The BRCGS Food Safety Global Standard defines the quality, food safety, and operational requirements for food service provider industries manufacturing food in Australia to comply with the current food industry standards, legal/compliance mandates, and customer protection.
Not only does certification to BRCGS food standards assist in fulfilling the legal obligations and the customer requirements, but the resulting systems, practices, and methods also enhance your adaptability against a threat, safeguarding your company, buyers, brand, consumers, and customers.
Embedding the standards can also help Australian Companies realise other business efficiencies. The methodology, for example, can recognise waste minimisation possibilities, enhancing sales and profits while lowering the environmental impact.
7 Key Requirements of BRCGS Food Safety Standard
Currently, in use globally, the BRCGS Food Safety Global Standard was prepared by UK suppliers and retailers to bring together a wide range of food management standards to offer concise assistance and enforce compliance for both large and small food companies.
This standard is developed on seven main requirements that encompass the fundamental activities that any entity would put in place for food production:
The seven key requirements are as follows:
- HACCP
- senior management commitment
- food safety and quality management system
- site standards
- product control
- process control
- personnel
- High-care, high-risk, and ambient high-care production risk zones
- Requirements for traded products
Why should Australian Businesses choose the BRCGS food safety standard?
The BRCGS food safety standard is a GFSI benchmarked standard accepted globally.
Risk-based requirements are based on due diligence requirements that are clearly outlined.
It also contains a voluntary pre-assessment, which allows for recognising and encouraging best-practice food management systems in small projects where the full extent of regulations might need to be revised.
Australian businesses implementing the BRCGS standard will have fewer complaints, reduced product recalls, and rejected products.
Benefits of BRCGS Standards
Anitech has helped global businesses achieve the benefits of BRCGS standards:
Below are the benefits described in brief:
1. Achievable
The BRCGS food safety standard tends to take a rational thinking, risk-based strategy, providing organisations with a realistic path to certification. Over 25,000 sites in over 130 countries have taken on the challenge of attempting to implement industry best practice food safety certification, defining this as an industry benchmark standard for food safety.
2. Appropriate and Robust Management Systems
The standard was created by a multi-stakeholder group comprised of companies from various food market segments. To ensure product quality and safety, it is based on CODEX HACCP and integrates food safety management systems along with globally accepted finest manufacturing procedures.
The standard offers robust management systems that showcase operational due diligence and observational evidence of compliance.
3. Customer Support
Several global vendors, food franchise businesses, and large food manufacturers support the BRCGS Food Safety Global Standard as a fundamental food safety standard and require its certification as part of their supplier authorisation process.
This increases customers’ confidence in the product, which will pave the way for new opportunities in the market.
4. Cost-effective and reduced Audit burden
This Certification is recognised and accepted in the industry minimises the requirement for and the expense of duplicate audits. Local BRCGS-trained and approved auditors complete audits, allowing a globally accepted standard to be audited at local rates. This, in turn, reduces the audit burden.
The BRCGS Food Safety Global Standard establishes holistic, risk-based metrics for tackling recent and future food safety concerns worldwide.
The following are the main topics covered:
- food safety culture
- food security and defence
- environmental monitoring
- labelling and packing controls
- allergen management
Prescriptive requirements support food safety’s key requirements and intent to showcase due diligence.
Area of Focus
During the development phase, the focus of attention included the following:
The focus of attention for this issue has been on:
- Expansion of the requirements for environmental monitoring to reflect the increasing importance of this technique
- Encouraging sites to develop systems for security and food defence further
- 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 GFSI benchmarking
How can Anitech help?
Anitech has an experience of over 15 years in assisting various food businesses in Australia with robust Safe Quality Food Program
Anitech has managed to help organisations safeguard their reputation and integrity in a challenging global food supply network by certifying a wide range of food-producing and food-service businesses of all kinds and sizes.
Our experienced Food Safety consultants will guide you in implementing the best practices to enhance processes, product quality, and customer satisfaction.
Our clients have always been happy with our strategy to help them implement management systems, internal audits, and certification and compliance assistance.
You can refer here for more information - Safe Quality Food SQF
You can also call us at 1300 802 163 or email us at info@anitechgroup.com
Our team will be happy to help!
