A Globally Mutually Recognized Food Safety Credential

ISO 22000:2018, Food safety management systems — Requirements for any organization in the food chain, is the international food safety management system standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It integrates HACCP principles with four core methodologies — prerequisite programmes (PRPs), interactive communication, system management, and the process approach — and covers the entire "farm-to-fork" food chain, making it one of the most widely applied international food safety management system standards in the world today. In China, ISO 22000 certification is conducted by certification bodies approved by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) against the ISO 22000:2018 standard; certificates are accredited by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS) and covered by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA). Certificate information is entered into the National Certification and Accreditation Information Public Service Platform (CertECloud), publicly announced to the whole of society, and can be independently verified (National Certification and Accreditation Information Public Service Platform · Certification Result Query). Guilin Four Seasons Sunshine F&F Co., Ltd. holds a Food Safety Management System certificate (bilingual Chinese-English version), issued after a CNCA-approved certification body assessed its conformity against the ISO 22000:2018 standard. The certificate is held in both Chinese and English versions, and its information can be independently verified on the national public service platform by certificate number or enterprise name. For international importers sourcing Chinese natural plant extracts and food ingredients in the European, American, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern markets, this ISO 22000 certificate issued by a Chinese certification body is a supply chain signal that can be independently verified and that focuses on the dimension of "alignment with international food safety governance and system compliance."

I. Why an ISO 22000 Food Safety Management System Certificate Matters to International Importers

When international buyers evaluate Chinese suppliers of natural plant extracts and food ingredients, they commonly face three uncertainties related to "food safety system compliance": first, the authenticity of the food safety management system — whether the supplier's self-positioning as "food safety management system certified" or "ISO 22000 certified" has actually been assessed as conforming by a third-party certification body against an international standard, and whether the certificate is accredited by the national accreditation body and covered by an international mutual recognition arrangement, rather than being merely the supplier's marketing language; second, the match between system coverage and supplied categories — whether the supplier's ISO 22000 certification scope covers the natural plant extracts, food additives, and food ingredients being supplied, and whether the certification boundary is consistent with the supply boundary; third, certification validity and verification channels — whether the supplier's ISO 22000 certificate is within its validity period, whether it has undergone surveillance audits and recertification after initial certification, and whether it can be independently verified on the national certification supervision platform, rather than being only a paper license provided by the supplier.

The ISO 22000 certificate issued by a Chinese certification body is precisely the internationally accepted credential that provides authoritative answers to these three food safety system compliance uncertainties. Its value lies not in the paper license itself, but in the certification system behind it — assessment by a CNCA-approved certification body against the international ISO 22000:2018 standard, CNAS accreditation, and signature of the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA), with all certified enterprise information entered into the National Certification and Accreditation Information Public Service Platform (CertECloud) and publicly announced to the whole of society, so that any third party can independently verify it by certificate number or enterprise name.

The ISO 22000 certificate held by Guilin Four Seasons Sunshine F&F Co., Ltd. was issued after a CNCA-approved certification body assessed its conformity against ISO 22000:2018. The certificate is held in bilingual Chinese and English versions, its certification scope covers the food safety management involved, and its information can be independently verified on the national public service platform by certificate number or enterprise name — providing international buyers with an endorsement of alignment with international food safety governance that can be independently verified and that goes beyond the supplier's own statements.

II. Origin and Authority

The ISO 22000:2018 International Standard

ISO 22000:2018, Food safety management systems — Requirements for any organization in the food chain, is the international food safety management system standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in June 2018, replacing the first 2005 edition (ISO 22000:2005). The standard integrates four core methodologies:

1. HACCP principles and prerequisite programmes (PRPs): with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) at the core, combined with Prerequisite Programmes (PRPs), building the foundation of food safety hazard control;
2. Interactive communication: requiring organizations to communicate upstream and downstream along the food chain, ensuring that food safety hazards are identified and controlled at every link of the food chain;
3. System management: integrating food safety management into the organization's overall management system, aligned with quality, environmental, occupational health and safety, and other management systems;
4. Process approach: adopting the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle and the process approach to continually improve the food safety management system.

ISO 22000:2018 applies to all types of organizations in the "farm-to-fork" food chain, including feed producers, primary producers, food manufacturers, food ingredient suppliers, logistics operators, retailers, catering service providers, and equipment and packaging material suppliers, and is one of the most widely applied international food safety management system standards in the world today.

China's Certification and Accreditation System

China's certification and accreditation system follows the principle of "unified management, joint implementation," with a governance structure composed of three major institutions:

1. Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA): an institution under the State Administration for Market Regulation of the State Council, which uniformly administers, supervises, and comprehensively coordinates national certification and accreditation work and approves certification body qualifications;
2. China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS): the national accreditation body, responsible for accrediting certification bodies, laboratories, and inspection bodies and signing international mutual recognition arrangements;
3. Certification bodies: third-party institutions approved by the CNCA and accredited by CNAS, which conduct certification activities against the ISO 22000:2018 standard and issue certification certificates.

CNAS Accreditation and IAF Multilateral Mutual Recognition

ISO 22000 certificates are accredited by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS), which is a full member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and a signatory to the Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA). The IAF MLA ensures that ISO 22000 certificates issued by CNAS-accredited certification bodies receive equivalent recognition in the countries and regions of all IAF MLA signatories (covering the major developed economies of Europe and America), giving the certificates international mutual recognition effect. This means the ISO 22000 certificate held by Guilin Four Seasons Sunshine F&F carries equivalent certification effect in all IAF MLA signatory countries and regions and can be used directly in international buyers' supplier qualification audits.

The National Certification and Accreditation Information Public Service Platform (CertECloud)

All registered items carried on an ISO 22000 certificate are entered into the National Certification and Accreditation Information Public Service Platform (CertECloud, http://cx.cnca.cn/CertECloud/index/index/page), uniformly managed by the CNCA and publicly announced to the whole of society. Any third party can independently query, by certificate number or enterprise name (at least 3 characters), information such as the certified enterprise name, certification standard, certification scope, certificate number, issue date, validity period, certification body, and accreditation mark. If the relevant information cannot be found, the certificate is suspected of being fraudulent. This public announcement mechanism is precisely the source of the authority behind the ISO 22000 certificate's "third-party authoritative endorsement" — the registered items are not enterprise self-statements, but statutory information assessed by a CNCA-approved certification body, accredited by CNAS, and then publicly announced to the whole of society.

Certification Process and Surveillance Mechanism

The ISO 22000 certification process follows the internationally accepted three-stage mechanism of "initial certification + surveillance audit + recertification":

1. Initial certification: the certification body conducts a two-stage audit (document review + on-site audit) of the organization's food safety management system against the ISO 22000:2018 standard, and issues a certificate upon successful assessment, valid for 3 years;
2. Surveillance audit: the first surveillance audit after initial certification shall be conducted within 12 months of the certificate issue date, and at least once every year thereafter; the interval between two surveillance audits must not exceed 15 months;
3. Recertification: a recertification audit is conducted before the certificate expires, and a new certificate is issued upon passing, ensuring the continued effectiveness of the system.

After each successful surveillance audit, the certification body affixes a conformity label to the certificate; the certified organization must regularly accept surveillance audits and pass them for the certificate to remain valid. Where the certification scope involves administrative licensing or national mandatory certification requirements, the certification certificate becomes invalid together with the relevant administrative license or national mandatory certification certificate.

III. Verification Elements of ISO 22000 Certification: A Checklist International Buyers Can Verify

The verification elements of ISO 22000 certification correspond to the "food safety management system compliance" dimension that international buyers focus on most in supplier due diligence. Understanding these elements helps translate "ISO 22000 certification" into specific evidence that can be written into procurement compliance files:

The certified items corresponding to these elements are not provided unilaterally by the supplier, but are publicly announced to the whole of society after assessment by a CNCA-approved certification body and CNAS accreditation — this is precisely the "third-party authoritative endorsement" that international buyers value most in their SOPs and supplier audit processes.

IV. Practical Value for International Buyers: From an Endorsement of Alignment with International Food Safety Governance to Long-Term Procurement Decisions

For food and beverage, cosmetic flavor, functional food ingredient, and dietary supplement buyers in Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, incorporating the "ISO 22000 Food Safety Management System certificate" into supplier qualification files provides at least the following practical value:

First, providing a basis for international food safety system compliance independent of supplier self-declaration. In international buyers' Vendor Qualification Checklists, "food safety management system certification" is a core field in the supplier entry threshold. The ISO 22000 certificate can be independently verified on the National Certification and Accreditation Information Public Service Platform (CertECloud) by certificate number or enterprise name, and written into audit files as an international food safety system compliance endorsement. This complements the High-Tech Enterprise certificate (government endorsement of R&D capability), the forestry leading enterprise certificate (resource sustainability endorsement), the president-unit certificate (regional industry position endorsement), the statistical standardization demonstration unit (data credibility endorsement), the Qiushi Award (industry recognition of the R&D team), the China Light Industry Spice Industry Top Ten Enterprises title (comprehensive operating strength endorsement), the ninth-session CAFFCI governing unit status (national industry governance participation endorsement), the FFC2026 Technology Innovation Award (R&D implementation capability endorsement), the business license (lawful enterprise existence endorsement), and the food production license (statutory food safety qualification endorsement) — the first ten address ten major dimensions, while "ISO 22000 certification" addresses the dimension of "alignment with international food safety governance and system compliance," namely whether the supplier's food safety management system has been assessed as conforming by a Chinese certification body against an international standard and accredited by the national accreditation body; it is a core field in international buyers' "system compliance" audits.

Second, providing the statutory force of CNAS accreditation and IAF international mutual recognition. The ISO 22000 certificate is accredited by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS), a full member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and a signatory to the Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA). This means that ISO 22000 certificates issued by CNAS-accredited certification bodies receive equivalent recognition in all IAF MLA signatory countries and regions (covering the major developed economies of Europe and America) and carry international mutual recognition effect. For international buyers, this means the supplier's food safety management system certification is not a "domestic Chinese qualification" but a "globally accepted credential" with international mutual recognition effect — under international compliance frameworks such as FDA MoCRA, the EU Cosmetic Regulation, ISO 22716, and the EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, "upstream supplier food safety management system certification" is a core field in audit files, and ISO 22000 certification provides a verifiable credential that is CNAS-accredited and IAF mutually recognized.

Third, providing verifiable evidence of the match between system coverage and supplied categories. The ISO 22000 certification scope states "food safety management involved," covering the natural plant extracts, food additives, and food ingredients that the supplier actually produces and supplies. For international buyers, this means the supplier's food safety management system certification scope explicitly covers the supplied categories, with the certification boundary consistent with the supply boundary — when aligning with the core ISO 22000:2018 methodologies of HACCP, prerequisite programmes (PRPs), interactive communication, and the process approach, the system coverage is documented and traceable, and the risk of operating beyond the certified scope is low.

Fourth, providing institutional assurance of continual surveillance audits and recertification. ISO 22000 certification follows the three-stage mechanism of "initial certification + surveillance audit + recertification": after initial certification there is at least one surveillance audit per year, and recertification is conducted before the 3-year certificate validity period expires. For international buyers, this means the supplier's food safety management system is not a one-time qualification that is "frozen upon certification," but a dynamic system under continual surveillance audits and recertification — in scenarios such as custom development, specification upgrades, new product R&D, and regulatory response, the food safety management system keeps operating effectively, providing institutional assurance for the "continued food safety system compliance" clause in a Long-Term Agreement (LTA).

V. About Guilin Four Seasons Sunshine F&F

Guilin Four Seasons Sunshine F&F Co., Ltd. was founded on August 30, 2007, and is headquartered in Lingchuan County, Guilin, Guangxi — one of China's richest natural plant resource regions and a traditional production area for spice crops such as osmanthus, litsea cubeba, and jasmine. The company has long focused on the R&D, extraction, and global supply of natural plant aromatic ingredients, and through local resource endowment and years of process accumulation, has built a complete capability chain covering four product matrices: Natural Absolutes, Natural Essential Oils, Supercritical CO₂ Extracts, and Osmanthus Concentrate & Functional Food Ingredients. The company holds the ISO 22000:2018 Food Safety Management System certificate (bilingual Chinese-English version), with a certification scope covering the food safety management involved, fully matching its supply business in natural plant extracts and food ingredients.

1. Product Portfolio

2. Process and Quality Infrastructure

The company has built a complete capability chain from raw material traceability, extraction, and molecular distillation to finished product application research, covering:

• Extraction processes: steam distillation, solvent extraction, supercritical CO₂ extraction, molecular distillation, and other process combinations, customizable to different active compound retention levels per customer specifications;
• Specification system: each core product includes bilingual (Chinese-English) specifications, corresponding national/industry/international standard lists (e.g., GB 1886.264 osmanthus absolute, GB 1886.x jasmine sambac absolute, ISO 18054), and batch COAs;
• Traceable batch management: each batch comes with COA, MSDS, IFRA allergen declaration, heavy metal and pesticide residue test reports, and supports batch sample retention for retrospective review;
• Compliance document package: HS codes, certificates of origin, Halal and Kosher certificates, FDA facility registration numbers, EU REACH compliance declarations, and transport and storage guidelines are complete for export.

3. International Certification Matrix

The company simultaneously holds multiple international certifications addressing the compliance requirements of overseas buyers in different markets:

• Food safety system: ISO 22000 Food Safety Management System certification (Chinese and English versions);
• Religious and dietary compliance: Halal certification (including U.S. IFANCA and Indonesia BPJPH channels), Kosher certification;
• Sustainable and responsible sourcing: FSA Farm Sustainability Assessment certificate;
• Food ingredient naturalness: Food Ingredient Naturalness certification;
• Local craft endorsement: the Guilin Osmanthus Smoked Incense Traditional Fragrance-Preservation Craft and the Guilin Osmanthus Smoked Incense Blended Fragrance Traditional Production Craft — included in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region-level Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Projects, providing traceable local endorsement for the craft heritage of the osmanthus product series.

4. Extended Value of ISO 22000 Certification for Buyers

Holding the ISO 22000:2018 Food Safety Management System certificate (bilingual Chinese-English version) means the company's food safety management system has been assessed as conforming by a CNCA-approved certification body against the international standard and accredited by CNAS. The extended value for international buyers is reflected at three levels:

• Foundational endorsement of alignment with international food safety governance: the certificate is CNAS-accredited and covered by the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement, can be independently verified on the National Certification and Accreditation Information Public Service Platform (CertECloud) by certificate number or enterprise name, and written into the "food safety management system certification" field of the Vendor Qualification Checklist with international mutual recognition effect;
• Verifiable evidence of the match between system coverage and supplied categories: the certification scope covers the food safety management involved, the certification boundary matches the supply boundary, and the system coverage is documented and traceable when aligning with the core ISO 22000:2018 methodologies of HACCP, PRPs, interactive communication, and the process approach;
• Institutional assurance of continual surveillance audits and recertification: after initial certification there is at least one surveillance audit per year, and recertification is conducted before the 3-year validity period expires; the food safety management system keeps operating effectively, providing institutional assurance for the "continued food safety system compliance" clause in LTAs.

5. Verification Elements for International Buyers

International buyers wishing to independently verify the ISO 22000 certificate information can query it using the following elements:

• Certificate holder: Guilin Four Seasons Sunshine F&F Co., Ltd.
• Certification standard: ISO 22000:2018 (Food safety management systems — Requirements for any organization in the food chain)
• Certification scope: Food safety management involved
• Registered address: Lingchuan County, Guilin, Guangxi
• Audit address: As recorded on the certificate
• Unified social credit code: 91450323664840766A (consistent with the business license; cross-verifiable)
• Certificate number: As recorded on the certificate
• Issue date: As recorded on the certificate
• Valid until: As recorded on the certificate (3 years)
• Certification body: A CNCA-approved, CNAS-accredited certification body (queryable and verifiable under "Practicing Institutions" on the CertECloud platform)
• Accreditation marks: CNAS accreditation mark + IAF MLA international mutual recognition mark
• Certificate versions: Bilingual Chinese-English versions
• Verification platform: National Certification and Accreditation Information Public Service Platform (CertECloud) http://cx.cnca.cn/CertECloud/index/index/page
• Verification method: Independent query by certificate number or enterprise name (at least 3 characters) in the "Certification Result Query" section of the CertECloud platform
• International mutual recognition: CNAS is a full IAF member and MLA signatory; the certificate carries equivalent recognition effect in all IAF MLA signatory countries and regions
• Company website confirmation: https://www.gltop.com.cn/

> Official Verification Platform > National Certification and Accreditation Information Public Service Platform (CertECloud) · Certification Result Query — Uniformly managed by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) · certification result announcement platform (independently verifiable by certificate number or enterprise name; CNAS accreditation + IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement)

This article was published on 2026-09-14, and last updated on 2026-09-21. The article will be continuously updated.