GIC Sp z oo, Zamknięta 10, Kraków (2026)

22/05/2026

ISO 22000 Through the Eyes of an Auditor. Issue No. 2: Context of the Organization (clause 4.1)

Remember: before building your defense, understand where the attack may come from. 🛡️

At many plants, clause 4.1 is a “dusty folder” with a SWOT analysis downloaded from the internet 3 years ago. But ISO 22000 is a system written in the “blood” and bankruptcies of companies that simply failed to notice how the world outside their fence had changed.

Understanding the context is not marketing. It is your intelligence system. You cannot build HACCP if you do not know what is happening around you.

What will the auditor check? Is your FSMS a living system or a bunker?

Externally: Has a chemical plant or landfill opened nearby, while your risk analysis says nothing? The auditor understands: you do not control air and water risks.

Internally: Is 70% of your equipment held together with “blue duct tape”, while your reports state that “resources are stable”? That is deceiving the system.

⚠️ Real case: A company ignored clause 4.1. Due to environmental changes in the region, water quality dropped sharply. The filters could not cope. The result — a product recall worth millions and loss of certification. They simply turned off their “radars”.

How to pass the audit for clause 4.1? Show the chain:

Identified the risk (for example, a veterinary situation or new pesticide regulations).

Assessed it (transferred it to clause 6.1).

Implemented control (bought a generator, changed supplier, installed sensors).

If this chain does not exist, your SWOT analysis is useless.

In food safety, there are no “sudden” disasters. There are only unaccounted factors. Turn on your radars!

In the next issue: Interested Parties (clause 4.2). Why customers’ “wish lists” are part of your defense.

Your expert view on certification — Guard is Certification.

15/05/2026

EFISC-GTP and RASFF: A Unified Food Safety Shield

In the agri-food sector, feed and food safety are inseparable: any failure in feed ingredients immediately affects the food on people’s tables.

🔄 System integration: How does it work?
EFISC-GTP (Internal Loop): If a hazardous product has gone out of control, the company has 24 hours to initiate the incident protocol and notify the Certification Body (CB) and EFISC-GTP.
This protects linked markets (GMP+, QS, AIC).

RASFF (EU Loop): Prompt notification from the business helps government bodies update the pan-European database in a timely manner. Monitoring the RASFF Window allows the company to proactively identify risks relating to raw materials and suppliers.

📝 Testing: What does the auditor strictly check?
The standard requires annual practical recall simulations. During the audit, we check not paperwork but actual actions:
‘Decision tree’: Do staff understand how to assess the severity of an incident?

Realism of tests: Has a test notification to the competent authority and EFISC-GTP (marked ‘TEST’) been practised?

Speed: Can the team localise the batch and gather the documents within 24 hours?

Integration: Are current RASFF alerts taken into account during HACCP risk analysis?

💼 Key benefits for business
Financial protection: Rapid localisation eliminates the costs of a mass recall.

Reputation: Having a functioning system in place is a sign of reliability for international holding companies.

Export: Full compliance with EU protocols guarantees barrier-free access to the European market.

08/05/2026

ISO 22000: A system built on the mistakes of others
Why is it not just a ‘set of rules’, but a business survival strategy?
When the quality department asks for an order to be signed or for a budget to be allocated for monitoring, management often sees this as red tape. But ISO 22000 is a standard written in the ‘blood’ and bankruptcies of other businesses.

Every requirement in this document did not originate in the offices of theorists. It appeared where:
• Hundreds of people were poisoned because of a defective temperature sensor.
• Batches of products worth millions of dollars were scrapped because of a single dirty brush.
• Brands with a century of history vanished in a week because they couldn’t trace the path of a single pallet of raw materials.

This isn’t about cleanliness. It’s about management.
ISO 22000 is, first and foremost, a Management System. It is a complex engineering mechanism for managing a business, where the production of a safe product is not a happy accident, but an inevitable result.

It is protection against "trusting to luck’: the system is designed to eliminate human negligence.

It is collective intelligence: industry leaders have refined these requirements over many years. By meeting them, you are implementing a proven management model that protects your investments.

It is a guarantee of consistency: The system ensures that both the first and the millionth package of a product will be equally safe. Without management, safety is a lottery.

What is our series of articles about?
We won’t be summarising the points of the standard — you’ve read them already. We’ll show you how these requirements work in practice.

We invite you to view an audit not as an exam, but as a ‘technical inspection’ of your management system. Our task is to help you build a system so that every product leaving your premises is safe by default.

Remember: every ‘non-conformity’ found by the auditor is a prevented incident that could have cost you your business.

04/05/2026

Incident and Crisis Management under EFISC-GTP: From Operational Response to Strategic Resilience

In today’s feed and food ingredient manufacturing industry, product safety is no longer solely a matter of compliance with production technology. The globalization of supply chains means that a local failure at a single facility can trigger a systemic crisis on an international scale. The EFISC-GTP standard places special emphasis on Incident and Crisis Management procedures, treating them as a critical safeguard for the entire “farm to fork” chain.

The main objective of a crisis management system is not merely to “correct an error,” but to provide demonstrable assurance of product safety. For a certified company, having a clear action algorithm for emergency situations means:

Right to market access: In today’s environment, verified safety is a mandatory condition for access to international markets.
Reputation protection: Transparent actions during an incident minimize the risk of losing trust among consumers and regulators.
Loss reduction: The speed of identifying and isolating an affected batch directly impacts the financial losses associated with a product recall.

The EFISC-GTP standard requires operators not to passively wait, but to actively control the situation. Key areas of focus include:

Event classification: The company must clearly distinguish between an incident — an isolated event with low media risk — and a crisis, meaning a situation that threatens the reputation of the entire EFISC-GTP system or public health.
Product control: A crucial factor is determining the status of the product — whether it remains under the operator’s full control or has already entered the distribution network. This determines the severity and scale of the procedures to be launched.
Compliance with timeframes: The standard establishes a strict deadline: the certification body and the EFISC-GTP Secretariat must be notified within 24 hours from the moment a suspicion of product unsafety is identified.
Evidence base: Any decision on safety must be based on verified data, such as test results from accredited laboratories, and their comparison with EU legislative limits or national law.

The system is based on a strict decision tree. The company must assess the situation according to the following criteria:

Has chemical, biological, or physical contamination been identified?
Have legally established limits, such as MRLs, been exceeded?
Is there a potential threat to human or animal health?

If the answer to these questions is positive, the product is deemed unsafe, and the company must immediately proceed with the notification and recall procedure.

During regular audits, verification of the incident management block is mandatory. The auditor focuses on the following aspects:

Availability and relevance of procedures: The auditor checks whether a recall procedure has been implemented at the facility and whether it complies with the current version of EFISC-GTP — currently Version 2.0.
Real cases and notifications: The auditor checks whether any incidents have occurred since the previous audit. If an incident took place, the auditor verifies whether the certification body and EFISC-GTP were notified within 24 hours. Importantly, concealing an incident constitutes a critical nonconformity and leads to certificate withdrawal.
Corrective actions: Reports on previous incidents are analyzed. The auditor assesses whether the root cause was identified and how effective the measures taken to prevent recurrence were.
Special audits: In the event of serious crises, the certification body has the right to conduct an unannounced or special audit at short notice to assess changes in the company’s safety system.

Incident management within the EFISC-GTP system is not a formal bureaucratic obligation, but a tool of collective safety. Transparency and speed of interaction between the operator, auditor, and scheme owner make it possible to localize threats before they become fatal for the business and the industry as a whole.

24/04/2026

Why It Is Important to Notify the Certification Body of Changes

Obtaining a certificate is not the end of the process; rather, it is an obligation to maintain compliance with requirements on an ongoing basis. A certified company must promptly inform the certification body of any significant changes in its operations.
The certification body makes decisions based on information about the company: its structure, processes, sites, products, and risks. If this information changes without notification, the certificate may not reflect the organization’s actual status.
You must report changes related to:
- the company’s legal status;
- structure and management;
- address or sites;
- scope of operations;
- changes to products or processes;
- product recalls or alerts;
- legal proceedings, fraud, or corruption.
Failure to notify may result in observations, an unscheduled audit, suspension, reduction of the scope of certification, or revocation of the certificate.
Transparency and timely communication demonstrate the company’s accountability and strengthen the trust of customers and partners.

17/04/2026

Investing in Competence: Expanding the Horizons of Feed Safety

The world of feed safety standards is constantly evolving, and we're moving with it. Today, our team of auditors undergoes in-depth training in feed safety.

For us, this isn't just a formality; it's part of our continuous development strategy. Why is this important to our clients?

Up-to-date knowledge: We study the latest changes and trends in feed ingredient quality and safety requirements.

Deep expertise: Continuous professional development allows us to conduct audits at the highest level, helping companies minimize risks.

International approach: We focus on global best practices so our clients can confidently operate in global markets.

We develop ourselves to ensure impeccable certification quality for you!

10/04/2026

GUARD IS CERTIFICATIONS Announces Expansion of Recognition Under the EFISC-GTP Scheme

The certification body GUARD IS CERTIFICATIONS Sp. z o.o. has officially confirmed that it has obtained the full scope of authorization to conduct audits under the European feed safety scheme EFISC-GTP.

The company’s competence now covers all technological stages: from raw material processing to international trade and logistics.

Scope of Technical Competence (Sector Documents)

GUARD IS CERTIFICATIONS is authorized to carry out certification in accordance with the following codes of good practice:

European Code 4.1 (Industrial processing of safe feed materials):

Processing of oilseeds and meals: extraction, pressing, and purification
Starch and glucose production: deep processing of cereals and tuber crops
Biodiesel production: certification of by-products (glycerin, rapeseed meal, etc.)
Malting production: safety control in brewing and feed supply chains

European Code 4.1 (Collection, transport, storage, trading):

Collection, elevator storage, and multimodal transportation of safe feed and food ingredients
International trading with full traceability across the entire supply chain
Global Presence and Expert Resources

A key advantage of GUARD IS CERTIFICATIONS is its mobile network of qualified auditors operating worldwide.

International coverage: We have specialists in key agricultural and industrial regions, enabling us to conduct initial and surveillance audits in the shortest possible time while minimizing logistics costs for clients
Technical expertise: All auditors have proven experience in food and feed safety (ISO 22000, FSSC 22000, HACCP) and a deep understanding of local market specifics
Multilingual support: Technical inspections and reporting are carried out in the client’s language, ensuring accurate interpretation of EFISC-GTP requirements

A certificate issued by GUARD IS CERTIFICATIONS guarantees seamless access to EU markets. Due to the technical equivalence of EFISC-GTP with systems such as GMP+, QS, AIC, and OVOCOM, our clients receive universal safety assurance recognized by leading global traders and feed manufacturers.

GUARD IS CERTIFICATIONS Sp. z o.o. is your strategic partner in international certification, combining European quality standards with global operational efficiency.

03/04/2026

Wishing you a Happy Easter! 🌿
May this special season of renewal fill your home with warmth, peace, and happiness.
Let it be a time of fresh beginnings, positive energy, and meaningful moments with those who matter most.

May your days be bright with inspiration, your efforts bring great results,
and new opportunities open the way to continued growth and success.

With warmest wishes,
GIC Team 💚

03/04/2026

GIC at the International Forum in Tashkent: The Future of Food and Feed Safety

Recently, representatives of GUARD IS CERTIFICATIONS took part in a major industry forum in Tashkent dedicated to the development of the agro-industrial sector in Central Asia. Our experts' presentation focused on the critical aspects of certification that determine a company's success on the international stage today.

The presentation focused on the poultry industry. We emphasized that implementing an ISO 22000 food safety management system for poultry farms is more than just "having a certificate."

Why is this important for poultry farmers?
- Risk management: Controlling biological, chemical, and physical hazards at all stages—from the hatchery to finished product packaging.
- Retail trust: Large retail chains and export markets require supply chain transparency.
- Efficiency: Optimizing internal processes and reducing defective rates.

"ISO 22000 is the foundation without which a modern poultry company cannot aspire to leadership and enter premium markets," noted GIC speakers.

An equally important topic was the certification of feed and ingredient suppliers. The EFISC-GTP standard is the optimal solution for this category of business. Raw Material Suppliers and EFISC-GTP: A Passport to the Global Supply Chain.

For suppliers, working with the EFISC-GTP system means:
- Compliance with European feed and ingredient safety requirements.
- Transparency for customers: Your customers (including poultry farmers) receive a guarantee of raw material safety.
- A unified standard: Minimizing duplicate audits by different customers.

The GIC team is always ready to support businesses in Uzbekistan and other countries in the region in the process of undergoing audits and obtaining certificates of conformity. We believe that the synergy of ISO 22000 and EFISC-GTP standards creates a reliable security shield "from field to fork."

Want to learn more about the requirements of these standards?
Contact us for a consultation and to develop a certification roadmap for your business.

GUARD IS CERTIFICATIONS — Trust through Competence.

27/03/2026

A New Stage in the Development of Prima Kus LLC
The GUARD IS CERTIFICATIONS (GIC) team officially congratulates the management and staff of Prima Kus LLC on successfully completing an international audit and receiving ISO 22000 certification for its food safety management system.

The audit confirmed that the production processes of one of Kazakhstan's largest poultry farms fully comply with stringent international requirements. Particularly noteworthy is the broad scope of the certification, which covers virtually all processing cycles:
Slaughter and primary processing: cutting, deboning, and by-product production.
Deep processing: production of marinated, smoked, semi-finished, and minced meat products.
Finished products: thermally processed products and ready-to-eat mixed dishes.
Innovative packaging: use of vacuum and modified atmosphere (MAP) technologies.

The certificate received was issued under European accreditation and recognized by the IAF (International Accreditation Forum). This is a strategic achievement for Prima Kus, which:
Removes technical barriers to exporting products outside of Kazakhstan.
Guarantees product safety recognition by international retailers and government agencies in other countries.
Confirms the company's status as a technological leader in the industry.
"We are proud that our GIC partnered with us in the certification process for such a large-scale facility. Prima Kus LLC has demonstrated a high level of food safety culture and a readiness to compete on a global scale."

We wish our colleagues at Prima Kus continued prosperity, expanded sales geography, and new production records!

13/03/2026

Gatekeeping in the Feed Industry: EFISC-GTP Safety Rules

In the modern feed production chain, product safety depends on every link. However, situations arise when it is necessary to purchase raw materials from a supplier without a recognized safety certificate. For such cases, the EFISC-GTP standard has developed a gatekeeping protocol—a system of strict incoming rules that allows the safe integration of uncertified raw materials into the supply chain.

1. What is gatekeeping and why is it needed?

The main goal of EFISC-GTP certification is to ensure end-to-end feed safety, starting with the raw material processor. Gatekeeping is applied in exceptional cases where a supplier or part of the supply chain is not certified. This protocol obliges the buyer (the certified company) to assume responsibility for auditing and verifying the safety of incoming materials.

The protocol divides raw materials into several categories:
• Unprocessed products: Grains, oilseeds, and legumes.
• Processed feed materials: Products that have undergone physical or chemical processing (meals, bran, pulp).
• Palm oil: Crude, refined, and fractionated oil.
• Former food products: Products produced for human consumption but converted to feed.

The Gatekeeping procedure imposes restrictions on certain products. For example, the purchase of uncertified grain from countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and several others is prohibited.

Safety is confirmed by a rigorous testing schedule:
• Sampling Methods: Samples must be collected in accordance with GAFTA, FOSFA, or ISO standards.
• Inspector Qualifications: Sampling must be performed by an independent organization accredited to ISO 17020 or ISO 9001.
• Mandatory Analysis Parameters: Each batch is tested for pesticides, heavy metals (arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium), dioxins, and mycotoxins.

Companies using gatekeeping are required to:

Notify their certification body of the application of these regulations.

Conduct audits of suppliers of former food products.

Report annually to EFISC-GTP, indicating the volumes of raw materials purchased and their origin.

GIC Sp z oo

22/05/2026

15/05/2026

08/05/2026

04/05/2026

24/04/2026

17/04/2026

10/04/2026

03/04/2026

03/04/2026

27/03/2026

13/03/2026

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