12 June 2020
BSI, the business improvement company, responds to the food industry’s increasing levels of food fraud by independently verifying food product label claims to rebuild years of eroded consumer confidence with the launch of the new BSI Kitemark for Food Assurance.
Even after more than 100 years, the BSI Kitemark continues to be the beacon of quality, performance and safety to both consumers and businesses buying everything from personal protection equipment to secure digital services. The new BSI Kitemark for Food Assurance enables brands, manufacturers, producers and suppliers to fulfil and communicate their commitment and customer promise whether it relates to authenticity, provenance, purity, socially responsible or environmentally sustainable agri-food production and supply.
“Today, people want to understand the important details about the food they eat,” explains Howard Kerr, Chief Executive at BSI. “By extending the power of the Kitemark into areas like food authenticity and provenance, BSI can serve that need. After all, customers deserve food that’s safe, sustainable and socially responsible.”
The BSI Kitemark for Food Assurance focuses upon the supply chain to verify the customer promise; for scientifically measurable claims like composition or purity, statistically valid sampling and testing controls embedded within the chain confirm product integrity; additionally, site inspections validate 30 data points from legal status, geo-location, number of personnel to production capacity and export countries to create a unique living BSI VerifEye™ client profile.
The organization’s VerifEye profile is available online through the BSI VerifEye Directory with essential consumer information consumer-readable by QR code on the product’s packaging. The directory enables consumers to actively check verified organizations and shop with confidence.
If an ingredient or product promise can be tested, measured and/or verified, a BSI Kitemark Food Assurance programme can be developed to verify it. As part of BSI’s growing partnership with Fera, the United Kingdom’s National Reference Laboratory, their knowledge and expertise in food authenticity is essential, establishing rigorous testing protocols to support the programme.
Customer concerns vary from product to product, which is why the Kitemark Food Assurance Programme was crafted to be flexible, to support a broad range of products with very different consumer promises including:
Is this Scottish Heather Honey, from Scotland, from Heather and is it honey?
Does this product contain the right amount of CBD oil with less than 0.01% THC?
Was this sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region in the northeast of France?
Is this beef produced from herds without hormones and are only grass fed?
Find out more here
