GMP+ International published its latest feed certification scheme changes on March 2, 2026. All updates carry a one-year implementation period, which means your feed safety management system needs to be fully aligned by March 2027. Current certificates remain valid during transition, but the deadline pressure begins immediately.
This is not a full scheme rebuild. The major redesign happened earlier. But the March 2026 updates are still material enough that leaving them until your next audit is an efficient way to collect non-conformities you could have prevented with a few months of earlier work.
If you operate anywhere in the feed chain - production, trade, transport, storage, or the responsibility module - this update is operational, not theoretical. Procurement, audit planning, documentation, and training all sit inside the blast radius.
The Headlines
GMP+ International updated multiple scheme documents through its normal expert and committee process. The practical impact falls into a handful of clear buckets: ingredient restrictions, audit mechanics, FRA audit planning, document clarifications, and implementation support for Portuguese-speaking operators.
Updated forbidden products
New materials have been added to the list of products that cannot be used in GMP+ certified feed production, turning the update into an immediate procurement and formulation review item.
Revised certification requirements
Auditor examination requirements have changed and mandatory harmonization materials are now part of the scheme, tightening audit consistency across certification bodies.
Minimum audit times for FRA
The Feed Responsibility Assurance module now has explicit minimum audit durations, which means combined FSA and FRA audits may need more time than before.
Clarifications and Portuguese documents
Multiple documents have been clarified, and Portuguese-language scheme materials are now available to support the growing GMP+ market in Brazil.
Forbidden List Updates: Check Ingredients First
The forbidden list is always one of the most operationally important parts of any GMP+ update because it reaches straight into sourcing, formulation, and supplier approval. If a newly prohibited material is sitting anywhere near your current feed mix or pipeline, the issue is not academic. It is immediate.
GMP+ often sets a stricter bar than local feed legislation, especially where new risk information or market concerns emerge. That means local legality does not protect you if the material now sits on the scheme's forbidden list.
Treat this as a procurement checkpoint, not just a quality document review. Purchasing teams need the update as much as quality teams do.
Certification Requirements and Audit Harmonization
The new examination approach is aimed primarily at certification bodies and auditors, but certified companies will feel the impact through more consistent questioning, more current technical expectations, and less room for site-by-site interpretive variation.
The mandatory harmonization materials should reduce audit inconsistency, which is good news if your business has lived through varying interpretations across different auditors or certification cycles. The downside is equally clear: if your site has relied on a softer reading of an ambiguous requirement, harmonization may close that loophole.
FRA Module: More Time, More Attention
The Feed Responsibility Assurance module now comes with explicit minimum audit times. That matters most for companies holding combined FSA and FRA certification, where the responsibility element may previously have felt like a brief extension of the feed safety audit.
GMP+ is signaling that responsibility claims need dedicated audit time, not just a cursory pass. If your audit windows have historically been tight, this is something to discuss with your certification body before scheduling turns into a problem.
A Quick Refresher on Scheme Architecture
FSA covers feed safety
This is the safety side of the scheme: management systems, hazard control, traceability, supplier management, and the technical specifications that govern day-to-day feed safety compliance.
FRA covers responsibility
This is the responsibility side: market initiatives, responsible sourcing, GMO-controlled production, and the requirements that support sustainability-related commitments in the feed chain.
Support documents tell you what changed
The S9.1 List of Changes remains the fastest way to identify which documents were updated and where your team actually needs to take action.
This matters because the March 2026 changes do not sit in a single document. They touch different layers of the GMP+ ecosystem, so teams need one view of how the document changes connect to operational practice.
How to Prepare Over the Implementation Year
One year disappears quickly in the feed chain, especially when formula changes, supplier communication, internal training, and external audit timing all need to move together. The best use of this period is not a last-minute document sweep. It is phased preparation.
Practical checklist
How Crosscheck Helps
Crosscheck supports GMP+ alongside broader sustainability, food safety, and supply chain certification work. For the March 2026 scheme update, the value is in mapping the changed requirements to the documents and controls your team already has, then showing where the system no longer matches the scheme.
For combined FSA and FRA certificate holders, that means one workflow for feed safety and responsibility evidence rather than parallel review tracks. For ingredient-heavy operations, it also means a faster line of sight between forbidden list changes and the supplier or formulation records that need attention.
The documents are published. The one-year clock is active. The most efficient time to find the gaps is now, not in front of an amused auditor.
Next step
The one-year GMP+ implementation window is generous only until you start checking the actual changes.
Crosscheck maps each March 2026 GMP+ update against your current documentation, ingredient controls, and FSA or FRA workflows so your team sees the gaps before the auditor does.