Food Safety is one of people’s major concerns when shopping for groceries. Within the food industry there are numerous standards that businesses follow to ensure the safety of their manufacturing process and product quality. One of these certifications is BRC Food.
What is BRC?
BRC is an international Food Safety Management Systems standard. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) first published its Food Safety Standard in 1998. It was developed to help the food industry comply with UK and EU food safety laws, and quickly became an internationally recognized benchmark for best practice in food safety, quality and responsibility.
What does the standard cover?
The standard is divided into 9 sections:
- Senior Management Commitment
Commitment at a senior level of implementing and continually improving the organization’s food safety processes.
- The Food Safety Plan – HACCP
Having a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan in place allows the company to identify and manage any biological, chemical or physical hazards that may pose a risk to the safety, quality and integrity of their products.
- Food Safety and Quality Management System
This section ensures the company works to well-documented, systematic management systems that to produce safe products, meet customers’ expectations and ensure staff are well trained.
- Site Standards
This covers the suitability, cleanliness and control of the site and includes topics such as factory conditions, cleaning, equipment, pest control, foreign body controls and food defense/site security.
- Product Control
Establishing product controls such as allergen management, the prevention of food fraud and product testing are important in the reliable delivery of safe, authentic products.
- Process Control
These requirements ensure that the documented HACCP plan is put into operation on a daily basis, together with effective procedures to consistently manufacture the product to the correct quality.
- Personnel
Training, protective clothing and hygiene practices are covered in this section.
- High-Risk, High-Care and Ambient High-Care Production Risk Zones
Dealing with products that are susceptible to potential pathogen contamination and therefore need additional controls to ensure product safety.
- Requirements for Traded Products
Purchase and sell food products that would normally fall within the scope of the Standard and are stored at the site’s facilities, but which are not manufactured, further processed or packed at the site being audited.