Home / ISO 22000 Lead Auditor / Internal, lead or FSSC 22000 training
Choosing auditor training
ISO 22000 lead auditor, internal auditor or FSSC 22000 auditor training: which do you need?
The course at a glance
- Provider ASC Food Safety Training, South Africa
- Price USD 999 (charged as R16 595)
- Study time about 44.5 hours, self-paced
- Format fully online, no live sessions
- Access 12 months from enrolment
- Audit criteria ISO 22000:2018 with Amd 1:2024
- Auditing ISO 19011:2026
- Certification rules ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015, ISO 22003-1:2022
- PRPs ISO 22002-100:2025, ISO 22002-1:2025
- Capstone 13-step virtual audit, about 13 hours, 70 of 100 to pass
- Exams A and B, online, webcam proctored, photo ID
- Pass rule 70% in every section, three attempts
People often buy the wrong auditor course because the titles sound alike. An internal auditor course and a lead auditor course can both put ISO 22000 and ISO 19011 on the first page, and so can an FSSC 22000 course. They answer different questions, and the job you do on Monday morning decides which question is yours.
What is the difference between an ISO 22000 internal auditor and a lead auditor?
Scope and responsibility. An internal auditor checks parts of their own organisation’s FSMS under clause 9.2 of ISO 22000:2018, usually one process or clause at a time, and reports to their own management. A lead auditor is responsible for an entire audit, often of another organisation, and has to work to the rules a certification body uses.
In practice the lead auditor does several things an internal auditor rarely does. They review an application and decide whether the audit is feasible. They size the audit and split the time between auditors. They run Stage 1 and Stage 2, manage a team and any technical expert, and grade findings major or minor using the definitions in ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015. Then they write the report, make a certification recommendation and decide whether a corrective action plan is good enough to close a finding.
How do the three kinds of training compare?
| Internal auditor training | Lead auditor training | FSSC 22000 scheme training | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main question | Is our own FSMS working? | Can I lead a full audit to certification body rules? | What does the scheme add to ISO 22000? |
| Audit types | First party | First, second and third party | Not an auditing course in itself |
| Core documents | ISO 22000 clause 9.2, ISO 19011 | ISO 19011, ISO/IEC 17021-1, ISO 22003-1, ISO 22000, the PRP standards | The FSSC 22000 scheme, its additional requirements and the sector PRP standard |
| Length benchmark | FSSC 22000 version 7 sets 16 hours for members of a multi-site internal audit team | Version 7 sets 40 hours for the internal lead auditor, and 40 hours with an exam for certification body auditors | Version 7 sets at least 8 hours of scheme training for multi-site internal auditors |
| Practice you should expect | Auditing one process, writing a nonconformity | A complete audit, from application review to corrective action review | Applying the additional requirements to your site |
| Who it suits | QA staff, supervisors, HACCP team members | Audit team leaders, supplier auditors, consultants, certification body auditors | Sites that are FSSC 22000 certified or working towards it |
The ASC courses that match each column are Internal and Supplier Auditing Practices, the ISO 22000:2018 Lead Auditor course and Implementation of FSSC 22000 Version 7 for Food Manufacturing.
Leading audits? Take the lead auditor course
About 44.5 hours, fully online, with a 13-step virtual certification audit marked by a named examiner and two webcam proctored exams.
Does an FSSC 22000 site need a lead auditor on the internal audit team?
If it is a multi-site organisation certified under version 7, yes. Clause 2.5.18.2 of the version 7 scheme, which applies to organisations with a central function and several sites, sets minimum requirements for internal auditors. The lead auditor of the internal audit must have completed an FSMS, QMS or FSSC 22000 lead auditor course of 40 hours. The other members need an internal auditor course of 16 hours. All of them need scheme training of at least 8 hours covering ISO 22000, the sector PRP standard and the FSSC additional requirements. They also need 2 years of food industry work, at least 1 of them in the organisation. The certification body assesses this every year as part of the audit.
Timing matters too. Audits against version 6 can be delivered until 30 April 2027, and upgrade audits against version 7 run from 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028. If you are building an internal audit team for a multi-site business now, train it to the version 7 rules.
Single-site FSSC 22000 organisations still have to meet clause 9.2 of ISO 22000 and run an internal audit programme. A lead auditor on the team is not written into the scheme for them, but someone has to plan the programme, keep auditors independent of their own areas and grade findings consistently. That person is doing a lead auditor’s job.
Is ISO 22000 lead auditor training enough for FSSC 22000 audits?
It covers the foundation, which is most of the work. FSSC 22000 is built on ISO 22000:2018, the ISO 22002-x PRP standards for the sector and the scheme’s additional requirements. A good ISO 22000 lead auditor course audits the first two in depth and explains how a scheme adds its own layer. Our course does exactly that, but it is not FSSC 22000 scheme training. If you will audit against the scheme, add scheme training such as our Introduction to FSSC 22000 V7 course.
One more difference matters to the business, not the auditor. ISO 22000 on its own does not appear on GFSI’s list of recognised certification programmes. FSSC 22000 does. A customer that asks for a GFSI benchmarked certificate is asking for a scheme on that list, such as FSSC 22000, not plain ISO 22000, even though an ISO 22000 lead auditor audits most of what sits inside both.
Which training do you need? Five common cases
You are a QA officer who joins two internal audits a year
Internal auditor training. Move up when you start planning the programme or leading the team.
You run the internal audit programme or lead the audit team
Lead auditor training. Planning, independence and consistent grading are lead auditor skills, and under FSSC 22000 version 7 a multi-site organisation needs the 40-hour course for its internal lead auditor anyway.
You audit suppliers and co-packers
Lead auditor training. A supplier audit is a second-party audit of another business, so you need to plan it, lead it, close it and defend the findings to someone who does not report to you.
You want to work for a certification body
Lead auditor training first, then the scheme training the certification body asks for. Check the scheme rules and the body’s own criteria for the course before you buy, because some schemes set conditions on the lead auditor course itself.
Your site is moving to FSSC 22000
Scheme training for the implementation team, internal auditor training for the audit team, and one person trained as a lead auditor to run the programme.
What will you practise in the lead auditor course?
Every module has knowledge checks, an audit game and a compulsory activity on the case company. Each of Modules 2 to 8 then closes with an integrated case study at a different international site, so you judge evidence in several factories before the capstone. The capstone is a full virtual certification audit of a fictional dairy, Abita Dairy, in an online Audit Workbench: 13 steps, about 13 hours, marked by a named examiner out of 100, with 70 to pass. Presenter videos, made with an avatar of the course lead, brief you before you start.
If you want to see how we teach finding writing before you commit, read how to write a food safety audit finding that gets fixed.
Choose the course that matches the job
If you lead audits, audit suppliers or want certification body work, the ISO 22000:2018 Lead Auditor course is the one. USD 999, 12 months of access.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an ISO 22000 internal auditor and lead auditor?
An internal auditor checks parts of their own organisation’s FSMS under ISO 22000 clause 9.2. A lead auditor is responsible for a whole audit, often of another organisation, and works to certification body rules: planning, team leadership, grading findings major or minor, reporting and the certification recommendation.
Do I need internal auditor training before lead auditor training?
Not always. If you already know HACCP and ISO 22000 well and have joined audits, you can go straight to lead auditor training. If you have never audited, an internal auditor course first will make the lead auditor course easier.
How many hours is lead auditor training for FSSC 22000 internal audits?
Under FSSC 22000 version 7, clause 2.5.18.2, the lead auditor of a multi-site organisation’s internal audit must have completed an FSMS, QMS or FSSC 22000 lead auditor course of 40 hours. Other internal auditors need a 16-hour internal auditor course and 8 hours of scheme training.
Is ISO 22000 lead auditor training valid for FSSC 22000?
It covers ISO 22000 and the PRP standards that FSSC 22000 is built on. For audits against the scheme itself you also need FSSC 22000 scheme training on the additional requirements and rules, and some certification bodies set their own conditions on the lead auditor course.
Is ISO 22000 a GFSI benchmarked scheme?
No. ISO 22000 on its own is not on GFSI’s list of recognised certification programmes. FSSC 22000, which adds sector PRPs and additional requirements to ISO 22000, is recognised.
When does FSSC 22000 version 7 apply?
Version 7 was published in May 2026. Audits against version 6 may be delivered until 30 April 2027, and upgrade audits against version 7 run from 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028.
Which ASC course should a supplier auditor take?
The ISO 22000:2018 Lead Auditor course. Supplier audits are second-party audits that you plan, lead and close yourself, which is lead auditor work.
Buy the lead auditor course, USD 999Read the course outlineSelf-paced, no live sessions, 12 months of access.
Sources
- ASC Food Safety Training, ISO 22000:2018 Lead Auditor (Food Safety Management Systems), course page
- NQA, ISO 22000:2018 transition gap analysis tool (clause titles 7.1.6, 8.3, 9.2, 9.3)
- ANAB (ANSI National Accreditation Board), 1st, 2nd and 3rd party audits explained
- Foundation FSSC, FSSC 22000 Scheme Version 7.0, May 2026 (Part 2 clause 2.5.18.2, Part 3 section 6.2, Part 4 section 3.5)
- Foundation FSSC, Version 7 Upgrade Process requirements, 1 May 2026
- GFSI, list of GFSI recognised certification programme owners, August 2024
- IAS reproduction of ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 section 3, definitions 3.12 and 3.13
