The BRC published Issue 6 of the Global Standard for Food Safety in July 2011 and the new Issue 6 Standard will be used for all audits from 1 January 2012.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) published Issue 6 of the Global Standard for Food Safety in July 2011 and the new Issue 6 Standard will be used for all audits from 1 January 2012. Certificates issued against Issue 5 will remain valid for the duration indicated on the certificate.
This document is intended to provide an introduction to the new Issue of the Standard and provides a guide to all users of the changes made to the Standard. Part 1 of this guide provides an overview of how Issue 6 was developed, the priorities and objectives on producing Issue 6 and an explanation of the key developments of the certification scheme.
Part 2 of this document looks in more detail at the requirements of the Standard, provides a management summary of the main changes to the Standard and the main reasons behind these changes. Companies will, however, need to purchase a copy of the full Standard and are advised to study the detail of how the requirements apply to their own operation before their next certification audit.
Background to the production of Issue 6 and objectives
The BRC Food Safety Standard is widely used around the world and before starting to review Issue 6, the BRC undertook an extensive consultation with users of the Standard to understand its strengths and potential areas for improvement.
The feedback on Issue 5 was generally very positive and the continual growth in use of the Standard around the world, with nearly 14 000 certified sites and over 20 per cent growth in 2010, is a testament to its increasing international popularity. The consultation identified a number of opportunities for further improvement, particularly with regard to the way audits are conducted:
The rewrite was directed by a steering committee made up of senior representatives from major retailers and food service companies to ensure the Standard continued to develop in line with their own requirements.
The detail of the Standard was developed using two multi-stakeholder working groups made up of representatives from retailers, food service, certification bodies, manufacturers and UKAS. The draft Standard was tested in a series of trial audits and made available for public consultation. More than 1 700 people from around the world downloaded the draft document. All of the comments on the draft were reviewed before the final draft was produced. The BRC Standards have been adopted and used around the world with certified sites in more than 100 countries.
Areas of focus
The improvements to Issue 6 are not just about the Standard itself, but continued improvement of the entire scheme that supports the standard. For instance, a new range of interactive training courses have been developed to provide information for both auditors and manufacturing sites. All auditors registered to carry out audits against Issue 6 will be required to attend a two-day training course and successfully complete an exam in order to be allowed to audit Issue 6.
An enrolment process will be introduced that will enable sites to register their audits on the BRC directory and share their progress with customers as they develop their food safety systems. A progressive weighted scoring system will be introduced, prioritising the basics of food hygiene to encourage improvement where sites are not certified. This recognises the sites and provides a measure by which to chart their progress towards full certification. This will only be available on the private area of the BRC directory.
Allergens continue to be the cause of a significant number of product recalls and so this has been revised to ensure some of the main causes are fully addressed. There is now a need for all production staff to be given a general allergen awareness training session, for instance.
The interaction between food and packaging is also an emerging food safety issue. The new requirement in Issue 6 extends previous requirements concerning certificates of conformity for packaging and obliges the sharing of information on product characteristics and usage to allow the correct packaging to be used.
The BRC Standard is designed both to assist companies to improve food safety and as a means of providing assurance to the certified site’s customers.
