Frequently Asked Questions BRC Food Standard issue 6
Answers to general questions regarding how BRC certification works can be found here. Specific questions relating to the clauses and protocol of the Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 6 are detailed below.
The BRC operate an enquiry service and if you are unable to find an answer to your particular question then please contact enquiries@brcglobalstandards.com.
Why did issue 5 of the Standard need changing?
Food safety does not stand still new risks, legislation and practices to improve food safety emerge so as a matter of principle and in line with GFSI benchmarking requirements the BRC Standards need to be periodically reviewed and updated. The most significant changes in issue 6 are around the audit options and methods of audit however the new issue also includes more specific requirements on aspects of best practice to ensure consistency.
When will audits begin against the new Issue 6 Standard?
As from the 1st of January 2012 all audits will be carried out against issue 6 of the Food Standard.
I am not due to have an audit until September 2012 will customers still accept my issue 5 certificate until then?
Yes. Whenever there is a change from one issue of the standard to the next the existing certificates remain valid and acceptable to customers up until that certificate expires
Will issue 6 of the Food Standard continue to be a GFSI recognised Standard?
Yes. The standard was written to conform to the latest GFSI Benchmark document issue 6 and an application has been made for benchmarking. All existing GFSI benchmarked standards are required to re-submit for benchmarking against this new version of the Guidance Document and will be assessed during 2012.
Will the audits against issue 6 take longer and therefore be more expensive?
The BRC introduced a new audit duration calculator at the beginning of 2011 which increased the typical audit duration from 1.5 days to 2 days. We do not expect the Issue 6 audits to result in the need for a longer total time for the audit although we do expect more time to be spent in the factory and less time auditing paperwork. The audit duration calculator has been updated for issue 6 to show the distribution of time expected between the factory and the office parts of the audit.
For the full list of Frequently asked questions, click here.