Skip to Menu Skip to Search Contact Us Hong-Kong Websites & Languages Skip to Content

Food Hygiene Standard and Certification System (FHSCS)

How can you safeguard the quality of food for consumers in restaurants, canteens and other catering outlets? 

Hong Kong, internationally renowned as one of the world’s dining paradises, has almost 14,000 restaurants and food outlets providing a wide range of food options for locals and travellers day and night. As a result, food safety, quality and sustainability are essential for the health of the catering industry and diners.

Whether you run a small or medium-sized catering establishment, or a restaurant chain, you need to implement food hygiene in accordance with international standards and regulations. However, meeting the wide range of safety, quality and sustainability requirements can be complex. That is where SGS can help.

Food Hygiene Standard and Certification System (FHSCS)

We are collaborating with Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Food Safety and Technology Research Centre to introduce the FHS 001: 2013 Food Hygiene Systems – Requirements for Catering Establishments to catering outlets in the industry.

The FHSCS scheme is the first of its kind, introduced in Hong Kong to enable catering outlets to meet professional food hygiene practices. It aims to help raise the profile of Hong Kong as a world-class dining destination with a state-of-the-art food safety system.

As a world-leading certification body, we are proud to be a licensed certification body of FHS 001: 2013 Food hygiene systems. We offer unrivaled expertise in providing audits and certification services for the food, beverage and hospitality industry. Whether you operate a restaurant, canteen or other catering outlet, we can help you safeguard the quality of food for your consumers.

Why participate in the FHSCS scheme?

As well as certifying your food hygiene system, the FHSCS demonstrates your commitment to meeting food hygiene, safety and quality standards. It also shows your commitment to consumer expectations.

In the long term FHSCS helps you:

  • Gain an established benchmark for food hygiene practices and management system
  • Identify improvements 
  • Ensure credibility and gain the consumer trust
  • Boost your brand image by displaying the certified logo in your promotions
  • Gain competitive advantage

FHS 001: 2013 Food Hygiene Systems – Requirements for Catering Establishments

The FHS 001:2013 Food Hygiene Systems sets out the requirements of food hygiene systems for catering establishments. It is based on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles for reducing the health risk of food safety hazards arising from biological, chemical and physical agents.

The standard is applicable to any catering establishment, ranging from restaurants to canteens. It will help you to develop a food hygiene system with minimum resource requirements and achieve FHSCS certification. You will also be able to display the FHS logo – a trusted symbol confirming your commitment to food hygiene.

Based on the international standards and regulations for the food audit and certification programme, this locally developed certification scheme includes documentation reviews and on-site audit assessments for the following categories:

  • Responsibility of Top Management
  • General Hygiene Requirements
    • Designated Work Area for Food Preparation
    • Cleaning, Sanitizing and Maintenance of Food Premises, Equipment, Utensils and Food Containers
    • Labelling and Storage of Food Ingredients
    • Pest Control
    • Storage and Disposal of Waste
    • Personal Hygiene and Personal Health of Food Handlers
  • Food Process Hygiene Requirements
  • Check and Review
  • Staff Training
  • Handling of Customer Complaints
  • Documentation and Record keeping

How the assessment and certification works

The Certification Audit is conducted on-site in two stages:

  • Stage 1 audit: a documentation review and a preliminary assessment of your Food Hygiene System
  • Stage 2 audit: a detailed and comprehensive assessment.

If a non-conformity has not been identified during the certification audit, the audit team will prepare a recommendation of certification. The certificate is valid for three years and will be issued to your catering outlet after the completion of the certification authority’s review process.

After certification has been issued, the surveillance audits will be arranged at your catering outlet. This is done at six-month intervals in the first year of certification to ensure continual conformity with certification requirements. Subsequent surveillance audits will be arranged at 12-month intervals and before the renewal audit.

Why SGS?

As the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, we are recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 90,000 employees, we operate a network of over 2,000 offices and laboratories around the world.

Enhancing processes, systems and skills is fundamental to your ongoing success and sustained growth. We enable you to continuously improve, transforming your services and value chain by increasing performance, managing risks, better meeting stakeholder requirements and managing sustainability.

With a global presence, we have a history of successfully executing large-scale, complex international projects. Our people speak the language, understand the culture of the local market and operate globally in a consistent, reliable and effective manner.

For more information about FHS 001: 2013, please contact:

Certification and Business Enhancement
t: +852 2765 3620
f: +852 2333 2257
www.sgsgroup.com.hk