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II WWW.BRCGLOBALSTANDARDS.COM CONTENTS
How this publication is organised iv
PART I THE FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Introduction 2 The food safety management system 3
PART II REQUIREMENTS How the requirements are set out 9 1 Senior management commitment 11 2 The food safety plan – HACCP 13 3 Food safety and quality management system 18 4 Site standards 27 5 Product control 42 6 Process control 48 7 Personnel 51 8 High-risk, high-care and ambient high-care production risk zones 54 9 Requirements for traded products 57
PART III AUDIT PROTOCOL
Introduction 63 1 General protocol – audit preparation 65 2 Announced audit protocol 68 3 Unannounced audit protocol 75 4 Additional modules 77 5 General protocol – post audit 77
PART IV MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE
Requirements for certification bodies 82 Technical governance of the Standard 82 Achieving consistency – compliance 84
APPENDICES Appendix 1 Other BRC Global Standards 88 Appendix 2 High-risk, high-care and ambient high-care production risk zones 89 Appendix 3 Equivalent processes to achieve 70°C for 2 minutes 95 Appendix 4 Multiple sites audit protocol 96 Appendix 5 Qualifications, training and experience requirements for auditors 99 Appendix 6 Product categories 101 Appendix 7 Certificate template 104 Appendix 8 Example of evidence submi ed for correction of non-conformity and preventive action 105 Appendix 9 Glossary 106 Appendix 10 Acknowledgements 113
WWW.BRCGLOBALSTANDARDS.COM III HOW THIS PUBLICATION IS ORGANISED
This publication sets out the requirements for the auditing and certification of food manufacturers in order for them to achieve certification for the Global Standard for Food Safety.
The document consists of the following parts:
PART I THE FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Provides an introduction and background to the development and benefits of the Standard.
PART II REQUIREMENTS Details the requirements of the Standard with which a company must comply in order to gain certification.
PART III AUDIT PROTOCOL Provides information on the audit process and rules for the awarding of certificates. It details the different certification programmes available within the Standard as well as information on logos and the BRC Global Standards Directory.
PART IV MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE Describes the management and governance systems in place for the Standard and for the management of certification bodies registered to operate the scheme.
APPENDICES The appendices provide other useful information including auditor competency requirements, product categories and a glossary of terms.
IV WWW.BRCGLOBALSTANDARDS.COM PART I THE FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
INTRODUCTION What’s new for Issue 8? 2 The scope of the Standard 3 Food safety legislation 3
THE FOOD SAFETY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Principles of the Standard 3 The expectation of the Standard 4 Benefits of the Standard 4 The certification process 4 Guidance and training 5 Effective date of Issue 8 5 Acknowledgements: a ‘thank you’ from BRC Global Standards 5
WWW.BRCGLOBALSTANDARDS.COM 1 PART I THE FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
INTRODUCTION Welcome to the eighth issue of the Global Standard for Food Safety (hereaer referred to as the Standard). Originally developed and published in 1998, the Standard has been updated at regular intervals since to reflect the latest thinking in food safety, and has now aained usage worldwide. The Standard provides a framework for food manufacturers to assist them in the production of safe food and to manage product quality to meet customers’ requirements. Certification against the Standard is recognised by many retailers, food service companies and manufacturers around the world when assessing the capabilities of their suppliers. In response to demand, the Standard has been translated into many languages to facilitate implementation by food businesses across the world.
The Standard has been developed to specify the food safety, quality and operational criteria required to be in place within a food manufacturing organisation to fulfil obligations with regard to legal compliance and protection of the consumer. 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.
WHAT’S NEW FOR ISSUE 8?
The development of Issue 8 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 focus of aention for this issue has been on:
• encouraging development of product safety culture
• expanding the requirements for environmental monitoring to reflect the increasing importance of this technique • encouraging sites to further develop systems for security and food defence • adding clarity to the requirements for high-risk, high-care and ambient high-care production risk zones • providing greater clarity for sites manufacturing pet food • ensuring global applicability and benchmarking to the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). The requirements of Issue 8 represent an evolution from previous issues with a continued emphasis on management commitment, a food safety programme based on hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), and a supporting quality management system. The continuing objective has been to direct the focus of the audit towards the implementation of good manufacturing practices within the production areas with additional emphasis on areas which have traditionally resulted in recalls and withdrawals (e.g. label and packing management).
Voluntary unannounced audits
Issue 8 provides sites with two audit options:
• announced audit – where the site and the certification body agree the date of the audit in advance. • unannounced audit – where the audit date is not communicated to the site in advance of the audit. There has been an increasing interest in unannounced audits among specifiers during the lifetime of Issue 7 as this has been seen to provide a greater confidence in the food safety management systems and to encourage the development of a site’s wider food safety culture.
2 WWW.BRCGLOBALSTANDARDS.COM PART I THE FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM The unannounced programme remains voluntary but provides added confidence in certification to customers and creates marketing benefits where sites achieve the top BRC grade of AA+.
Additional modules Issue 8 maintains the principles developed in Issue 7 that enable the incorporation of additional modules. These modules allow sites to include extra requirements during their audit to meet the needs of particular customers, regions or schemes and reduce the number of site audits. BRC Global Standards will continue to develop such modules in response to market demand and make these available via its website.
THE SCOPE OF THE STANDARD
The Standard sets out the requirements for the manufacture, processing and packing of:
• processed foods, both own brand and customer-branded
• raw materials or ingredients for use by food service companies, catering companies and/or food manufacturers • primary products such as fruit and vegetables • pet foods for domestic animals. Certification applies to products that have been manufactured or prepared at the site where the audit has taken place and includes storage facilities that are under the direct control of the production site management.
Section 9 of this Standard details the requirements of traded products. These requirements allow the audit to include the management of products that would normally fall within the scope of the Standard, that are purchased and stored at the site, but are not manufactured, further processed or packed at the site.
The Standard shall not apply to activities relating to the wholesale, importation, distribution or storage of food products that are outside the direct control of the company. BRC Global Standards has developed a range of Global Standards seing out the requirements for a wide range of activities undertaken in the production, packaging, storage and distribution of food. Appendix 1 provides further details of the scopes of, and relationship between, the current Global Standards.
FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION
The Standard has always been intended to assist sites and their customers to comply with legislative requirements for food safety. Legislation covering food safety differs in detail worldwide but generally requires food businesses to:
• undertake a HACCP or risk-based approach to the management of food safety
• provide a processing environment which ensures that the risks of product contamination are minimised • ensure the presence of a detailed specification to facilitate the production of food product which is lawful and consistent with compositional and safety standards and good manufacturing practice • ensure they satisfy themselves that their suppliers are competent to produce the specified product, comply with legal requirements and operate appropriate systems of process control • establish and maintain a risk-assessed programme for product examination, testing or analysis • monitor and act upon customer complaints. The Standard has been developed to assist businesses in meeting these requirements.
THE FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
PRINCIPLES OF THE STANDARD A food business must have a full understanding of the products it produces, manufactures and distributes, and have systems in place to identify and control significant product safety hazards. The Standard is based on two key components: senior management commitment, and a HACCP-based system (which provides a step-by-step approach to managing food safety risks).
Senior management commitment
Within a food business, food safety must be seen as a cross-functional responsibility which includes activities that draw on many departments, using different skills and levels of management expertise across the organisation. Effective food safety management extends beyond technical departments and involves commitment from production operations, engineering, distribution management, raw materials procurement, customer feedback and human resources (who organise and procure activities such as training).
WWW.BRCGLOBALSTANDARDS.COM 3 The starting point for an effective food safety plan is the commitment of senior management to the development of an all- encompassing policy to guide the activities that collectively ensure food safety. The Standard places a high priority on clear evidence of senior management commitment.
A HACCP-based system The Standard requires the development of a food safety plan incorporating all the Codex Alimentarius HACCP principles. The development of the plan requires the input of all relevant departments and must be supported by senior management.
Specific terms (such as prerequisites or critical control points) are drawn from global terminology to describe expectations. Sites are not required to adopt the specific terminology used in the Standard. Alternative terminology may therefore be acceptable, providing it is evident that all the requirements have been fully met. For example, legislative requirements in the US (detailed in the Food Safety Modernization Act) use different terminology but still incorporate all the requirements of the Standard.
THE EXPECTATION OF THE STANDARD
The Standard requires the development of and compliance with the following:
• Senior management commitment The resources needed for the demonstration of commitment to the requirements of the Standard are detailed in Part II, section 1. • A HACCP/food safety plan This provides a focus on the significant food safety hazards (for products and processes) that require specific control to ensure the safety of individual food products or lines as detailed in Part II, section 2. • A quality management system Details of the organisational and management policies and procedures that provide a framework by which an organisation will achieve the requirements in this Standard are given in Part II, section 3. • Prerequisite programmes These are the basic environmental and operational conditions in a food business that are necessary to produce safe food. These control generic hazards covering good manufacturing and good hygienic practice as detailed in Part II, sections 4–8.
BENEFITS OF THE STANDARD
Adoption of the Standard leads to a number of benefits to food businesses. The Standard:
• is internationally recognised and GFSI-benchmarked. It provides a report and certification that can be accepted by customers in place of their own audits, thus reducing time and cost • provides a single standard and protocol that governs an accredited audit by third-party certification bodies, allowing a credible, independent assessment of a company’s food safety and quality systems • enables certificated companies to appear in the publicly available part of the BRC Global Standards Directory, allowing recognition of their achievements and use of a logo for marketing purposes • is comprehensive in scope, covering areas of product safety, quality, legality and product integrity • addresses part of the legislative requirements of the food manufacturer and their customers • enables companies to ensure their suppliers are following good food safety management practices • provides a range of audit options, including announced and unannounced audit programmes, to satisfy customer demands and enable companies to demonstrate compliance through a process which best suits their operation and the maturity of their food safety systems • requires completion of corrective actions on non-conformity to the Standard and a root cause analysis to identify preventive controls before certification, thus reducing the need for customers to follow up audit reports.
THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS
The Standard is a process and product certification scheme. In this scheme, food businesses are certificated upon completion of a satisfactory audit by an auditor employed by an independent third party – the certification body. The certification body in turn shall have been assessed and judged as competent by a national accreditation body.
In order for a food business to receive a valid certificate on completion of a satisfactory audit, the organisation must select a certification body approved by BRC Global Standards. BRC Global Standards lays down detailed requirements that a certification body must satisfy in order to gain approval and operates a comprehensive compliance programme to ensure high standards are maintained.
4 WWW.BRCGLOBALSTANDARDS.COM PART I THE FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM GUIDANCE AND TRAINING BRC Global Standards produces a range of guidance documents, training courses and a self-assessment tool designed to assist sites with the application of the Standard and an understanding of core skills such as risk assessment and root cause analysis.
Examples of courses include training on:
• the requirements of Issue 8 of the Standard
• internal auditing techniques • how to complete risk assessments. Further information about BRC Global Standards training courses can be found at www.brcglobalstandards.com
BRC Global Standards guidance covers a range of topics including:
• an interpretation guideline for Issue 8 which explains every requirement of the Standard • product changeover (i.e. good practices when moving from the production of one product to another) • effective internal audits • allergen management • vulnerability assessments • high-risk, high-care and ambient high-care zones. BRC Global Standards publications can be obtained from www.brcbookshop.com or from BRC Participate (www.brcparticipate.com).
EFFECTIVE DATE OF ISSUE 8
As with all revisions of the Global Standards, there must be recognition that a transition period is in place between publication and full implementation. This allows time for the retraining of all auditors and allows manufacturers to prepare for the new issue of the Standard. Therefore, certification against Issue 8 will commence from 1 February 2019. All certificates issued against audits carried out prior to this date will be against Issue 7 and be valid for the period specified on the certificate.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: A ‘THANK YOU’ FROM BRC GLOBAL STANDARDS
BRC Global Standards wishes to acknowledge all those food industry experts who have contributed to the preparation of Issue 8 of the Standard or provided invaluable feedback through the consultation process. All those who participated in the working groups are listed in Appendix 10.
