Twenty-five years ago, the food industry was facing a moment of reckoning.
Trust in food safety systems was eroding, and a series of global food crises exposed alarming gaps and inconsistencies across supply chains. Consumers were asking hard questions, retailers and manufacturers were seeking clarity, and regulators were demanding more.
The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) was born from that urgent need.
The early days of GFSI
I had the privilege of being personally involved in the early days of that journey.
We knew we were tackling something big back then, but I don’t think we fully grasped how far-reaching GFSI’s impact would become. What started as a bold idea to bring harmonization and transparency to food safety standards has since grown into a global movement that has reshaped how we think about food safety certification.
What GFSI has achieved
GFSI created something the world desperately needed: a common language for food safety. By benchmarking and recognizing certification programs that meet rigorous criteria, GFSI gave businesses a credible, consistent way to demonstrate their commitment to safe food. It built a bridge of trust between producers and customers, between countries and continents, and across an increasingly complex global food system.
Over the past 25 years, the results have spoken for themselves. Certification has become more robust, auditing standards have improved, and countless organizations have embraced the idea that food safety isn’t just a compliance requirement—it’s a core part of their responsibility to the public.
GFSI helped make that shift possible, and it remains one of the most influential forces in the industry today.
Raising the bar is needed
But as we mark this milestone, we must ask: What comes next?
The truth is that the environment we’re working in now differs greatly from 2000. Supply chains are longer and more interconnected. Technology is evolving rapidly. Consumer expectations are higher than ever, and rightly so. With this new complexity comes a new responsibility—and a fresh challenge: ensuring that trust in food safety certification continues to grow, not just hold steady or, worse, decline.
That means it’s time for all of us to step up and raise the bar.
It’s not enough to maintain the systems we’ve built. We need to strengthen them. We must address inconsistencies in audit quality. We must reinforce auditor competence and independence. We must move away from a “pass/fail” mindset and toward a culture of continuous improvement—one where certification signals a deep, embedded food safety culture, not just a snapshot in time.
GFSI has laid the foundation, but the future depends on how we build on it. Everyone in the ecosystem—retailers, manufacturers, scheme owners, certification bodies, auditors, and industry leaders—must play their part. We need greater transparency, tighter accountability, and a shared commitment to excellence.
Building on a legacy: The way forward
Speaking from my own experience, I’ve seen firsthand how powerful collaboration can be when we come together with a shared purpose. GFSI has always been about that: collective action in service of a safer food system. And now, as we enter the next chapter, that same spirit must guide us forward.
So yes, let’s celebrate 25 years of GFSI. It was born when the industry needed it most and rose to meet that challenge.
But now the call is ours: to carry that legacy forward, elevate what certification means, and ensure that trust in food safety continues to grow—for the next 25 years and beyond.
By Marc Cwikowski
March 30, 2025
