Issue 4 of the BRC/IOP Standard Introduces Grading System
A new dimension (and pressure) is added by this...
Those familiar with the Food Safety and Consumer Product schemes will recognise the principles of grading and subsequent audit frequency based on grading. The grading thresholds in Packaging are the same as in the other Standards, with an A or B grade remaining on a 12 month audit frequency, and a C grade incurring a 6 month audit frequency. D graded sites will not be certificated.
Consequences for major non-conformities against the Statement of Intent of a Fundamental clause are also now in line with that of the Food Safety and Consumer Products Standards. Where such a non-conformity has been identified the site shall not be certificated.
Grading has been a part of the BRC Food Standard for a while. Can any foodies kindly provide us with a 'heads up' on what we can expect and where they draw the line between A & B etc.
Cheers,
Simon
I've never seen a C or D site but I've read an audit for a D site. It basically had no food safety and quality management system, basically what it did have was sketchy and not implemented at all.
I would generally expect to see more quality issues in a B site than any other. An A grade site will have fewer for obvious reasons; they're more in control. C or D sites aren't recording them.
Generally customers expect 'A', will be ok but want improvement from 'B' (depending on the customer) and 'C' is likely to lose you business; D definitely will.
The grading system for the food standard is a little complex and in my opinion does not deliver on its original objective of recognising those companies who consistently do well and have a high level of commitment to on-going improvement. I feel the SQF approach of awarding certification on 3 levels depending on the stage of development of the food safety system is more workable.
The scoring system is I believe well intended and designed to give the auditor flexibility when reporting non-conformances and reflecting the holistic position of the company but from my own experience I'm not convinced.
The table below gives a breakdown of how many NC's give a particular Score.
BRC Grading System.PNG 226.58KB 101 downloads
It all comes down to quality of auditor and auditing body IMO.
Unless they actually told their customers, there was no way that anybody would know - their re-audit date would still be in 12 months.
Now if they get 2 majors they get a Grade C or even D if they have 21or more minors as well. This grade will be shown on the BRC website, they have a revisit within 28 days (extra cost) and the next scheduled audit is 6 months later (extra cost)
A lot of the initial audits particularly I have done have resulted in 2 majors and loads of minors, often more.
Having been on the receiving end of a fair few BRC Food audits, one thing which annoys me about some auditors is that they seem to decide what the grade will be at the start and hunt down the non conformities to meet the grading.