ACERTA is accredited against all categories of the BRC Food 6.

The Global Standard for Food Safety was first developed in 1998 by the retail industry to enable suppliers to be audited by third party Certification Bodies against a single consistent standard.

It is designed to assist retailers and brand owners to produce food products of consistent safety and quality and assist with their due diligence defense, should they be subject to a prosecution by the enforcement authorities.

Under EU food Law, retailers and brand owners have a legal responsibility for their brands. Many UK, North American and European retailers, and brand owners will only consider business with suppliers who have gained certification to the appropriate BRC Global Standard.

The Standard is closely managed by the BRC who license the use of the Standard to Certification Bodies.

BRC Food was the first standard to be approved by the GFSI (The Global Safety Initiative) as part of their process for mutual recognition of food safety standards and continues to be the most widely used of the GFSI standards with over 15,000 certificated sites worldwide.

Benefits of the BRC Global Standards

• Comprehensive and focused on safety, legality and quality
• Clear and detailed requirements based on HACCP principles supported by documented systems
• Standardized reporting format providing information on how sites meet the requirements of the Standards
• Closure of all non-conformities identified at an audit with evidence included in the report before Certificates can be issued
• Complementary with existing quality management systems e.g. ISO and HACCP where these meet the requirements of the Standard

 The BRC Food version 6 is in force from 1st January 2012 for all producers worlwide.

To download a PDF of the key differences between issue 5 and 6 for the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety CLICK HERE