What is BRC?

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is a trade association for the UK food retail industry created in 1992.
The BRC has published standards for best practices for the food and manufacturing industries. The BRC
Global Food standard has been in existence since 1998, and in 2000 was the first food safety standard to
be recognized by the GFSI organization, which means the standard meets their “benchmark” criteria for
acceptance. The standard is designed as a “total quality management” program, and includes both food
safety requirements and quality requirements which food manufacturers must meet in order to be
certified.

BRC are the British Retail Consortium, the company was founded in 1996 by retailers who wanted to
harmonize food safety standards across the supply chain. ... BRC Global Standards are used by over
25,000 certificated suppliers in over 130 countries worldwide.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is a trade association for the UK food retail industry
created in 1992. The BRC has published standards for best practices for the food and
manufacturing industries for two decades, and also publishes the On-Pack recycling standards
for the UK.

The BRC Global Standard for Food Safety is a product and process certification standard known for
compliance to industry best practices. BRC certification is an internationally recognized mark of food
safety and quality. Certification is achieved by undertaking a third-party audit against Standard
requirements by an accredited certification body (CB). BRC rates CBs on their technical performance and
efficiency in customer service. Both FoodChain ID Certification in the UK and America are highly-rated
CBs providing accredited BRC certification globally.

In recent decades, food recalls have increased sparking greater consumer awareness about the safety of
foods they eat and causing retailers and food service providers to implement assurance measures, which
protect the firm and brand against a recall. As a result, many UK, North American and European retailers
mandate that their suppliers provide such assurance by achieving GFSI-recognised certification.

As a GFSI-recognized certification program, BRC certification offers:

 Internationally recognized, accredited food safety and quality certification

 Food safety assurance
 Reduced supply chain audits
 A system which supports legal compliance

BRC Food Safety Certification may be beneficial for:

 Finished Food Manufacturers (branded & unbranded products)

 Raw material and ingredient suppliers
 Packers of primary products (e.g. fruit & vegetables)
What is ISO 22000 Certification?
ISO 22000 is an international standard that defines the requirements of a food safety management system
co ISO 22000:2018

In June 2018, ISO 22000:2018 was published. The 2018 version places a greater focus on risk-based
thinking and is aligned to ISO’s high-level structure. The new ISO 22000 Food Safety Management
Systems can deliver additional benefits to organizations of all sizes throughout the food chain:

 improved control over food safety activities

 customer, statutory and regulatory compliance
 facilitated market growth
 increased customer, stakeholder and consumer confidence in products
 improved risk management
 integration with other ISO management system

ISO 22000:2018 replaces ISO 22000:2005. Organizations certified to ISO 22000:2005 have three years
from the date of publication to transition to the new version.

Veering all sizes of all organizations throughout the food chain.

The benefits include:

 Introducing internationally recognized processes to your business

 Giving suppliers and stakeholders confidence in your hazard controls
 Putting these hazard controls in place across your supply chain
 Introducing transparency around accountability and responsibilities
 Continually improving and updating your systems so it stays effective

ISO 22000 takes a whole chain approach to food safety, providing a standard that isn’t just for food
processors, but goes all the way from the farm to the fork including packaging and ingredient suppliers,
caterers, storage & distribution facilities, chemical and machinery manufacturers and can be applied to
primary producers such as farms.

The ISO 22000 Standard details the requirements for the following:

 Scope
 Terms and Definitions
 Context of the organization
 Leadership
 Planning
 Support
 Operation
 Performance evaluation of the food safety management system
 Improvement
The standard has requirements for Food Safety Management Systems processes
and procedures, and requires that the organization implement prerequisite programs and
HACCP.

Unlike some of the other Food Safety Management Systems Certification programs (for
example FSSC 22000 and SQF) the ISO 22000 does not have specific requirements for
prerequisite programs (PRPs), but requires that the organization identifies and implements
the appropriate programs. This makes it more flexible, and food organizations of any type
can implement and be certified to ISO 22000.

Food processors and manufacturers can use the ISO Technical specification ISO/TS 22002-1
to develop their PRP programs. It outlines the requirements for PRP programs that are
applicable to these organizations. The requirements outlined are widely accepted and are
equivalent to the requirements in the PAS 220, the publicly available specification used
along with ISO 22000 for the FSSC 22000 Certification scheme.

ISO 22000 is not a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked standard. This means
that if your customer base or market is looking for a GFSI Recognized standard you should
look at FSSC 22000, which is the most similar to ISO 22000 or one of the other GFSI
recognized certification schemes.

 What is FSSC 22000?

 What is SQF?
 What is GFSI?
What does iso 22000 require?

ISO 22000 requires that you build a Food Safety Management System. This means that you
will have a documented system in place and fully implemented throughout your facility
that includes:

 Effective Prerequisite Programs in place to ensure a clean sanitary environment

 A Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Plan developed to identify, prevent and
eliminate food safety hazards,
 Established documented food safety management system processes to manage
food safety throughout your organization - from management and business
planning aspects to day to day communication and operations affecting food safety.

The ISO 22000 standard contains the specific requirements to be addressed by the Food
Safety Management System. The standard requires food safety management system
processes including:

 Having an overall Food Safety Policy for your organization, developed by top

management.
  Setting objectives that will drive your companies efforts to comply with this policy.
 Planning and designing a management system and documenting the system.
 Maintaining records of the performance of the system.
 Establishing a group of qualified individuals to make up a Food Safety Team.
 Defining communication procedures to ensure effective communication with
important contacts outside the company (regulatory, customers, suppliers and
others) and for effective internal communication.
 Having an emergency plan.
 Holding management review meetings to evaluate the performance of the FSMS.
 Providing adequate resources for the effective operation of the FSMS including
appropriately trained and qualified personnel, sufficient infrastructure and
appropriate work environment to ensure food safety.
 Implementing Prerequisite Programs.
 Following HACCP principles.
 Establishing a traceability system for identification of product.
 Establishing a corrective action system and control of nonconforming product.
 Maintaining a documented procedure for handling withdrawal of product.
 Controlling monitoring and measuring devices.
 Establishing and maintaining and internal audit program.
 Continually updating and improving the FSMS.

What is HACCP?
HACCP Stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. HACCP is an internationally
recognized system for reducing the risk of safety hazards in food.

A HACCP System requires that potential hazards are identified and controlled at specific
points in the process. This includes biological, chemical or physical hazards.Any company
involved in the manufacturing, processing or handling of food products can use HACCP to
minimize or eliminate food safety hazards in their product.

Building a HACCP System

Implementing a HACCP System requires that both Prerequisite Programs and HACCP Plans
are implemented.

Prerequisite programs are programs that are put in place in the facility to control hazards
in the environment, preventing contamination of the product. Prerequisite programs
ensure a hygienic environment, and good manufacturing processes for personnel that
reduce the risk of contamination of the food product.

HACCP Plans are prepared for each process or product, and identify possible hazards and
controls in place to make sure the hazards are eliminated or controlled to ensure
acceptable levels in the food product.

Why use HACCP?

Awareness of food-borne illness is increasing and concern throughout the industry is
driving the use of HACCP and HACCP based certification programs.

HACCP is based on seven principles:

1. Conduct a Hazard Analysis
This is where you evaluate your processes and identify where hazards can be
introduced. Hazards can be physical (i.e. metal contamination), chemical (i.e. can a
cleaning product contaminate the product, are there toxins that could contaminate
the product?) or biological (at what points could bacteria or virus contaminate your
product?). You will need to make sure that you have the expertise to make an
accurate evaluation of the hazards. This means that if you do not have sufficient
expertise in your organization you will need to identify external resources that you
can use to perform the hazard analysis.
The hazard identification is done in two steps, first the identification of hazards,
then an evaluation of the hazard. The hazard evaluation is a determination of the
degree of risk to the user from the identified hazard. Once the hazard is identified
and evaluated the team must identify critical control points. These are points where
the hazard must be controlled or it will present a risk to the end user.
2. Identify the Critical Control Points
At what steps in your process can controls be applied to prevent or eliminate the
hazards that have been identified? These are your critical control points. For each
critical control point you will identify the preventive measure. How will you prevent
the hazard?: Use of specific Temperature, ph, time, procedures?
3. Establish a maximum or minimum limit for temperature, time, pH, salt level,
chlorine level or other processing characteristic that will control the hazard. This is
the critical limit for the CCP. If this limit is ever exceeded corrective action must be
taken, and all affected product controlled.
4. Establish Critical Limits
Your next step is to establish criteria for each critical control point. What criteria
must be met to control the hazard at that point? Is it a minimum temperature? Are
there regulatory limits that you must meet for this control point?
 5. Establish Monitoring Procedures
What will you measure and how will you measure it? You need to monitor the
process at the critical control point and keep records to show that the critical limits
have been met. Can you do continuous monitoring of the control point? If not, how
often will the measurements need to be performed to show that the process is
under control?
The monitoring that takes place at the critical control points is essential to the
effectiveness of the HACCP program. The monitoring program will be made up of
physical measurement or observations that can be done in a timely manner, to
provide the information in a time frame that allows you to take action and control
product if an out of control situation occurs.
6. Establish Corrective Actions
You will establish what actions need to be taken if a critical limit is not met. This will
be identified ahead of time for each CCP. The action must make sure that no unsafe
product is released. There must also be an evaluation of the process to determine
the cause of the problem and an elimination of the cause.
The action or actions taken have two purposes, to control any nonconforming
product resulting from the loss of control, and to identify the cause, eliminate it and
prevent the situation from reoccurring. By identifying the corrective action before
an out of control situation occurs, you are prepared to take action quickly if and
when it does occur.
7. Establish Record Keeping Procedures
You will determine what records are needed to show that the critical limits have
been met, and the system is in control. Address regulatory requirements and
include records from the development of the system and the operation of the
system.
8. Establish Verification Procedures
The HACCP plan must be validated. Once the plan is in place, make sure it is
effective in preventing the hazards identified. Test the end product, verify that the
controls are working as planned. Perform ongoing verification of the system. Are
measuring and monitoring equipment in control? What are corrective actions
showing? Are records being maintained as required?

The Food Safety Management Systems reaches beyond the hazard analysis critical control
point and also incorporates management systems principles similar to those found in ISO
9001. You will be building a system to manage quality and continual improvement
throughout your organization. It will reach beyond the control systems that we have
discussed above and into how you plan and manage quality into your organization.

 Global market place

 Increasing incidents of food-borne pathogens
 New pathogens emerging
  Need to protect Brands, control risks

Food Safety Management Systems

To protect themselves, multinational food manufactures, retailers and grocers are asking
their suppliers to implement a Food Safety Management System.

The Global Food Safety Initiative, GFSI has benchmarked a number of Food Safety
Management Systems Certification programs, all of which are HACCP based.

 SQF
 FSSC 22000
 BRC
 IFS
 Others
BRC is an international Food Safety Management Systems standard, and is one of the GFSI
recognized certification schemes. It contains requirements for food processors to follow to
build an effective food safety management system. There are also editions of the standard
for food packaging manufacturers, storage and distribution and now agent and brokers.

Benefits of BRC Certification

With a GFSI recognized food safety certification, your organization can access those parts of
the market that are only available to those that are certified. More and more
manufacturers and retailers are protecting their product safety and brand reputation by
requiring suppliers to achieve and maintain one of these certifications.

Opportunities for certified companies are expanding, while those for companies that are
not certified are decreasing. By achieving certification you are also protecting your product,
customers and brand. Once you have implemented and are following the system based on
the requirements of the standard you choose, you will be following best practices for food
safety management.

What does BRC Require?

The BRC Standard has requirements for:

 Management Commitment Prerequisite programs

 HACCP
 Food Safety and Quality Manual
 Document Control
 Records
 Internal Audits
 Supplier Approval
 Specifications
 Corrective Actions
 Control of Nonconforming Product
 Traceability
 Complaint Handling
 Management of Incidents
 Site Standards
 Product Design and Development
 Management of Allergens
 Provenance, Assured Status and Identity Preserved
 Materials Packaging
 Product Inspection and Testing
 Product Release
 Control of Operations
 Calibration and Control of Measuring and Monitoring Devices
 Training
 Personal Hygiene
 Medical Screening
 Protective Clothing