Audit Costs

Can anyone share the average cost for having one of the food safety standard audits performed by a third party auditing firm? (e.g. BRC Version 5, ISO22000, SQF level 2 / level 3, etc.) I know that the size of the facility and complexity of operations may influence how an auditing firm prices this service. I'm hoping to obtain some averages to help with long term decisions on the best path to take.

Can anyone share the average cost for having one of the food safety standard audits performed by a third party auditing firm? (e.g. BRC Version 5, ISO22000, SQF level 2 / level 3, etc.) I know that the size of the facility and complexity of operations may influence how an auditing firm prices this service. I'm hoping to obtain some averages to help with long term decisions on the best path to take.

Yes - very expensive!

I’m not involved with any of the certification schemes right now, but in the UK you will not get much change out of £1,000 - £1,500 ($2,000 - $3,000 USD) for a one day audit when all expenses are taken into account. As you said it depends on the size of the facility, so if for example you have a very large site and/or complicated products and processes then it often can take more than one day. You would expect the additional days to be slightly less but not always. You also have to bear in mind the number of audits required to maintain certification, which again can have an impact. I know initially with BRC the audit frequency is every 6 months, until (I think) zero nonconformities are found then it reverts to 12 months.

It’s a good topic Jemster and it will be interesting to hear the cost variance in different regions of the world and the requirements / audit frequencies of the different audit protocols.

Not a topic that Certification Bodies / Registrars would like to see discussed, especially the more expensive ones.

Regards,
Simon

BRC audit frequency is based on performance. With a grade of A or B the audit is annual. A grade of C will require another audit in 6 months.


SQF initially required audits every 6 months but a new version of the Code was due to be approved as of Aug 1st. It is still shown as a draft on the web site I've seen - so I'm not sure on this. I do think they have changed to a performance based frequency as well.

Hi,

For your reference only,

BRC Food Issue 5

Application fee RM2000
Administration fee RM600
Renewal Audit RM2500 per manday

Cost are in Malaysian currency. Not including auditors transport, food and lodging. Number of man days depends on your company size.

hmm... charges are from an international certification body, which i shall not name here :P

Rgds,
Eugene

Forgot to add, in case of Grade C where 6 monthly audit is required, application fees would not apply. Not sure about administration fees.

BRC audit frequency is based on performance. With a grade of A or B the audit is annual. A grade of C will require another audit in 6 months.

SQF initially required audits every 6 months but a new version of the Code was due to be approved as of Aug 1st. It is still shown as a draft on the web site I've seen - so I'm not sure on this. I do think they have changed to a performance based frequency as well.

So what are the charges like in North America Cathy?

Hi,

For your reference only,

BRC Food Issue 5

Application fee RM2000
Administration fee RM600
Renewal Audit RM2500 per manday

Cost are in Malaysian currency. Not including auditors transport, food and lodging. Number of man days depends on your company size.

hmm... charges are from an international certification body, which i shall not name here :P

Rgds,
Eugene

Using a currency converter it looks as though prices are <50% of the average UK cost.

ISO 22000 costs and audit frequencies anyone?

Regards,
Simon

Costs for audits here in the U.S. depend on the size and complexity of the operation.
A rough estimate for one BRC audit would be about $3,000 (U.S.) plus travel expenses for the auditor.

One company recenlty told me that they received an estimate for an SQF audit that was around $5,000.

Thank-you all, for sharing this information. I have found through some investigation that day rates vary from $1000 - 1500, with minimum audit costs starting around 3K for BRC and as high as 5K+ for GMA-SAFE. Expenses are extra. Size and complexity of operations are additional considerations. Anyway we look at it, this is an expensive element of doing business today.

Thanks Cathy and Jemster for adding your comments. Anybody else care to comment? It would be good to get a spread of information from different countries so that we can do some meaningful collation of the data.

Regards,
Simon

Well Simon, i guess you cant convert it this way. Typically a set meal of Burger Kings in UK should cost <50% of Malaysia too.


On my side, for ISO22000

Application fees: RM2000
Stage 1 : RM3000
Stage 2 : RM7000
Surveillances : RM2000 per man day.

Charges are from an international CB too. Surveillance frequency at least once yearly

Rgds,
Eugene

Thank-you all, for sharing this information. I have found through some investigation that day rates vary from $1000 - 1500, with minimum audit costs starting around 3K for BRC and as high as 5K+ for GMA-SAFE. Expenses are extra. Size and complexity of operations are additional considerations. Anyway we look at it, this is an expensive element of doing business today.

Yes definitely an expensive elelment. In the old days the UK supermarkets had large and expensive technical resources to carry out supplier quality assurance activities, now they get somebody else to do it for them and get the supplier to pay for the pleasure. Now that's what I call good business.

Well Simon, i guess you cant convert it this way. Typically a set meal of Burger Kings in UK should cost <50% of Malaysia too.

I wouldn't know Eugene; I'm over 40, so my Burger eating days are over. Although I do make my own recipe burgers for the kids now and again. They call it Daddonalds.

Regards,
Simon