The BRC Standard - Food is designed to form a robust basis for assuring that the safety of food products manufactured at a particular site are 'safe, legally-compliant and of good quality'. The Standard is owned by the BRC (British Retail Consortium). Compliance with its requirements is independently audited throughout the world by Certification Bodies, who are themselves overseen and licensed by national accreditation organisations, such as UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) in the UK.
Certification to the Standard is almost a prerequisite for food manufacturers wanting to supply food products to many retailers and food service companies in the UK.
Certification 'opens doors' and gives potential clients the assurance that the manufacturer has robust, effective, independently audited food safety systems in place.
The BRC Standards are revised and re-issued every three years: Issue 6 of the Food Standard was issued on 1st July 2011 is the Standard against manufacturers will be audited from the 1st January 2012. The revision has clarified many points in the previous issue which were open to broad interpretation and focuses more attention on allergens both in raw materials and within the manufacturing environment.
BRC Food - Background