There is no actual requirement to do HACCP Refresher Training as part of SQF. However, many of the certification bodies do ask for a demonstration of continuity. Therefore, it is recommended you complete HACCP refresher training every three years, to be able to demonstrate you have fulfilled the requirements.  

To demonstrate conformity, you will need to show your original HACCP Principles and Applications Training which was delivered by an industry recognised training company. In Australia, auditors commonly ask to see the training being completely by an Registered Training Organisation (RTO) or similar.

There is no actual requirement to do HACCP Refresher Training as part of any of the GFSI standards. However, many of the certification bodies do ask for a demonstration of continuity, which is commonly interpreted to be every three years. You will need to provide your original HACCP Principles and Applications certificate (which took no less than 16 hours to complete) and subsequent Refresher certificates.  

There is no actual requirement to do HACCP Refresher Training as part of any of the GFSI standards, including FSSC 22000.  However, many of the certification bodies do ask for a demonstration of continuity, which is commonly interpreted to be every three years. To demonstrate continuity, you are required to produce training certificates to prove you have kept your knowledge refreshed.  The training certificates will need to include HACCP Principles and Applications and subsequent HACCP Refresher training certificates, usually at a frequency of every three years.

Woolworths has required HACCP Principles and Applications Training and HACCP Refresher training for more than 10 years.

The site will need at least one representative to have undergone HACCP Principles and Applications Training (minimum 16 hours) and have undergone HACCP Refresher training every 3 years. To pass the audit, you will need to be able to provide certificates for each training session you have undergone.   

HACCP Refresher Training must be completed every three years to conform with Woolworths Supplier Excellence (WSE). As a result, this has set the industry expectation of every three years.

There are more than 5 different ways for people working in the food industry to refresh their HACCP training. The different ways are:

1. Self Paced HACCP Refresher Training
2. 2 hour virtual classroom – Basic HACCP Refresher training
3. 1 day HACCP Refresher Training
4. BRCGS Sites Training Ed 9 (check) with BONUS Basic HACCP Refresher certificate
5. Advanced HACCP Training (2 days) – Extension of HACCP Principles and Applications training

At QMS Audits we offer 5 different options to keep your HACCP Training refreshed. We offer Self-paced HACCP Refresher and our 2 hour virtual classroom Basic HACCP Refresher training classes for those in need of a quick top-up.

For those who want to do a deeper dive or work alongside some of their team, we encourage you to do our 1-day HACCP Refresher. This course run alongside our HACCP Principles and Applications course. You will come out of the training with a 1-day HACCP Refresher training certificate. (Obviously, as it is one day, it does not meet the requirements for HACCP Principles and Applications training, which must be no less than 2 days or 16 hours in length)

Our BRCGS Sites Training and course is two days long. During which we cover the development of HACCP Plans for approximately two hours. We offer a bonus Basic HACCP Refresher training certificate. Please note: This is not a HACCP Principles and Applications training certificate and is marked as such.

We have purposely offered this second certificate to encourage our students to continue to invest in further education, instead of just refreshing their HACCP knowledge every three years.

Advanced HACCP training is an extension of HACCP Principles and Applications. This is a common path for our students to build a deeper understanding of HACCP and undergo a deep dive into pathogens. This is great option for people who need to refresh their HACCP training, but do not want to do another HACCP Refresher course.

The GFSI standards do not specifically require HACCP Refresher training, nor do they specify a frequency of three years.  However, some of the certification bodies require a demonstration of continuity. A common audit trail is to be able to produce a HACCP Principles and Applications training course, with a minimum of 16 hours delivered by a well known training organisation in that country, and then subsequent HACCP Refresher Training Certificates from every three years or part there of. 

Some of the retailer standards, such as Woolworths Supplier Excellence (WSE) and Coles’ CFMSR standards require a HACCP Refresher course to be conducted every 3 years. HARPs, also requires HACCP Refresher training to be undertaken 3 yearly.

If you have completed your HACCP Principles and Applications training in the last three years, then you can show that certificate at a GFSI or retailer audit. For SQF, two people will need to be employed directly by the business and both will need to undergo HACCP training of no less than 16 hours. The training needs to be completed by a well-known industry training body. Australian auditors will often ask for the training organisation to be a RTO, to demonstrate the training company is well known to the food industry.

If you have completed your HACCP Training more than 3 years ago, you will need to demonstrate continuity of your HACCP knowledge. This is a requirement by most Australian retailers and many of the certification bodies. It is not a GFSI requirement, however your auditor will ask to see a HACCP Refresher certificate, as it is a requirement of the certification bodies’ management system.

You will need to provide a copy of your initial HACCP Principles and Applications training certificate, as well as subsequent HACCP Refresher certificates for every three years since you completed the training.

For example, if you completed your HACCP Principles and Applications course in 2017, you would produce three certificates at the audit: 

1. HACCP Principles & Applications (2017),
2. HACCP Refresher from 2020
3. HACCP Refresher certificate 2023

It is good practice to keep your HACCP knowledge and training up to date, even if you are not supplying under Woolworths Supplier Excellence programs.  

1. Flexibility
   The key reason to keep your HACCP Training refreshed is to maintain as much flexibility as possible. Just because you or your company is not dealing with certain retailers at the moment, does not mean that you won’t be in another three years time. Your organisation may win a new contract, change strategic direction or you may change employers. After all, who knows what opportunities may come your way.
2. Certification Bodies require HACCP Refresher Training.

Many of the Certification bodies who conduct HACCP or GFSI audits, such as BRCGS, SQF or FSSC 22000 require HACCP team leaders and other key people in the business to have maintained a continuity in their HACCP training, which means they have undergone HACCP Refresher training, usually every three years.

1. Keep up to date

It is really nice to keep up to date and understand if there are any changes to Codex HACCP or the Food Standards Code. HACCP Refresher training is a great way to find out about changes to some of the standards or expectations of how that requirement is to be implemented.

Nope! Nope on a rope!

All GFSI, retailer and HARPs require a 16 hour HACCP principles and Application course. Auditors will ask to see a HACCP Principles and Applications training certificate.  The course is expected to be delivered by an RTO, if the site is based in Australia. RTOs offer nationally accredited courses based on government issued units of competency and must be approved by the Australian government. The process of becoming and maintaining compliance of an RTO is expensive and time consuming. If a training provider does not know if they are an RTO, then the answer is No.  RTOs can be verified by searching the training.gov.au website. To verify our credentials, click here.

Our HACCP Principles and Applications training certificate is clearly marked as such. Our HACCP Refresher certificates state ‘Basic HACCP Refresher’ for our two hour and self paced courses and our 1 day HACCP refresher course states 1 day on the certificate. Therefore, it is not possible for auditors to confuse the two.

All of our training certificates are printed on security paper. Electronic copies are supplied as a locked pdf. A unique certificate code is present on all certificates. The certificate can be verified using a QR code, through https://qmsaudits.jobreadyplus.com/

Alternatively, please ring our office on 0800 404 500 and we are always happy to verify training and HACCP certificates over the phone. 

We strongly encourage everyone to verify all certificates when they are received to prevent fraudulent certificates. All GFSI certificates have QR codes, as do our training certificates.