CSQA is a certification and inspection company formed in Italy in 1990 from a long established and prestigious institute of biotechnology.
The certification of the Italian farm food sector begun with CSQA, which was the first institution to be accredited by the National accreditation body (
Accredia) and authorized by the
Ministry of Agriculture for the monitoring of products with Registered Designation of Origin (
PDO, PGI, TSG).
Innovation has always been a cornerstone of CSQA’s mission and as such, has remained in its DNA, making it
a pioneer in facing issues that are later established at international level .
Whilst
CSQA was set up to provide ISO certification to food companies, including quality and management systems, based on prevention and continuous improvement, it not only focuses on
food safety and sustainability, but also on
business continuity and information security.
As sustainability has become more of an emerging issue,
CSQA became the first certification body in the world to certify a farm to ISO 50001 for energy management.
Another important objective of CSQA was to verify the safety and consistency of food products and it had
an important role in the development of voluntary product certification, which are generally recognised in the industry as being more stringent that legal requirements and also as a differentiator for certified companies in the market.
One example of CSQA being innovative and leading the way in this field is the now globally recognised
standard of ISO 22005 for farm-food traceability, a standard first developed to help the market by CSQA in 2000.
However, this is not the only example:
product standards prepared by CSQA since the early 2000s have introduced requirements that have then been accepted at international level.
For example,
the production of integrated pest management, sensory quality, Non GMO’s, Animal Welfare, Gluten-free, Sustainable Cereal and more.
Again, following the ethos of leading the way,
CSQA was among the first in Italy to certify the standards required by European retailers of BRC, IFS, GlobalGAP and QS.
The focus on the farm-food sector naturally led CSQA into complimentary and closely linked areas, such as
forestry and sustainability. As a result, it now
certifies 90% of Italian forests to the PEFC standard and now, through its wine specialist certification body, it also certifies the 70% of Italian produced wine.
Today
CSQA has branches in Poland and USA.
CSQA is a member of the independent federation
CISQ, che only italian representative of
IQNet, the world's largest international network of certification bodies on management system certification.