Why Choosing the Right Certification Body Matters: Navigating Costco’s New Food Safety Audit Expectations
As of September 1, 2025, Costco’s Food Safety Audit Expectations for Audit Companies (SOPs) v2.0 and Global Food Safety Audit Expectations for Costco Suppliers v3.0 and Global Food Safety Audit Expeations- Appendices V1.0 are in effect. These updates place new responsibilities on both suppliers and the audit companies, like DNV, reinforcing the importance of choosing a certification partner who can deliver not just food safety certification, but also retailer-specific assurance.
For suppliers in today’s complex food supply chain, this means the choice of a certification body has never been more critical.
What Changed with Costco’s Update?
The new Costco SOPs focuses heavily on audit cost structures, duration, reporting timelines, and corrective action plan requirements. While suppliers still need recognized GFSI certifications such as BRCGS, FSSC 22000 or SQF, Costco also mandates that suppliers to Costco have a Costco Addendum, a specific layer of requirements that goes beyond GFSI.
This approach reflects a growing trend: large retailers, food service and manufacturers are tailoring expectations to their own supply chains. McDonald’s, McCormick, and Costco all require unique addendums to ensure food safety, transparency, and quality across the global network of suppliers.
The Challenge for Suppliers
For the food supply chain, these overlapping requirements can be overwhelming:
- Multiple audits: Separate visits for GFSI certification and Customers.
- Higher costs: Duplicate travel, auditor time, and administrative fees.
- Audit fatigue: Teams spending more time preparing for audits than improving food safety.
- Inconsistent outcomes: Different certification bodies interpreting requirements differently.
The result? More complexity, more disruption, and more risk.
One Partner. Multiple Standards.
This is where the choice of certification body makes all the difference.
DNV is one of the few certification bodies approved by Costco to conduct the Costco Addendum alongside GFSI certifications. That means you can complete your BRCGS, FSSC 22000, or SQF certification and Costco Addendum in one integrated process.
Even more, DNV is also approved to conduct the McDonald’s Addendum and the McCormick Addendum. This positions us as a one-stop shop for suppliers who work with multiple high-profile companies.
The DNV Advantage for Suppliers
Efficiency: By combining audits, DNV reduces duplication, saving suppliers both time and cost. Facilities avoid unnecessary disruption, and audit schedules are streamlined to fit operational realities.
Consistency: Our global network of auditors are trained and calibrated against both GFSI standards and retailer-specific addendums. This ensures consistency across sites and countries, giving suppliers confidence that their certifications are accepted by customers worldwide.
Transparency & Trust: Costco’s new audit SOPs emphasizes transparency and corrective action accountability. At DNV, we mirror that commitment, ensuring suppliers not only meet requirements but also strengthen their long-term food safety systems.
Market Access: With approvals from Costco, McDonald’s, and McCormick, DNV certification helps suppliers demonstrate compliance with some of the world’s most demanding brands, opening doors to new business opportunities.
Beyond Compliance: Building a Culture of Food Safety
Certification is more than a checkbox. For retailers like Costco, it’s about building trust with their members and ensuring that every product on their shelves meets the highest food safety standards.
By choosing DNV as your certification partner, you gain more than an audit, you gain a partner committed to assurance, consistency, and continuous improvement. Our role is to help you demonstrate that your operations are not only compliant today, but resilient and ready for the future.
Next Steps for Suppliers
If you supply Costco, or plan to, now is the time to align with a certification body that can deliver both GFSI certification and the Costco Addendum in a single, integrated process.
DNV’s expertise, global approvals, and one-stop-shop approach make us the ideal partner for suppliers seeking to simplify compliance while strengthening trust with retailers.
Learn more about how DNV can support your certification journey, contact us today.
About the Author:
With more than 30 years in the Food & Beverage industry, Kathleen Wybourn shares practical insights shaped by her experience in food safety, quality, supplier management, and operations at Monsanto. She has led initiatives at the association level as Director of GMA-SAFE and through her work with GFSI Technical Working Groups. As Director of Food & Beverage, North America, for DNV, Kathleen continues to champion safer, more resilient food systems.
10/14/2025 1:00:00 PM
