About us !

Food safety is a major concern of all stakeholders in the food industry. In order to better control the risks inherent in health issues, the retailers have created and developed an inspection reference system to measure the level of control in terms of food safety for the products sold in their stores.

The aim of the Food Store Quality Association is to manage and develop this standard, as well as the associated brand « Food Store Quality Standard - FSQS ».

The FSQA is a professional association representing, as of 2021, fourteen large-scale retailers who share the same desire to ensure the health safety of food manufacturing and handling activities at their points of sale. The FSQA is also a partnership with eight accredited inspection bodies which bring legitimacy to inspections by ensuring the competence and training of inspectors.

Faced with the challenges related to food safety, the member retailers wanted to create a collegial approach, recognized by the profession, allowing continuous improvement in business practices and meeting the growing and legitimate demands of consumers.

Food Store Quality Standard

Retailers

Stores

Qualified Inspectors

Food Store Quality Stantard

Main Goals

A common standard

It allows the use of a uniform evaluation system for all actors.

Accredited inspections

Allow inspections with accredited inspection bodies and qualified inspectors.

Transparency

Ensure transparency and the possibility of comparisons between sale points of large-scale retailers.

FSQS

A Standard

The Food Store Quality Standard is an inspection standard used by mass-market retailing as a consistent and reliable tool for measuring the level of conformity of food hygiene and food safety in stores. It refers to the Good Hygiene Practices of the profession, to the requirements of the regulations in effect in the country of establishment and to the health control plans of the retailers.

The results of FSQS inspections also allow the various points of sale, stores and retailers to implement appropriate action and improvement plans, in order to increase the level of health safety for consumers.

It is a unique, impartial, objective and recognized measurement "tool" resulting from the pooling of knowledge and experiences of the various member retailers. The FSQS repository is used both at the supermarket level, with sales activities sometimes provided only through consumer self-service, as well as larger hypermarkets with more varied activities and distribution methods. It is also suitable for convenience stores, drives and cash and carry.