Revised food safety standard published

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has published the seventh issue of its internationally recognised BRC Global Standard for Food Safety, and audits against Issue 7 will begin in July 2015.

The BRC Global Standards set the benchmark for good manufacturing practices in food, packaging, storage and distribution, agents and brokers and consumer products. Certification enables customers to have confidence in their suppliers and helps suppliers by allowing them to show they are maintaining high standards of safety, quality and legal compliance.

The development of Issue 7 followed a wide consultation to understand stakeholders’ requirements and a review of emerging issues in the food industry. The information has been developed and reviewed by working groups made up of international stakeholders representing food manufacturers, retailers, food service companies, certification bodies and independent technical experts.

The requirements of Issue 7 of the Standard are an evolution from previous issues, with a continued emphasis on management commitment, a hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP)-based food safety programme and supporting quality management system. The objective has been to direct the focus of the audit towards the implementation of good manufacturing practices within the production areas with increased emphasis on areas which have traditionally resulted in recalls and withdrawals (eg label and packing management).

David Brackston, BRC Global Standards technical director, says, “The development of Issue 7 has been based on the values of the previous issues while ensuring that the update reflects the latest best practices. The consultation with the users of the Standard set the main focus for the rewrite, which was to reduce the need for multiple audits and encourage consistency of the audit process; we believe the working groups have achieved this aim.”