Quality Policy Statement in BRC Storage & Distribution Standard
I am a quality engineer in a food logistic firm. Our company serves to restaurants and supply all kinds of needs (frozen / chilled / ambient foods, packaging materials, and other non food products [napkins, fork, spoons, table, chair etc. ] ). We apply the BRC Storage and Distribution Module Issue 2. The standart wants to form a quality policy which stated product safety, legality and quality. We are not sure that in quality policy saying product safety is enough to meet the standart expectation or because of different kind of goods storage emphasizing food safety is better???
Could you share your opinion with me??
Best Regards
Seval
PS1: According to Standart, related item is:
The company's senior management shall develop and document a quality policy statement which states the company's intentions for the safe and legal storage and/or distribution of products and its responsibility to its customer.
PS2: The standart can be applied to food, packaging material and customer products. And it includes HACCP, food safety rules.
It does not have to be long and extensive or too specific.
It should commit to satisfying customers' needs and expectations, working in accordance with legislation applicable to the storage and distribution of food and other products, and doing this in a safe manner.
I'm not sure how this will translate, but this is an example.
" Our company stores and delivers food and non food products to restaurants and other customers.
We are committed to providing a service that will exceed our customers expectations and we will do this safely and in full compliance with all relevant legislation.
The food products we supply may be ambient, chilled or frozen and may include high risk food products.
In order to meet this committment, we will operate procedures and practices developed from systematic HACCP studies.
We will continuously evaluate our operations to identify opportunities for improvement.
As Chief Executive I will ensure that all resources necessary to meet this committment are provided."
It would then of course need to be signed, dated and communicated
i am grateful to you for your answer. i prepared our policy in similar manner of your example. now i am audited from brc storage and distribution. in my country i have found storage and transportation limits for frozen food in legislation but i cant find any rules for chilled food. do you know any legislation for these foods? our chilled food group includes dairy products, fermented meat products, dressings and vegetables. can you help me?
The Quality Policy is the starting point for your whole Quality Management System and it is the demonstration of your senior management's committment.
It does not have to be long and extensive or too specific.
It should commit to satisfying customers' needs and expectations, working in accordance with legislation applicable to the storage and distribution of food and other products, and doing this in a safe manner.
I'm not sure how this will translate, but this is an example.
" Our company stores and delivers food and non food products to restaurants and other customers.
We are committed to providing a service that will exceed our customers expectations and we will do this safely and in full compliance with all relevant legislation.
The food products we supply may be ambient, chilled or frozen and may include high risk food products.
In order to meet this committment, we will operate procedures and practices developed from systematic HACCP studies.
We will continuously evaluate our operations to identify opportunities for improvement.
As Chief Executive I will ensure that all resources necessary to meet this committment are provided."
It would then of course need to be signed, dated and communicated
Different chilled products may have a specified temperature control requirement (eg chicken must be kept below 5C) but in most cases chilled foods must be maintained below 8C.
There is of course the overiding requirement that the means of transport must not contaminate the food in any way.
I am attaching a summary of food legislation in the UK, which has links to EU regulations.
There is almost certainly more there than you will need, but you can cross reference general and product specific regulations against the products that you handle.