Setting the boundaries of your food-safety system
Plain-language summary
Be clear and honest about exactly which products, processes and sites your food-safety management system covers.
What the clause is really asking
A fuzzy scope is where unsafe product hides. This clause makes you define what is in and what is out - which product lines, which processes, which physical locations - so that everyone, including auditors and certifiers, knows what the system is responsible for. Anything you exclude must be genuinely outside your control of food safety.
What auditors look for
Auditors compare the written scope against what they see on the floor. If you make a product or run a process that affects food safety but it is not in scope, that is a finding. They are alert to convenient exclusions - an outsourced step or a second line quietly left out.
Typical evidence
Documented FSMS scope statement; site and process boundaries; justification for any exclusions; alignment with certificate scope
How to comply — recommendations
Write the scope in plain terms covering products, processes and sites, and make sure it matches your certificate and your reality. Do not exclude anything that genuinely touches food safety. Revisit the scope whenever you add a line, a product type or a site.
Common nonconformities
Scope narrower than actual operations; outsourced processes affecting safety omitted; scope not updated after a new product line
Related clauses
ISO 22000 4.4, 8.1; FSSC 22000 scope categories
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