The BRC Global Standard for Food Safety is the most widely used of the commercial standards for assuring production of safe food. BRC Certification is designed to verify products that meet consistent high levels of safety and quality.
On August 1, 2018, BRC published the most awaited BRC Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 8. This new version of the standard will replace Issue 7 after a six month transition phase. There are several changes, additions and amendments between issue 7 and issue 8 of the BRC Global Standard, including the integration of pet food, new environmental monitoring clauses and a heightened focus on culture and top management commitment. Despite being an evolution from previous versions of the standard, the BRC Global Standard for Issue 8 introduces quite a lot of significant changes compared to its predecessor Issue 7. The format and content of the Standard is designed to allow an assessment of a company’s premises, operational systems and procedures by a competent third party the certification body against the requirements of the Standard.
BRC 8 will be effective from February 2019. Therefore, anyone who has an audit after the end of January 2019 will need to familiarise themselves with the differences between BRC Issue 7 and BRC Issue 8.
Other changes likely to be approved concern the creation of a new section where all high-risk, high-care and ambient high care requirements are centralised. There will also be a focus on cyber security and greater clarity for sites manufacturing pet food. Another area concerns global applicability and benchmarking to the Global Food Safety Initiative.
Key Changes in BRC Food Safety Issue 8
- Internal audits have to be spread throughout the year
- Establishment of a confidential reporting system
- Mandatory food safety training for team leaders
- Distinct clauses for supplier approval & supplier monitoring
- How, why, and where to perform root cause analysis
- Recognition of cyber security incidents
- Environmental monitoring
- Product control clauses for pet food
- Full validation of cooking instructions
- New section 8: High-risk, high-care, and ambient high-care requirements
- New Section 9: Requirements for traded products
To help you keep one step ahead of the transition from Issue 7 of the BRC Standard to Issue 8, Punyam Academy organised two-day “BRC Food Safety Issue 8 Conversion Lead Auditor Training” from 16th to 17th October, 2018 at Ahmedabad, India. This BRC Standard Issue 8 training highlights key changes from Issue 7 to Issue 8, and what these mean for you and your organization.