REQUIREMENTS AND NEW CHANGES OF BRC FOOD ISSUE 8 ( ISSUED AUGUST 1st 2008 )

Global Standard BRC offered for food safety was issued in August, 2018.

It's been 3 years since this standard was last updated and had simultaneously minor changes. The new Issue 8 is still a draft format although it is likely that most of changes introduced will be applied. This requests Senior management of centrality and greater responsibility. Managers need to prove a commitment which is always through making a strategic plan for food safety culture.

The advantages of BRC Food Issue 8 version:

• Stimulate the development of food safety culture.
  
• Make more requests of environmental supervision to reflect the growing importance of this technique.
  
• Encourage units applying this version in the development of security system and food safety.
  
• Complement some requirements for high-risk, high-care and ambient high-care zones.
  
• Have a new approach to assessment and evaluation reports need to focus on factory's activities and management commitment.
  
• Display competence in global application and compare with Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

What are major changes of BRC Food Issue 8?

1. Commitment of Department of Senior Managers:
This task was undertook to ensure that every production base has executed sustainable monitoring program, which allows producers to take corrective actions promptly to avoid the contamination of food .
● Department of senior managers should have and develop a detailed plan for continuous improvement in food safety and quality assurance. This task consists of:
● Every production base affects food safety;
● How to implement a detailed plan for action in the near future;
● Assess the effectiveness of activities namely HACCP system, protection of food and authenticity.
● Meetings in terms of food safety, legality, integrity and quaility should be held once a month and their results have to reported to department of senior managers.
● Set up a secret reporting system which lets employees express their concern about food safety, legality and integrity and quality of food.
2. Plan for food safety/ HACCP:
●The plan for food safety must comprise all risks, for instance: microbiological pollution, physical pollution...
●We must archive and make a backup of documents and electronic dossiers.
●The grogramme will have at least 4 different testing days spread evenly throughout the year.
The verification will consist of:
+ Plan for food safety or HACCP with activities.
+ The prerequisite programmes like sanitation and insect control ones.
+ Scheme and process of protecting food and preventing the counterfeit of food.
+ Process of meeting BRC Standard.
● The plan for raw material risk assessment must updated if there is any change in material, processing process or suppliers; if there is a new risk, at least three times a year.
● Assessments of suppliers' effiency have to be noticed.
● Management, approval and outsourcing supervision are now included in the standard to ensure safety.
● When there is a risk of food safety, production bases must have an analysis procedure for root causes to make improvements and prevent non-compliance.
● Every production base has to have a documented traceability process. This process has to include at least: how traceability system works, the labeling and necessary records.
3. Product safety and food proctection:
The demand for pollution prevention has recently increased. Therefore, BRC Food Issue 8 significantly revised the requirements for risk assessments.
● The system protects material, products, facilities and brands from harmful effects.
● Company will undertake risk assessment and measure risks of internal and external threats, which becomes the basis of threat assessment plan that needs regularly reviewing to adopt to changing circumstances.
● Areas with physical risks like outside storage area have to cautiously approached by authorized staff. A visitor record system must be created. Besides, enployees must be trained for security process and food protection at factories.
● Elevated walkways near production lines must be designed to prevent product's contamination.
● All production equipment must be inspected by authorized personnels who will eleminate all risks of contamination.
4. Product testing equipment:
BRC Food Issue 8 includes more detailed information on impurity detection equipment, belt weight check scales, labeling equipment.
●All production bases must overcome and report processes in event the of contamination and/or malfunction of the online verification system. Activities will consist of the re-examination of all products since the last successful inspection.
●The inspection of metal detection in production lines will be accomplished during the process of starting production lines and at the end of production period.
● Changes in equipment settings that affect integrity and safety of products must be made by trained and authorized personnels. Besides, all control functions must be protected by passwords or other restrictions.
● A further requirement is that belt weight check scales must be managed in accordance with legal requirements, which comprises the testing of operation effectiveness and the recording of testing results.
5. Product labeling:
A large number of product recalls result from labeling errors. The analysis of incorrectly labeled products indicates that the key problem is the error in original label information, component/ supplier change or packaging process.
● Ensure accurate, up-to-date information to "control change" effectively in cargo receipts, which means that only exact document versions are accepted at the facility.
● As highlighted in the Product Testing Equipment above, on-the-spot printing control, such as data codes, is perfomed by authorized personnels.
● Online verification devices such as barcode scanners will need set up and tested.
● Testing will be completed at least at the beginning and at the end of production process. 
● During the longitudinal verification, inspectors will verify the accuracy of labels and the labeling process.
● Instructions on how to cook must be verified to ensure that food is safe enough for customers to consume.
● A constantly updated risk assessment and record plan must be made to reflect any change in the risk of raw material.
● New requirements of creating an overdue packaging management process including labels, which comprises safe disposal of packaging to avoid reusing them.
● The verification of printed information currently includes the examination of allergen information.
● To ensure products' labeling is accurate, all relevant employees must be trained in labeling and packaging process.
 In addtion to aforementioned changes, there are now new requirements for reviewing testing results and additional details to prevent products from being infected with pathogens. Modifications have also been made for aspects namely physical environment such as anti-broken glass windows, sanitation system, risk-based environmental supervision and insect management to ensure food safety.
   Version 8 requirements  reflect the progress of previous statements emphasizing management commitment, a food safety programme which is based on hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) and supplementary quality management system.

  Setting international standard for food safety best practices, BRC Global Standard Food Safety enables suppliers in the world to let customers know that they are maintaining highest standards in terms of safety, quality and compliance with legal requirements.
Assessments of version 8 began in February 2019.
If you are researching into BRC, the following documents are necessary for you to apply to the business.  KNA sends to you: Here.