The Kenya Flower Council standard: F.O.S.S. Silver and Gold, what it covers, and what cannot be checked
The one certification scheme that is Kenyan is also the one most European buyers have never read. The Kenya Flower Council's Flowers and Ornamentals Sustainability Standard — F.O.S.S., still widely called KFC Silver — covers social, environmental and good-agricultural-practice criteria in one audit, is accredited by a national accreditation body and benchmarked against the GLOBALG.A.P. flowers standard, and sits in the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative's basket in every column. This page states what the Council and the International Trade Centre publish about it, and is candid that the Council's own register of certified producers could not be read.
What the standard is, in the Council's words
The Council describes F.O.S.S. as a comprehensive standard for the floriculture industry that covers the aspects of social, environment and good agricultural practices, and that allows producers of flowers and ornamentals to access international markets because it is benchmarked against the requirements of GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance Smart for flowers and ornamentals and of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative. It states that the standard covers the three pillars of sustainability and is centrally placed in the FSI basket. Certification follows the Council's audit and certification procedures: a first certification audit, then re-certification audits.
Accreditation. The Council states that F.O.S.S. has been accredited by the South African National Accreditation System, SANAS, from August 2008, under ISO Guide 17065 — the international standard for bodies certifying products, processes and services. Accreditation means an independent national body has assessed the Council's certification body against that standard; it is the difference between a scheme's own assurance and an accredited one.
Silver and Gold
The Council refers to the standard as popularly known as KFC Silver. The International Trade Centre's Standards Map profiles the scheme as "Flowers and Ornamentals Sustainability Standard – KFC Gold and Silver Level", and the research this site draws on records Silver as the baseline on water, labour and environmental management and Gold as exceeding it on water recycling rates, wastewater quality and biodiversity protection near riparian zones. We have not read the standard document itself and do not reproduce its criteria or the exact conditions for Gold. What can be said is that a "KFC-certified" claim should name the level.
Where it sits in the international framework
The FSI basket lists the Kenya Flower Council Silver Standard under good agricultural practice, under environmental, and under social — the observation the certification page on this site builds on, because a Kenyan farm holding F.O.S.S. fills every column of the basket with one Kenyan scheme. The basket, the three lists, and which schemes fill which column → What the GLOBALG.A.P. flowers standard it is benchmarked against actually contains →
The Council also states that KFC F.O.S.S. is one of only two standards in the world that meet both the social and the environmental scope of sustainability. That is the Council's claim about the field, repeated by the Standards Map, and we record it as such.
Who the Council is
The International Trade Centre records the Council as formed in 1996 by Kenyan growers and exporters of cut flowers, a business membership organisation that states it represents 80% of the flower industry in Kenya, with an initial membership of five farms that had grown to 130 large, medium and small producers and 93 associate members at the Centre's last data collection, January 2024. The Council states elsewhere that Kenya exports to over 60 countries. These are the Council's own figures as relayed by the Centre; we have not verified them and we do not derive any Kenyan production or certification share from them.
What cannot be checked, and why that matters
The Council's Register of Producers page rendered only its title, with no entries, when we read it in a browser, and its certification portal returned an access error to our request. So this site publishes no count of F.O.S.S.-certified producers, no list, and no way for a buyer to verify a supplier's certificate against a public register — which is the one thing a GLOBALG.A.P. GGN or an MPS listing offers and this scheme, on the day we looked, did not. Ask for the certificate, the level, the issue and expiry dates, and the certification body's name on it; then ask the Council. What else is and is not verifiable about a Kenyan supplier →
What the certificate does not tell you
As with every scheme on this site: nothing about the flowers in the box. F.O.S.S. certifies a farm's practices and conditions, not a stem's length, a head's size or a consignment's freedom from a regulated pest. The KEPHIS inspection is a separate, statutory step →
What to ask
- Silver or Gold, and the dates on the certificate.
- Which certification body issued it — the Council's, under its SANAS accreditation.
- Whether the farm also holds GLOBALG.A.P. or MPS, which can be checked in a public register.
Ready to specify a requirement?
If you can state the product, stem length, head size, quantity, frequency and destination, we can give you a useful answer. If you cannot yet, say so on the form — every technical field has an “I don’t know yet, please advise” option.
Last verified 26 September 2026
Sources
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Kenya Flower Council — Flowers and Ornamentals Sustainability Standard (FOSS)
What we read
The Council's description - comprehensive standard covering social, environment and good agricultural practices; benchmarked against GLOBALG.A.P. IFA Smart for flowers and ornamentals and FSI requirements; the three pillars and the FSI basket; first certification and re-certification audits; popularly known as KFC Silver; SANAS accreditation from August 2008 under ISO Guide 17065; the claim to be one of only two standards meeting both social and environmental scope.
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ITC Standards Map — Flowers and Ornamentals Sustainability Standard, KFC Gold and Silver Level
What we read
The profile title naming Gold and Silver levels; the Council formed in 1996, representing 80% of the industry by its own account, from five farms to 130 producers and 93 associate members; sectors, products and geographical scope; data last collected January 2024. Read in a browser; the page is script-rendered.
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Kenyan certification standards register — compiled from the Council, the Standards Map and GLOBALG.A.P.
What we read
Silver recorded as the baseline on water, labour and environmental management; Gold as exceeding it on water recycling rates, wastewater quality and biodiversity protection near riparian zones. The standard document itself was not read; the criteria are not reproduced.
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Floriculture Sustainability Initiative — Basket of Standards
What we read
Kenya Flower Council Silver Standard listed under good agricultural practice, environmental and social.
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Kenya Flower Council — Register of producers, and certification portal
What we read
The register page rendered only its title, with no entries, in a browser on 26 September 2026; the certification portal at portal.kenyaflowercouncil.org returned HTTP 403.
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Kenya Flower Council — What we do
What we read
The statement that Kenya exports to over 60 countries.