Freshcare FSQ5: the published standard
Freshcare released the Food Safety & Quality Standard Edition 5 on 1 September 2026. This page links the official documents, sets out the transition dates and the shape of the standard, and says exactly how far AgriGrid has implemented it.
The official documents
Four documents make up the scheme. Every link below goes to Freshcare's own site — we do not host copies, because Freshcare revises these and a superseded edition served from our server would be our fault, not theirs.
- Food Safety & Quality Standard, Edition 5 (2026) — The standard itself — the requirements you are audited against.
- Freshcare Rules (2026) — How the scheme runs: registration, audits, certification status, corrective actions and the certificate.
- Certification Scope Guide (2026) — Which activities and categories your certification covers, and how scope is described on a certificate.
- Crop List (2026) — The crop groups and crop names used on certificates.
Read the standard itself. Nothing on this page is a substitute for it, and no software vendor’s summary is either. What follows is orientation: where the dates fall, how the document is laid out, and what we have built.
The dates that still matter
Freshcare's published transition timeline. The wording is theirs; the source is freshcare.com.au/fsq5.
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1 September 2026 | FSQ5 released with full suite of updated resources, forms, implementation guides and modular training options. (done) |
| 1 March 2027 | Initial certification audits must be conducted to FSQ5 from this date. Recertification audits to FSQ5 become available. |
| 30 June 2027 | Last date for audits to FSQ4.2 and SCS2. |
| 1 July 2027 | All audits must be conducted to FSQ5 from this date. |
The release has happened; the deadlines have not. If you are certifying for the first time, the date that matters to you is 1 March 2027, not July. And FSQ4.2 now has a defined end: 30 June 2027 is the last day it can be audited at all.
How the standard is laid out
Edition 5 is organised into four sections holding 31 modules. Criteria are numbered by element — 11.13 is the thirteenth criterion of module S11 — and each module ends with the Freshcare Forms and Factsheet for it.
| Modules | Section | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| M1–M8 | Management | Scope and commitment, documentation, people, review, incidents, suppliers, authenticity, food defence and fraud. |
| S9–S20 | Site | Property map, growing site, crop protection products, fertilisers, water, premises, equipment, waste, maintenance, cleaning, pests and site access. |
| B21 | Biosecurity | Its own section in Edition 5 — one of the six changes Freshcare lists. |
| P22–P31 | Produce | Customer and regulatory requirements, allergens, postharvest treatments, testing, handling, traceability, recall, packaging, transport and foreign objects. |
That is the contents page, not the content. What each module requires of you is in the standard, and it is worth reading rather than summarised.
What Freshcare says is changing
Six changes are listed on their page. These are Freshcare's own headings, quoted exactly.
- “Food Safety and Supply Chain programs become a single unified standard”
- “Improved structure and clearer requirements”
- “Strengthened Food Safety Management System”
- “Stronger emphasis on risk assessment”
- “Enhanced Food Safety Culture”
- “Biosecurity requirements introduced”
Freshcare has also said that most changes clarify existing requirements rather than introduce entirely new obligations, and that most of what a certified business already does puts it well on the way.
What still depends on your operation
The standard is public, but how much of it applies to you is not something this page can tell you:
- Which modules apply to you depends on your certification scope — the activities, categories and crops on your certificate. The Certification Scope Guide is the document that settles it.
- The Supply Chain Standard (SCS2) is folded in. If you have only ever held FSQ, parts of the unified standard will be new to you; your Certification Body can tell you which.
- Each module ends with the Freshcare Forms and Factsheet for it. Those are the templates an auditor expects, and they come from Freshcare, not from us.
Where AgriGrid has got to
We would rather be exact than reassuring, so plainly: the day-to-day records FSQ5 asks for are already in AgriGrid and were before FSQ5 existed — what was applied, to which block, by whom, under which withholding period, with which calibrated equipment, and the trace from a carton back to the row it came off. Those requirements did not change edition.
The FSQ5 module itself is being built module by module against the published standard. Registration — the scope, sites, Certification Body and certificate the Rules ask for — and M1 Scope and commitment, the standard's first module, are live in the product now. The remaining 30 modules are not built yet, and the module lists all of them so you can see which is which rather than discovering it at an audit.
We are not going to describe our coverage as FSQ5 readiness. A grower is ready when their Certification Body says so. See how AgriGrid handles FSQ 4.2 record keeping — the records underneath are the same ones, and they carry forward.
Common questions
Has FSQ5 been released?
Yes. Freshcare published the Food Safety & Quality Standard Edition 5 on 1 September 2026, together with the Rules, the Certification Scope Guide and the Crop List. All four are linked above and are served from freshcare.com.au.
When do I have to be audited against FSQ5?
Freshcare's published timeline: initial certification audits must be conducted to FSQ5 from 1 March 2027, the last date for audits to FSQ4.2 and SCS2 is 30 June 2027, and from 1 July 2027 all audits must be conducted to FSQ5.
Should I stop working on FSQ4.2?
Not yet, and not on account of the release. FSQ4.2 can still be audited until 30 June 2027, and where you sit in your certification cycle decides which edition your next audit uses. Ask your Certification Body — they schedule it, and the answer differs between businesses.
How big a change is it?
The standard runs to four sections and 31 modules. Freshcare has said most changes clarify existing requirements rather than introduce entirely new obligations, and that most of what a certified business already does puts it well on the way. Biosecurity as its own section is the most visible addition.
Does AgriGrid support FSQ5?
Partly, and we would rather be exact than reassuring. The day-to-day records FSQ5 asks for — spray and fertiliser applications, calibration, harvest and traceability — are already captured in AgriGrid and were before FSQ5 existed. The FSQ5 module itself is being built module by module against the published standard: registration and Module M1 are live. The other 30 modules are not built yet.
What should I do first?
Read the Certification Scope Guide and confirm the scope on your certificate is still how you describe your operation, then talk to your Certification Body about which edition your next audit falls under. Both are cheap, both are yours to do, and neither needs software.
Start with the records
Whichever edition your next audit falls under, it is built on the same records. Start on the free plan and see where you stand.
Last reviewed 2 September 2026. The documents, dates and change list are Freshcare's and may be revised by them — check freshcare.com.au/fsq5 for the current position, and always work from the copy on their site rather than any other. The Freshcare Food Safety & Quality Standard, Rules, Certification Scope Guide and Crop List are © Freshcare Limited. AgriGrid is not affiliated with, endorsed by or certified by Freshcare Ltd.