The British Retail Consortium Standard is a standard created by British retailers.
BRC was first established in 1998 as the Global Food Standard to remove the burden of multiple inspections by third parties and retailers on producers supplying food to the UK.
It has comprehensive coverage of all food safety and legal issues and points out issues that need to be taken into consideration for both the supplier and the retailer.
The primary purpose of the BRC is to provide an overarching framework of internationally accepted food safety standards and to help improve food safety.
In terms of form and content, the standard has been designed to provide insight into the working systems of food manufacturers, thus ensuring the standardization of food safety criteria and follow-up procedures.
BRC has 4 different standards for different sectors.
1- Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 6- Global Standard for Food Safety version 6
2- Global Standard for Consumer Products Issue 3- Global standard for Consumer Products version 3
3- Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials Issue 4 - Global standard for Packaging Materials version 4
4- Global Standard for Storage and Distribution Issue 2- global standard for storage and distribution version 2
BRC – FOOD SAFETY VERSION 6 STANDARD ARTICLE TITLES
1. Senior Management Commitment
2. Food Safety Plan – HACCP
3. Food safety and quality management system
4. Facility Standards
5. Product Control
6. Process Control
7. Employee
CERTIFICATION PROCESS
An organization that wants to obtain a certificate according to the BRC Standard first signs a contract with the certification body authorized to issue this certificate.
BRC Food Standard has categorized food processing and published it under 6 headings as follows.
1. Unprocessed meat and fish products (Red and white meat-fish, unprocessed meat and fish products)
2. Production (Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables)
3. Daily Foods (milk and dairy products, eggs)
4. Frozen cooked, ready-to-eat or cook meat and fish products
5. Environmentally resistant, heat protected, packaged food products
6. Other environmentally resistant food products (beverages, bakery products, dried foods, light snacks and breakfast cereals, oils and fats, food additives)
When applying for certification, companies should examine these categories and apply through the category that is appropriate for them.
Following the agreement made with the certification body, the organization wishing to obtain certification fulfills the necessary documentation and process requirements in accordance with BRC requirements.
After the necessary preparations are completed, an audit is requested from the certification body.
As a result of the inspection carried out by expert auditors, companies that are certified to comply with the criteria determined in the BRC standard are certified. The validity period of the certificate is 1 year.
Benefits of BRC
Increased consumer confidence
Priority entry to the desired market
Strong ties with retail distribution
Increased transparencyIncreasing production efficiency
Minimizing important food risks
It has a wide scope such as Quality, Hygiene and Product Safety. It ensures effective control of internal processes and minimization of the risk of making errors.
It brings a proactive approach to food safety by identifying potential hazards in advance and ensuring the use of preventive rather than corrective methods.