FSSC 22000 support: do it yourself or hire a consultant?

You can implement FSSC 22000 yourself, with a consultant, or with a combination of both. It depends on your experience with ISO 22000 and HACCP, the size of your company and the time you have. A consultant helps with the setup and the gap analysis. The certification body then assesses your system, and it may not be your consultant at the same time. That last point is the boundary you keep in mind when making this choice.

The scheme does not require a consultant. You do have to meet all the requirements, which are set out on the requirements page and in the step-by-step plan. This page helps you choose between doing it yourself and getting help. For what that costs, see costs and timeline.

The certification body that audits your system should not have set up the system for you. Make sure the consultant and the certification body are two different parties.

Decision tree: yourself or with help?

Count how many times you answer “yes”. With four or five yeses, you can do most of it yourself. With two or fewer, help is sensible. With three, it depends on your time.

Do you already have a working ISO 22000 or HACCP system? Yes, then the step to FSSC is smaller. No, then guidance is almost always sensible.
Has someone in your team read the FSSC requirements and developed the PRPs? PRPs are the basic conditions for hygiene, such as cleaning and pest control. No means you need a gap analysis: a comparison of your current system with the requirements.
Do you have someone who can carry out the internal audit? No means you need to train or hire someone. See training and education.
Is your scope small, with one site and one category? With multiple sites or categories, guidance quickly becomes the better choice.
Do you have more than six months until a customer deadline? If the deadline is shorter, a consultant helps you keep to the schedule. This is a rule of thumb from us, not a requirement of the scheme.

When to do it yourself?

Doing it yourself can work if your system is nearly ready and the requirements are clear. You then choose the work consciously. You need to develop the PRPs, make the hazard analysis, set up the additional requirements and run an internal audit. That is a lot of work for a small team.

The advantage is your own knowledge. Afterwards you know how the system works, and you do not pay for every adjustment. The disadvantage is the time of your own people. Include those hours in the costs.

When to hire a consultant?

A consultant makes sense if you do not know where the gaps are. A good consultant carries out a gap analysis, draws up a schedule and guides you through the preparation. They also help you organise the documentation so the auditor can find it straight away.

Situation	Do it yourself	Hire a consultant
You already have ISO 22000 in good order	Feasible	Only for the additional requirements
You start from zero	Difficult, a lot of research	Strongly recommended
You have multiple sites	Risky	Recommended
You have an internal quality manager with FSSC experience	Quite possible	Optional
Your customer wants the process done within six months	Often tight	Sensible

What should you check with a consultant?

A consultant provides a service, not a quality mark. Check a few things in advance:

Experience with FSSC 22000 and the right food chain category. A consultant for bakeries is not automatically suitable for an animal feed producer.
No dual role. The consultant may not be the certification body, and the reverse also applies. Ask who your auditor will be and confirm that it is a different party.
A clear quote. Ask what the service includes: gap analysis, documentation, support during the audit, and what costs extra.
No guarantees on the certificate. A consultant can prepare you, but the certification body makes the decision. Anyone who promises a certain certificate is selling something they cannot deliver.

The costs and timeline of certification are covered on a separate page, so you can compare consultancy hours with audit costs. See costs and timeline.

Why the certification body cannot be your consultant

The certification body must be impartial. It assesses your system, so it may not set it up itself. For every audit, version 7 of the scheme requires a signed declaration of integrity. In it, the senior representative of the organisation and the auditors confirm that there is no actual or apparent conflict of interest (Part 3, section 6.3).

The standard for certification bodies, ISO/IEC 17021-1, goes further. According to the factsheet from European Accreditation , a certification body may not certify a client’s management system for at least two years after giving advice. Check the exact rule in the standard text or with your certification body.

Example: you have a consultant from certification body X set up your system. Certification body X cannot simply audit you afterwards. So choose a consultant who is independent of the certification body you hire later.

Questions for the first meeting with a consultant

A good first meeting takes an hour and gives a lot of value. Ask these questions before you sign:

Question	Why	Good answer
How many FSSC projects have you guided?	Experience with the scheme counts	A specific number, with the food chain categories
Who does the work: you or an employee?	You want to know who you will deal with personally	A clear name and role
What is and is not included in the quote?	Hidden costs are expensive	A list of services and hours
Which certification body do you recommend, and why?	Pay attention to independence	A choice you can justify yourself
How do we make sure we can maintain the system ourselves?	Otherwise you stay dependent	A handover with documentation and training

What a consultant does, step by step

A project with a consultant usually runs in four phases. The exact content differs per provider.

Gap analysis. The consultant compares your current system with the requirements and shows the gaps.
Setup. You develop the PRPs, the hazard analysis and the additional requirements together with the consultant.
Preparation for the audit. The consultant holds a trial audit and helps with the documentation.
Handover. Your team takes over the system and can maintain it without the consultant.

Phase four often goes wrong. A consultant who does not teach you to manage the system yourself makes you dependent. That is why the handover is a firm requirement in your quote.

Common mistakes

Hiring a consultant too late. You then discover the gaps just before the stage 1 audit, and that costs more than early guidance.
A consultant who takes over everything. The system must keep working with your people. Otherwise nobody can maintain it after certification.
Mixing up consultant and certification body. See the warning above.
Thinking the consultant can do the internal audit for you and so cover everything. The auditor must be impartial towards what they assess. A consultant who set up the system is assessing their own work. For multi-site organisations, course requirements also apply, see training.