1. General

1.1. Why did the GMP+ FC scheme change?

During recent years, together with our partners, GMP+ International gained new insights in the scheme. It was time to remove the complexity and apply the newly required insights via a systematic redesign of the GMP+ Feed Certification scheme. The redesign has made the scheme more fitting in the current time and easier to work with for the GMP+ Community.

1.2. What has (not) been changed?

The entire structure and design of the GMP+ FC scheme has been changed. The redesign project (#ProjectGMP+2020) focused on all documents of the current GMP+ FSA and FRA module. The aim and goal of the #ProjectGMP+2020 was to restructure and rewrite the GMP+ modules in order to simply in structure, improve readability and focus more on the goal to achieve and less on the process.

It is important to know that changing the content was not a goal as such. However, some content did change. This is mainly because of merging requirements from different standards. It is also important to know that the high level structure of ISO22000 has been followed as much as possible.

Practically it means that double text has been deleted, 4 standards (GMP+ B1, B2, B3 and B4) have been merged into one standard and requirements are rewritten to make them more to the point and goal oriented. Because of that some items are written differently and therefor some content changes have been made. An overview of the changes in content can be found in the S9.93 Transition certified companies - List of changes and S9.94 Transition Certification Bodies - List of changes.

Important notes:

1. the high level of feed safety of the GMP+ FC scheme has been maintained;
2. although ISO22000 has been followed, its HACCP system has not been adapted into the GMP+ scheme.

1.3. What are the benefits for my company?

The scheme is more clear in requirements and structure

The focus is on feed safety and any duplications are removed. The scheme has a clear and to the point set of requirements.

The requirements are more focused on the goal to achieve a high level of feed safety

This approach allows you to determine yourself how this high level is ensured. Goal requirements are set, but how to achieve compliance with these requirements is the responsibility of GMP+ certified companies. In some cases there are requirements which entail rules for achieving the goal requirements.

GMP+ International and its stakeholders are certain that these requirements are beneficial to feed safety and therefore your company.

Alignment with ISO 22000

ISO 22000 is a well-known and commonly used international standard. It is helpful to establish and operate a central control management system in which both the GMP+ requirements and ISO 22000 are integrated and monitored. Therefore the ISO 22000 standard serves as a basis.

2. Scheme documents

2.1. Where can I find the documents?

The GMP+ FC scheme 2020 is available on www.gmpplus.org in English, Dutch, German and Polish.

2.2. Which documents are applicable for my company?

That depends on the activities that are subject to GMP+ certification.

To support you in finding the relevant documents, a table has been made (see the F0.3 Scopes for certification).

Per scope you can find the applicable documents.

2.3. Where can I find a requirement from the GMP+ FC scheme 2010 in the GMP+ FC scheme 2020?

To support you a cross reference document has been made. This document can be found here.

The cross reference document shows, per standard of GMP+ FC scheme 2010, where a certain paragraph or requirement can be found in the GMP+ FC scheme 2020 and vice versa.

3. Scheme structure & Scopes

3.1. What is the structure of the GMP+ FC scheme 2020?

The GMP+ FC scheme 2020 is divided into a GMP+ FSA module and a GMP+ FRA module.

Within these modules all the management related requirements are gathered into one document:

• R1.0 Feed Safety Management System Requirements
• R5.0 Feed Responsibility Management System Requirements

The more technical related requirements are collected into Technical Specifications (TS).

GMP+ FSA:

The new GMP+ FSA Module is divided into two parts. There will be one general part with

Feed Safety Management Requirements R1.0. The R1.0 is applicable for all companies currently certified for a scope related to the B1, B2, B3 and B4 standards.

In addition to the R1.0 there are for specific activities, additional requirements in place. These requirements are documented in the different Technical Specifications (TS). Depending on the scope the requirements in Technical Specification are applicable, in the table below this is shown as TS 1.X.

Companies currently certified for the additional Country Notes will face limited changes, the documents are restructured to align the structure within the document and the documents have new names.

Companies currently certified for a scope related to the B3.2 Trade to Livestock Farms, B4.3 Short Sea Shipping and Inland Waterways Transport, B8 Production of and Trade in Pet Foods, B10 Laboratory testing or registered for B11 Protocol for GMP+ registration for Laboratories will find all applicable requirements in the standards. The new documents got a new name and restructured and rewritten based on the principles. These standards are so called stand-alone.

GMP+ FRA:

The structure of the GMP+ FRA module has not changed. The names of the new documents changed and the content table of the current B100 document is aligned with the R 1.0 and the document will be renumbered to R 5.0.

3.2. Do I need more scopes?

No, to be certified for GMP+ FC scheme 2020 no new or more scopes are required in case the activities are the same. The scopes of the GMP+ FC scheme 2020 are the same as within GMP+ FC scheme 2010.

For example, if a company is currently certified for the production of compound feed and the production of premixtures based on the B1 standard they will keep their scopes and will be certified based on the GMP+ FSA Module 2020. An overview of the scopes can be found in the document F0.3 Scopes for certification.

3.3. What is expected from me?

Companies need to prepare to transfer to the new scheme. We expect that you identify and implement actions needed to change from the current GMP+ FC scheme 2010 to the new GMP+ 2020 FC scheme.

More information about the transition can be found in the S9.91 Transition Procedure GMP+ Feed Certification scheme 2020.

In consultation with your Certification Body you can arrange the moment of transition. But you can always contact our registered consultants to help you to smoothen the transition. More information can be found on our website.

4. Support

4.1. Is GMP+ International available for support?

As always, GMP+ International is available for support. To help you, a variety of supporting materials have been developed. The Supporting materials are documents which contain relevant information and contain examples to help to find your way into the GMP Scheme 2020 and to implement the GMP+ requirements.

An overview of our supporting materials is available here. Furthermore you can find at the last page of all the R, TS and MI documents a specific overview of the supporting materials related to that document.

Did you also know that we work closely with GMP+ Registered Consultants? They can help you with the implementation of GMP+ FSA or GMP+ FRA.