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What is the BRC Technical Standard?
The British Retail Consortium (BRC)
Technical Standard for
Companies Supplying Retailer Branded Food Products was developed in 1998 to provide a common standard for
companies supplying retailer branded food products. The BRC Technical
Standard was developed by UK supermarket retailers to assist them in their fulfillment of legal obligations and protection
of the consumer. In March 2003 the standard was renamed the BRC Global Standard - Food. (The contents have not
changed)
The BRC Technical Standard is recognised by the majority of UK
supermarket retailers and is being increasingly used by foodservices companies to approve suppliers. In many instances it is can be a
pre-condition to supply certain companies. Food manufacturers are also using this standard as a basis of supplier approval. There are
BRC accredited companies in many countries in the EU and as far away as Canada, Brazil and Thailand. The scheme should now be referred to as the BRC
Global Standard - Food, although it is often referred to as BRC Accreditation.
One of its initial
advantages was that it could reduce the number of food safety audits by each retailer and allow technologists to concentrate on other
areas such as product development or specific quality issues. In practice,
supermarkets may also insist on their own audits, particularly for high risk suppliers or apply other
codes of best practice in addition to the BRC standard.
There is also a separate technical standard for companies
manufacturing and supplying food packaging materials for retailer branded products.
There
is also another standard known as EFSIS which is not exactly the same as the BRC standard but it does incorporate all the BRC
requirements. The EFSIS standard lists an additional 15 requirements at foundation level, 3 at higher level and a further 18
recommendations. The contents are also structured in a different order to the BRC standard. Both the BRC and the EFSIS standards are
widely used and equally accepted in the food industry.
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