BRC goes from strength to strength
More than 3,000 organisations from over 120 countries have achieved certification to the BRC Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials, which can be used by any manufacturer producing packaging materials for all types of products – from food to consumer products.
The BRC designed the standard to help organisations adopt good manufacturing practices and supporting quality management systems, helping them to develop and manufacture safe, legal packaging materials that meet the quality levels expected by their customers.
The standard splits the packaging industry into five material areas: glass, paper and board, metals (cans and foil products), plastics (rigid and flexible materials) and wood and other materials.
Joanna Griffiths, BRC Global Standards’ packaging technical manager, says, “The standard was the first packaging standard to be benchmarked by GFSI, helping to increase recognition for all BRC certificated sites. We are seeing strong growth levels in our emerging markets like the US, China and India, with continuing growth in many of our more established European markets.
“Reaching 3,000 sites is a testament to the strength of the standard and the esteem in which it is held in the global packaging industry.”
BRC has also announced a publication date of 1 July 2015 for the fifth issue of its standard.
Griffiths adds, “Building on the core principles of management commitment, a hazard and risk analysis based product safety programme and a supporting quality management system, the objective of the rewrite of issue five has been to direct the focus of the audit towards the implementation of good manufacturing practices within the production areas, while recognising the diversity and breadth of the packaging industry and the skills required to audit it.
“We believe issue five is in a great position to continue the growth of the standard and the industry’s confidence in it.”
