Leveraging Your NSF Certification: Now that you've received NSF Certification ... why not leverage the Mark to your advantage.
The Food Equipment Program begins with voluntary standards that represent a consensus between manufacturers, users, and regulatory authorities. In addition to developing and maintaining the standards, NSF offers a voluntary conformity assessment program — testing, certification, and production facility audits — to verify compliance.
The registered NSF Certification Mark on a food equipment product confirms that NSF has assessed — and certified — its conformity with the relevant NSF/ANSI standard. As part of the certification process, the production facility is audited annually. The purpose of this audit is to assure that all the requirements of the standard continue to be met, quality assurance and quality control procedures are followed in fabrication, products are sampled and retested on schedule, and labeling and product literature are true and accurate. NSF representatives understand the importance of bringing your products to market, taking into account your changing needs. An NSF representative can walk you through the six-step process and answer any questions quickly and thoroughly.
The NSF Certification process includes:
Physical Evaluations may be conducted at your facilities or at NSF World Headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Three areas are examined: design and construction, material evaluation and performance testing (when required).
Design and Construction requirements vary by type of equipment. Common evaluations include: minimum radius sizes, closed or sealed joints and seams, fastening methods and clearances. Your product or system might also have requirements for: openings and covers, doors, hinges, gaskets, shelves, mountings, and other items of special sanitary significance.
Material Requirements specify that all materials which have contact, or potential contact, with food must not contribute contaminates of toxicological significance to the food. Exposed surfaces must be smooth and easy to clean, if you have proprietary formulations for non-metallic materials that will be used in the Food Zone, the NSF Toxicology Department confidentially reviews them to ensure that they will not impart odors or contribute in any way to the adulteration of food. NSF has thousands of formulations on file that can be accessed to assure timely review of your materials.
Performance Testing is conducted (when applicable) to verify that your equipment conforms to all performance requirements of the standard. NSF can conduct testing at your location if proper test equipment is available at those facilities.
Documentation Reports are prepared from the information required for certification. These reports are kept on file at NSF World Headquarters and at each of your production locations.
NSF Certification is awarded after all of the requirements for listing have been successfully completed, signed contracts have been returned, and an Official Listing has been generated. Annual audits are conducted to ensure ongoing compliance.
When conforming products are certified, your company can begin to use the registered and respected NSF Certification Mark on products, packaging, and all promotional or marketing literature.
NSF is the most widely respected and recognized third-party certification provider in the industry. We have worked closely with the food equipment industry, regulators, and food service organizations to develop the majority of public health safety standards over the past 50 years. We are, therefore, uniquely qualified as your best resource to test and certify food equipment products against these standards.
Only by working with NSF can you be assured that the standards developer has certified your products with the worldwide-respected NSF Mark.
Additionally, independent, third-party testing and certification through NSF brings you:
NSF has developed voluntary consensus standards for the following types of food equipment:
For more information on NSF's Commercial Food Equipment Program, please visit the main Food Equipment website.