systems, including HACCP, ISO 22000, SQF and ISO 9001.

A Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification scheme provides independent verification and certification that the basic manufacturing practices and prerequisites necessary for the implementation of an effective Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety program are being followed.

Benefits of GMP Certifications

Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) Compliance Monitoring

A number of countries require manufacturers of industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, veterinary drugs, pesticides, cosmetic products, food products, feed additives, etc., to establish through data that use of these products do not pose any hazards to human health and the environment. Non-hazardous nature needs to be established through studies and data, which will be examined by the regulatory authorities of the concerned countries. Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) is system used for achieving these objectives.

GLP certification is voluntary in nature. The test facilities/laboratories have to submit the prescribed Application fee and apply in the prescribed application form. The inspection of the laboratory is carried out by the GLP inspectors, followed by a final inspection. The report, prepared by the inspection team, is considered by Technical Committee whose recommendations are placed before Commission. GLP Certification is valid for a period of three years and the GLP Secretariat organizes surveillance at 18 months from the date of certification and a re-assessment during third year for maintaining the certification.

Industries/test facilities/laboratories, dealing with chemicals listed in para above and conducting safety studies for submission to Regulatory Authorities, can apply for obtaining GLP Certification in one or more of the following areas of expertise:

A potentially explosive atmosphere is composed by air mixtures of gases, vapours, mists or dusts, which can ignite under certain operating conditions.

Equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres cover a quite large range of products, including equipment used on fixed offshore platforms, in petrochemical plants, mines, flour mills and other areas where a potentially explosive atmosphere may be present.

The Equipment and Protective systems intended for use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres (ATEX) Directive 94/9/EC provides the technical requirements to be applied and the relevant conformity assessment procedures before placing this equipment on the European market. These requirements are given technical expression by "Harmonised Standards", developed by the European Standardisation Organisations

CEN (for non-electrical equipment) and CENELEC (for electrical equipment) - develop standards which references are presented to and published by the European Commission in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

Few standards for ATEX certification process are
60079-1 ,61241-1, 60079-2 ,61241-4 , 60079- 60079-6 ,60079-7 ,60079-15 1 EN13463-1, EN13463-2, EN13463-3, EN13463-5, EN13463-6, EN13463-7, EN13463-8 60079-18 ,61241-18 ,60079-11,61241-11

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is the leading trade association for UK retailing.  Although the BRC food safety standard began in the UK, it is now recognized as a global standard.  There are over 17,000 BRC certified sites worldwide, and a large network of BRC certification bodies in 90 countries. BRC initially developed its Global Standard for Food Safety in order to help the food industry meet legislative requirements of the EU General Product Safety Directive and the UK Food Safety Act. 

This standard is recognized as a GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) benchmarked food safety scheme and has been accepted by 8 major international retailers: Carefour, Tesco, ICA, Metro, Migros, Ahold, Walmart and Delhaize.

The GFSI is a project led by the business forum CIES to harmonize international food safety standards and reduce the need for multiple supplier audits. The CIES members include leading retailer organizations and food manufacturers.

Rather than create another standard, the GFSI Technical Committee identified the key components necessary for good food safety standards and the operating protocols for the delivery of certification and created a benchmarking document. Standard owners such as the BRC were invited to submit their standard for benchmarking.

The BRC was the first standard to be recognized as meeting the GFSI benchmark. Benchmarking to GFSI ensures that the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety is accepted by many of the world’s biggest retail groups, e.g., Walmart. The BRC’s ability to react to changing food safety concerns, meet customer requirements, and yet provide a simple, easy-to-follow process for manufacturers, has resulted in the Standard becoming one of the most popular GFSI standards.

The Standard provides benefits not only for the retail industry, but also for food manufacturers, importers, caterers, ingredient suppliers and the food service industry. It is currently used by suppliers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Far East, North and South America and Australia. Offering this truly global standard fits perfectly with CERT ID’s worldwide certification activities, and is an international mark of excellence for the certificate holder

BIFMA CERTIFICATION

BIFMA is the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association. It was founded in 1973 with a mission to lead, advocate, notify and develop standards for the North American office and institutional furniture industry.

BIFMA is certification for examination of Institutional furniture. BIFMA sponsors the development of safety and performance standards, gives industry statistics and forecasts, advocates for regulatory situation that foster value and innovation, and serves as a forum for member cooperation and collaboration.

BIFMA certification sponsors the development of safety and presentation standards, gives industry statistics and forecasts, advocates for regulatory conditions that foster value and innovation, and serves as a forum for member cooperation and collaboration.

Benefits of Bifma Certification

The CE mark demonstrates that the product meets the requirements of relevant European directives. It is mandatory for a wide range of products sold within or exported to the European

CE mark on a products

Indicates to government/s that the product can be legally sold within the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA).

CE Mark is the manufacturer's claim that the product meets the essential requirements of all relevant European Directives. CE Mark compliance is legally enforced requirement for the European Union member states and the European Economic Area countries. The countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, UK. Other countries are most likely to adopt the directives in the near future. To sell products in any of these countries CE mark is an essential requirement.

5S is the beginning of a healthy, comfortable and productive life for everyone at work. This is fundamental to productivity improvement This problem solving model utilizes five factors namely Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke (in Japanese) which in English imply Sort, Set in Order, Shining, Standardize and Sustain, respectively. It represents everything you need to do at all levels beginning from eliminating the superfluous to effectively employing management. In case you are looking for an example of a successful industry that has used this method in the past, Toyota is an epitome.

The concept of 5S is to promote safe and efficient work environment

Why 5S?

5S gives visible and motivating results therefore it is the first step in the implementation of Kaizen, TPM and Lean Manufacturing When we implement 5S we have the opportunity to improve our own work place