Interested Parties — Who Are They in Relation to the FSMS?

Interested parties are often called stakeholders. They can have a positive or negative influence on the food safety management system. Before you address anyone's expectations, decide how relevant and significant that party is to food safety.

An interested party can be a regulator, customer, employee, landlord, consumer, distributor, supplier, shareholder or certification body. Look at both internal and external parties, and at their needs and expectations.

Needs versus expectations

A need is something required, for example a contractor's role in an emergency response. An expectation is what a party anticipates from the organisation. Some of those requirements are mandatory and already sit in law. Others are relevant to your system only after you decide they affect food safety.

Identify the food safety requirement behind each relevant party, then decide whether that requirement belongs in the FSMS. The result feeds planning and updates of the system.

Examples

• Customers, consumers and end users
• Legislative and regulatory bodies (local, provincial, national or international)
• The community
• Employees
• Owners, partners and investors
• External providers
• Certification bodies