SQT Blog

The BRC project has been on the go since 1998 and there is no doubt that it has improved standards throughout the food manufacturing sector in this period but as with every standard that matures over time is its relevance declining?

ISO9000 suffered such a fate in the food sector as it was surpassed by FSSC which was newer and of greater relevance.  As one who reads many BRC non-conformance reports the same ‘low hanging fruit’ keeps appearing e.g. “No proof that blue plasters were metal detected.”  Do these types of observations really add value to the business with regards to Risk Management?

So what are the major changes to BRC Global Food Safety Standard Issue 7?
Supplier approval has been added to the list of fundamentals.  This was a given due to “horsemeatgate.”  The words fraud and integrity are a bit more prominent and Agents (Traders) are targeted.  There are significant improvements to ensure the integrity of the Supply Chain.  Clause 3.9 traceability has also been expanded with 3.9.3 being a new clause again focussing on raw material suppliers.

Another area significantly enhanced is customer focus and communication.  This is an area where the technical department must step-up.  The role of technical management has changed significantly over the past 24 months.  We need to communicate better both internally and externally so that the business needs of customers/retailers are understood by all in the manufacturing environment.

Learn what need to know about BRC on our one day programme…more

(Blog post based on draft standard of BRC Global Food Safety Standard Issue 7 which  will be published by January 2015. Audits according to the new standard will take place from July 2015)

As per BRC Global Food Safety Standard Revision 6, Corrective Action and Root Cause Analysis are viewed as two different things.

Corrective Action is defined as ‘Action to eliminate the cause of a detected non-conformity deviation’

Root Cause is defined as ‘Underlying cause of a problem which if adequately addressed will prevent the recurrence of the problem’

As both definitions are remarkably similar, it is quite difficult to understand one from the other. Applying both terms to a metal detection scenario …

If metal is detected in the product

Corrective Action initially focusses on the removal of the hazard from the product and the identification of where the hazard originated from.

Root Cause Analysis will look at how we allowed the hazard to contaminate the product in the first place …
– Why did our Preventive Maintenance programme fail?
– Have we committed sufficient resources to the maintenance department?
– Do the maintenance personnel fully understand their vital role in hazard control?
– Had our process risk assessment identified the hazard as a reasonable hazard?
As per the Root Cause definition, these are the underlying causes which if addressed will prevent the recurrence of the problem.