BRC

BRC International Food Safety Standard

In modern world conditions, the issue of not only providing the growing population of the planet with the necessary amount of food products, but also ensuring the quality and safety of these food products to the established requirements is acute. Depending on the region, country, culture, these requirements will sometimes have significant differences, which will lead to a number of difficulties in the development of trade outside the state border of a particular country. Therefore, in order to introduce the principles of quality and food safety throughout the supply chain, it is necessary to rely on uniform approaches to the production of high-quality and safe food products.

Developed by retailers and applicable to use by all types of organizations, BRC is the leading global brand in the marketplace that helps build trust in the supply chain.

The history of BRC Global Standards began in 1996, when the British Retail Consortium (BRC) developed the BRC Food technical standard, first published in 1998, in response to industry needs. The new 8th version of the BRC International Food Safety Standard was released in 2018.

This standard is approved by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), which plays an important role for companies that plan to supply or supply their products to major international food companies, major retailers such as Tesco, Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Metro and others.

The standard includes requirements not only for safety, but also for the quality of food products. It was developed to help retailers and manufacturers of products to market safe food of stable quality.

The new edition of the BRC International Food Safety Standard focuses more and more attention on:

• formation of a food safety culture;
• increasing the specific role of monitoring the production environment and reflecting the increasing importance of this method;
• assistance in the further development of food safety and protection systems;
• clarity of requirements for risk zones for food products in production conditions;
• clarity for the departments of the company producing pet food;
• ensuring global applicability through the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

The BRC international food safety standard includes 4 parts that contain:

1. Food safety management system.
2. Basic requirements for the food safety management system.
3. Audit protocol.
4. Management and guidelines of the standard, including requirements for certification bodies.

Key Benefits of Implementation and Certification to the BRC International Standard for Food Safety:

• availability of international recognition that meets GFSI requirements;
• the presence of a single standard and protocol, according to which certification bodies conduct an authoritative audit, allows you to get a reliable independent assessment of the company’s food safety and quality systems;
• the ability to include certified companies in the public section of the BRC Global Standards Directory, as well as the ability to use the corresponding logo for market purposes;
• the standard covers such areas as quality, compliance with legal requirements and food safety;
  the standard makes it possible to monitor its suppliers for compliance with good food safety management practices;
• the standard offers several audit options (including audit programs with prior notice and without prior notice), which allows you to satisfy customer requirements with a scheme that is most consistent with the work procedures and nature of the company’s food safety systems.