What to Expect From a BRC Audit
Ruth Bitterman
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is a GFSI-benchmarked scheme. While its roots are European, it is a globally accepted and respected audit scheme. The current emphasis regarding BRC audits is on unannounced audits. If your company is preparing for a BRC audit and is wondering what to expect, this brief guide will serve as a helpful resource.
In this blog:
How do I prepare for a BRC audit?
What to expect from a BRC audit?
What Is BRC?
The BRC certification is a food safety standard that demonstrates a food and beverage company’s commitment to industry best practices. To obtain and maintain certification, companies undergo third-party audits against the standard’s requirements performed by an accredited certification body (CB).
Currently, over 22,000 sites located across 130 different countries have adopted the BRCGS standard. Since its inception in 1998, the BRC Food Safety Standard has undergone eight revisions and is now a widely utilized framework for promoting benchmarking to the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).
The BRC released their latest Standard - Issue 9 - which includes a few changes to their requirements, enforceable as of February 2023. The BRC standard for food safety is separated into nine core sections:
Senior management commitment
Food Safety Plan (HACCP)
Food safety and quality management system
Site standards
Product control
Process control
Personnel
High-risk, high-care, and ambient high-care production risk zones
Requirements for traded products
The food safety certification is ideal for food manufacturers, suppliers of raw materials and ingredients, and packaging facilities.
What Is a BRC Audit?
The BRC audit is the BRC’s assessment of a company’s adherence to its standards of food safety. During the audit, an auditor from an accredited CB will thoroughly assess your food manufacturing facility, looking at records, documentation, real-time processes, and process documentation across the nine core areas of operations listed above. As of 2022, this audit scheme has a minimum requirement of one unannounced audit every three years.
Why Is BRC Important?
Becoming GFSI-certified has several benefits. It helps to implement a consistent, measurable program for mitigating risks, and may also help to secure contracts with key customers. And, since many customers are confident in the competence of the BRC CBs to conduct thorough audits, it may prevent your company from experiencing “audit fatigue.” Being certified in a GFSI scheme can also aid in compliance with the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
BRC certification in particular boasts the following key benefits.
Brand Credibility
BRC certification showcases your company’s diligence and abilities to overall safety programs. It demonstrates a commitment to the highest food safety standards, quality, and continuous improvement. It can increase customer confidence in your supply chain management and operations.
Global Expertise
Since BRC is one of the largest GFSI schemes in the world, you’ll have access to an international network of trained CBs, making certification simpler to navigate.
Cost-Effectiveness
While there are costs associated with any certification, most food and beverage companies find that the benefits make the investment worthwhile for BRC.
What Does BRC Focus On?
As mentioned above, there are nine key areas of focus emphasized under the latest version of BRC’s food safety standard, issue 8. Here’s a closer look at how auditors will assess your facility against each pillar.
Senior management commitment
Auditors will look for senior managers who are actively working to implement food safety processes and continuously improve upon them.
Food Safety Plan (HACCP)
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) is an essential component of the food safety standard which plays an important role in risk mitigation and identification. It is a systematic approach to the identification, evaluation, and control of food safety hazards based on seven principles.
Food safety and quality management system
During your audit, you’ll need to show detailed documentation to illustrate the effective processes and management activities that are in place to promote safe food production.
Site standards
Companies are expected to maintain a safe, clean site for food handling and production.
Product control
Control measures should be in place for initiatives such as allergen management and product testing.
Process control
Auditors will look to see that your facility’s HACCP plan is followed routinely and effectively to promote quality.
Personnel
Employees are expected to be well-trained, wear the proper equipment, and exercise behaviors for proper hygiene.
High-risk, high-care, and ambient high-care production risk zones
You’ll need to show an auditor that any particularly at-risk products are protected by control measures to reduce the likelihood of contamination.
Requirements for traded products
Any facilities that purchase and sell traded products should demonstrate safe practices for handling, processing, and packaging them to reduce the risk of contamination.
How Do I Prepare for a BRC Audit?
As with pursuing any type of GFSI certification, you can prepare your facility by making sure your recordkeeping practices are current and effective. Here are some additional tips for navigating BRC audit prep.
1. Perform a Self-Assessment.
Self-assessments effectively help catch food safety or quality issues before auditors arrive. You can uncover gaps during an audit performed by an independent third party, or use a food safety management system such as SafetyChain to hold an internal assessment.
2. Choose a CB.
Next, find a CB using the BRC’s directory. Select one that seems like it will be a good fit for your facility.
3. Set a Date.
Once you’ve been assigned an auditor, the next step is to schedule the audit. This will be a 4-month “audit window”. Within that 4-month window, a facility may “blackout” ten days in which the audit cannot occur. Be mindful of key considerations, such as maintenance shutdowns, and what time frame is best based on your operations and time of year. Additionally, remember that re-audits will be held six months or one year after your certification score is released and is dependent on your audit score.
4. Get Senior Management Involved.
As discussed above, senior management is expected to play a key role in BRC compliance. Your leadership team should therefore be present during the opening and closing meetings, at the very least.
5. Ensure all Documents are Readily Available.
Auditors will need to review your HACCP plan as well as other key documentation supporting your food safety program. You won’t want to be digging through filing cabinets and binders with the auditor present, so make sure all of your information is gathered in advance. Food safety audit systems keep your facility ready for audits 24/7 by centralizing all of your facility's records in a single place.
6. Assess Your Traceability.
Traceability is a core principle in GFSI programs, so an auditor will likely perform traceability tests during their assessment. Be sure to do the same during your practice audit to ensure preparedness.
A Real-Life Example of Organized BRC Audit Prep
For Joyce Farms Quality Assurance Manager, Jennifer Hamby, preparing for audits was once stressful and time-consuming. The meat processor had outdated and inefficient software, which made it challenging to gather the documentation needed to approach audits with confidence and clarity. It took days to prepare for scheduled audits — time that doesn’t exist when it comes to unannounced audits.
During their previous audit, “I was flipping through books and documents... ultimately stressed trying to find everything,” Jennifer said. Joyce Farms received a B, which resulted from write-ups for missing documents.
This time around, “I pulled into the parking lot as the auditor was checking in.” There was no time to prepare and in a BRC audit, the auditor needs to be on the floor within 30 minutes. But because the facility had been maintaining records in SafetyChain each day, everything the auditor needed was right at his fingertips.
The auditor said it was the smoothest and easiest audit he has ever conducted
The platform has reduced their audit prep time by 100% and helped them achieve the highest possible score for an unannounced BRC audit, an AA+.
In this document, Jennifer walks through the SafetyChain steps to achieve ongoing audit readiness and shares her favorite capabilities so you can confidently “hand over the mouse” to the auditor.
What to Expect from a BRC Audit
Typically, BRC audits take place over two to three days. The opening meeting will outline the precise breakdown of activities that will take place while the auditor is present. Here’s a general look into what you can expect to be assessed during that period.
Demonstration of Continuous Improvement: When non-conformities are identified, auditors will seek root cause analyses as proof that the same issues will not keep happening. A quick fix will raise concerns among auditing parties, so be sure to address any issues thoroughly.
HACCP & PRP Review: Your entire HACCP team should routinely review and reassess CCPs to verify the effectiveness of your food safety plan. Auditors will seek proof that the HACCP plan is frequently reviewed and updated, which is why having a robust and precise record-keeping system is so critical for GFSI-certified facilities.
Audits & Corrective/Preventive Actions: As with any GFSI scheme, BRC requires food and beverage companies to audit their own processes to achieve ongoing performance. Corrective actions must be in place to respond to non-conformities.
Facility Layout/Product Flow: While layout is typically not a concern in updated or new facilities, older plants may be at risk of violations. Traffic flow should be optimized according to BRC standards to prevent issues like cross-contamination from allergens, waste, or personnel traffic flows. High-risk zones are of critical importance, so to prepare for your audit, focus on these areas first and foremost.
Continual Training: Continual cross-training should be provided to permanent employees to provide an understanding of not only how food safety plans are carried out in the facility, but also why. Hands-on classes, for instance, provide effective training opportunities for appropriate personnel.
Allergen Labeling & Handling: Lastly, BRC auditors will check to ensure allergen raw materials are properly stored, labeled, and handled throughout the production line.
There will also be a closing meeting during which the findings of the audit will be reviewed.
Preparing for a BRC audit will require time and effort. Nonetheless, BRC certification offers many advantages for competitive food and beverage companies. To learn more about preparing for GFSI audits, including the new wave of remote audits, be sure to check out our free video and e-guide.
Mandatory Unannounced Audit
Unannounced audits were first presented in 2007. The thought behind unannounced audits was to provide facilities the opportunity to:
Demonstrate confidence in their systems and programs.
Adopt a food safety culture that can support unannounced visits.
Allow for greater customer confidence by proving, through a successful unannounced audit, that the systems and procedures in place are robust and functioning as expected.
Unannounced audits have proven to promote a food safety culture and a sense of ownership in the programs throughout facilities, not simply in the Quality or Food Safety groups. Given that a facility must be audit-ready all of the time, more and repeated trainings are generally provided to the entire facility to ensure coverage for the audit regardless of personnel available at the time of the audit.
To be fully prepared for an unannounced audit the following suggestions are provided:
Establish a food safety culture that is driven by senior management and supported by roles and responsibilities expected of each department.
Utilize Internal audits. They have proven to be a successful tool in monitoring improvements in the food safety culture.
Educate and mentor back-up roles for key personnel.
