BRC Certification

BRC Global Stan­dard Food Safety certi­fi­ca­tion is aimed partic­u­larly at manu­fac­turers and processing and/​or pack­aging compa­nies that produce prod­ucts for English-speaking markets such as the UK, Asia and the USA.

In the UK, the BRC Global Stan­dard is required in food retailing.

BRC certi­fi­ca­tion (just like the IFS Food Stan­dard) is recog­nized by the Global Food Safety Initia­tive (GFSI) and includes clearly defined busi­ness and food safety require­ments from the British Retail Consortium.

Manu­fac­turers and compa­nies that package or process food can be certi­fied with the BRC Global Stan­dard (BRCGS).

This includes, for example, compa­nies in the following product groups:

• Processed foods, both private label and customer branded
• Raw mate­rials or ingre­di­ents for use by food service compa­nies, catering compa­nies, or food manufacturers
• Primary products/​packaging of fruits and vegetables
• Pet food

The stan­dard does not apply to activ­i­ties around whole­sale, import, distri­b­u­tion or storage of food prod­ucts outside the direct control of the company.

Bene­fits and objec­tives of the BRC Global Standard

BRC Global Stan­dard certi­fi­ca­tion is designed to ensure food safety throughout the supply chain and creates a uniform assess­ment and quality system for manu­fac­turers and compa­nies that trade in food.

For compa­nies, compli­ance with all measures and successful certi­fi­ca­tion result in many benefits:

• Increasing food safety and product quality
• Devel­op­ment of the British market
• Meeting the require­ments of trading partners
• Increasing the confi­dence of customers and trading partners
• Mini­miza­tion of risks
• Opti­mizing product and process quality

• Food safety stan­dards: The Tentamus Group supports and accom­pa­nies you in the intro­duc­tion and imple­men­ta­tion of various stan­dards – indi­vid­u­ally and tailored to your company.
• Support in the indi­vidual project phases: Concep­tion, consulting, audits, training for employees, imple­men­ta­tion of measures, control, accom­pa­ni­ment of certification.
• Internal audits / supplier audits / food safety check / hygiene inspec­tions: Through internal audits, we provide you with expert, objec­tive and prac­tical support. Through these inde­pen­dent audits we elim­i­nate possible risks and defi­cien­cies before the offi­cial certification.
• Prepa­ra­tion of self-checking systems: Our experts support you in the devel­op­ment of indi­vid­u­ally tailored measures for self-control in accor­dance with HACCP prin­ci­ples and, in the course of this, also carry out hazard analyses
• Process consulting: We carry out compre­hen­sive process consulting in food compa­nies. This includes the recording, analysis and redesign of processes with regard to safety, effi­ciency and feasi­bility of the processes, taking into account your oper­a­tional situ­a­tion and the certi­fi­ca­tion requirements.

To success­fully pass and obtain this certi­fi­ca­tion, compa­nies must first demon­strate the following requirements:

1. Effec­tive quality manage­ment system incl. documentation
2. Process proce­dures according to HACCP principles
3. Regular in-house controls (prod­ucts, processes, personnel)

Further elemen­tary require­ments, which are checked by certi­fi­ca­tion bodies, are:

• Manage­ment commit­ment to contin­uous improve­ment of processes
• Food safety plan
• Quality manage­ment system
• Manage­ment of suppliers of raw mate­rials and packaging
• Correc­tive and preven­tive actions
• Trace­ability
• Arrange­ment, product flow and zoning
• Manage­ment and hygiene
• Manage­ment of allergens
• Control of operations
• Labeling and pack­aging control
• Training courses: Handling of raw mate­rials, prepa­ra­tion, processing, pack­aging and storage areas

The certi­fi­ca­tion process consists of an audit during which all docu­ments are checked with regard to the spec­i­fi­ca­tions of the BRC Global Stan­dard and their confor­mity and effec­tive­ness. Subse­quently, if success­fully passed, confor­mity and func­tion­ality are confirmed by an appro­priate certi­fi­ca­tion body. In order to main­tain certi­fi­ca­tion, full audits take place annually.

In order to prepare opti­mally for the certi­fi­ca­tion and to pass it success­fully, it is recom­mended for the inter­ested food compa­nies to be checked in advance by inde­pen­dent consulting compa­nies and audi­tors. This offers the great advan­tage of being able to detect any defi­cien­cies or griev­ances before certi­fi­ca­tion and to take measures to elim­i­nate or avoid them.

You are not sure whether the BRC Global Stan­dard is the right stan­dard or certi­fi­ca­tion for your company?

No problem! Our consulting compa­nies will provide you with compre­hen­sive advice and help you select the appro­priate stan­dard and prepare you accord­ingly. This includes audits, the prepa­ra­tion of HACCP concepts and quality manage­ment systems as well as training and educa­tion of your employees.

We can advise and support you in the following certi­fi­ca­tions, among others:

• Inter­na­tional Featured Stan­dards (IFS) such as IFS Food, Global Markets, Broker, Logis­tics, Food/​Logistic/​Broker
• BRC
• ISO 9001/ ISO 22000
• FSSC 22000
• QS
• VLOG

The following part­ners of the Tentamus Group offer the prepa­ra­tion for BRC certification: