7 replies to this topic

[Koko LMQ]

Friends,

Could you please explain me "Due Diligence" in BRC Food and BRC/IoP Requirements as I do not know it exactly.

NY

[Simon]

Due Diligence is a legal defence in UK law. Ultimatley it could allow a food business to get away with killing someone - provided they have taken all reasonable precautions (exercised due diligence).

Here is a useful article on the subject:

Due diligence: How the judges give credit where it's due

Is there a similar legal defence in other countries?

Regards,
Simon

[Esther]

Friends,

Could you please explain me "Due Diligence" in BRC Food and BRC/IoP Requirements as I do not know it exactly.

NY

Hello

I will try to explain this from my point of view, the meaning of " due diligence " while I was working in England as an OVS.

I hope you never have to use this term. It is used when things are going bad from a food safety point of view.
If your company has implemented a good HACCP or the BRC standard and all the requeriments are followed in a right way and you can prove it then, in the case that the company were suspicius or involved in a food outbreak, that food safety system would be a defense for your company.

Esther

[Charles Chew]

Esther is right. You do not want to mess around with a "due diligence" on your FSMS but when it happens, you will understand fully the importance of record-keeping, validation, SOP verifications etc etc becos the end result of your often "legal case" vis-a-vis potential financial loss will hinge entirely on the FSMS Records especially validations remember Franco posted the latest on ISO 17025:2005

Charles Chew

[JaneOwen]

There's a brief introduction to due diligence on my site at
http://www.vitalprod...aw_overview.htm

It is a defence which is available across a wide range of consumer protection and other legislation in the UK and yes, it does exist in other countries too - Canada being one that springs to mind.

Hope that helps!

[Simon]

Thanks for that Jane; hope you can stick around.

By the way how do you have time for Cilve?

Regards,
Simon

[Charles Chew]

NY,
Due diligence covers many areas and business categories. Obviously, in this case, we are not concerned about performing a due diligence on the true and fair view of an organization's financial bill of health but rather a different type of health.........i.e. of food safety concern covering the wider aspect of product liability or effectiveness of your FSMS.

Effectiveness of a FSMS reflects commitment in driving the system while on the other extreme, a company may be certified to BRC or HACCP however, the internal food safety operating system is rotten to the core........now thats another story and in this sort of instance, a due diligence will certainly put you into a hell of a lof of probem.

From the experience of an actual legal case, the onus is on you to proof that your FSMS is working effectively and achieve to planned level of food safety and expectations. Records need to be shown as evidences etc etc and as I had mentioned on many occasions, validations and verifications are significant records and they will be the core of your defense.

I also referred to Franco's recent posting of ISO 17025:2005 and trust me, it would really pay to understand what this stuff is all about and you would find out one day when due diligence come knocking on your door.

Currently, there are legal houses already specializing in a big way on product liability claims especially in the US...................McD coming to my mind

[Charles Chew]

From the experience of an actual legal case, the onus is on you to proof that your FSMS is working effectively and achieve to planned level of food safety and expectations.

From my experience and to hammer the point home, there is no room for a Non-FSMS lawyer in a "FSMS Due Diligence" as they are merely facilitators. Unless they truly understand FSM, your real friends in this case would really be the technical support and scientific evidences provided by your chemist and microbiologist against your independently validated test results AND of course, whether your test methods used to obtain these results are internationally recognized.

I know a lady who has a double major professional in law and as well as a microbiologiest....she is dynamite!