Which certifications should a sugar supplier have?

Food safety: FSSC 22000 and ISO 22000

ISO 22000:2018 is the international standard for food safety management systems, written for any organisation in the food chain. FSSC 22000 is a certification scheme built on it: it specifies sector prerequisite programmes from the ISO 22002 series, adds its own scheme requirements, and is recognised by GFSI. The scheme is on version 7. As I read them, either one tells you that an outside auditor has examined how the plant controls food safety, and FSSC 22000 asks for more detail and carries the GFSI recognition.

Neither is a quality certificate for your cargo. A plant can hold FSSC 22000 and still load a lot that misses your colour limit. That is what the certificate of analysis and the inspector at loading are for.

Check the certificate yourself

• Who issued it. ISO says plainly that it doesn’t perform certification or issue certificates, and doesn’t let anyone use its logo in connection with certification. A certificate that says ISO issued it, or carries the ISO logo, is wrong on its face.
• Whether the issuer is accredited. ISO points buyers to IAF CertSearch, a database that pulls together certificates from accreditation and certification bodies, or to the certification body directly.
• For FSSC 22000, whether the company appears in the FSSC public register, which lists more than 40,000 certified organisations.
• The site address. It should be the plant that makes and packs your sugar. A certificate covers only the sites named on it, and a trader’s usually names its own office or warehouse, not the mill.
• The scope. “Production of refined sugar” and “storage and distribution of sugar” are different scopes.
• The expiry date.

Halal, for the Gulf and beyond

The GCC Guide for Control on Imported Foods lists certificate requirements by food category, and for white sugar it lists a health certificate but no halal certificate. It adds a general rule: any product labelled halal must come with a halal certificate, even where one wouldn’t otherwise be needed. That certificate has to be issued in the country of origin or of export by an Islamic body accredited in the GCC.

So the questions for a supplier are practical ones. Will the bags say halal? If so, which accredited body issues the certificate? And, if your buyers care, is any animal-derived material used anywhere in processing? Get the answers in writing. Other markets have their own rules; check yours with the food authority before you contract.

China: GACC registration

China requires overseas producers of imported food to be registered with GACC, the General Administration of Customs, and a registration number, either the Chinese one or the one approved by the home country’s authority, must appear on the packaging. Registration lasts five years. Since 1 June 2026 this is governed by GACC Decree 280, which replaced Decree 248. You can search registered producers in GACC’s CIFER register yourself. The rest of China’s rules, including the tariff quota, are in importing Brazilian sugar into China.

What isn’t a certification

• A specification sheet. It lists the limits the seller offers to meet.
• A lab or inspection certificate the seller sends before anything is agreed. See how sugar fraud actually works.
• A logo on a letterhead. Check the certificate number with whoever issued it.

What to ask for

• the food safety certificate (FSSC 22000 or ISO 22000) for the producing plant, with its number, issuer, scope and expiry;
• a halal certificate from an accredited body if your market or your labels need one;
• the GACC registration number if you import into China;
• whatever your own food authority requires for import, which you should confirm before you contract.

Ask me which of these the supplier I represent holds for your grade and market. You can then verify the supplier yourself.