Obtaining Copies of GFSI Benchmarked Standards

Hello All,

Does anyone know if the GFSI organization distributes copies of the benchmarked standards or is there another organization, apart from the individual standard owners, where one can go to obtain all of the copies? More specifically, where can one obtain all of the current copies for:

BRC
FSSC 22000
International Food Standard
and
SQF 2000?

How much do these cost?

Thanks in advance for your answers and suggestions.

gcse-fhp

Hello All,

Does anyone know if the GFSI organization distributes copies of the benchmarked standards or is there another organization, apart from the individual standard owners, where one can go to obtain all of the copies? More specifically, where can one obtain all of the current copies for:

BRC
FSSC 22000
International Food Standard
and
SQF 2000?

How much do these cost?

Thanks in advance for your answers and suggestions.

gcse-fhp

You can obtain a free copy of the standards for SQF at www.sqfi.com

You can obtain a free copy of the standards for SQF at www.sqfi.com

Thanks GOC,

SQF is generous in offering the free download of their standards. How much are the other standards currently asking for copies of their standards? It appears that going to the individual standard owners is the only way to obtain copies of the standards. It would be convenient if there is one stop shop for these.

Regards,

gcse-fhp

SQF is generous in offering the free download of their standards. How much are the other standards currently asking for copies of their standards? It appears that going to the individual standard owners is the only way to obtain copies of the standards. It would be convenient if there is one stop shop for these.

Indeed. And on the flip side the BRC charge £90 for the PDF version of their standard which isn’t actually a "Portable Document Format" – more an inconvenient copyright protected piece of software which must be installed on every computer that you want to view the PDF on. It will also only allow you to print the document once! Or twice, I can’t remember.

The ISO charge approx £90 for their ISO 22000:2005 standard and the PDF version has similar copyright protection as the BRC.

IFS is almost a third the price of the above at £33. The caveat is that they don’t provide a PDF version of their standards – print only. Except for those who like to have copies on their computers/tablets this is not a problem for most people.

I am not aware of any one-stop shop; we have always purchased them straight from source.

gcse what is your location, preferred currency and do you want the standards as downloads or hard copy. This information will help determine the best sales outlet for you.

@Philip, I find the BRC controls over zealous considering users must have an up to date copy of the standard as a requirement of certification.

Regards,
Simon

Indeed. And on the flip side the BRC charge £90 for the PDF version of their standard which isn’t actually a "Portable Document Format" – more an inconvenient copyright protected piece of software which must be installed on every computer that you want to view the PDF on. It will also only allow you to print the document once! Or twice, I can’t remember.

The ISO charge approx £90 for their ISO 22000:2005 standard and the PDF version has similar copyright protection as the BRC.

IFS is almost a third the price of the above at £33. The caveat is that they don’t provide a PDF version of their standards – print only. Except for those who like to have copies on their computers/tablets this is not a problem for most people.

I am not aware of any one-stop shop; we have always purchased them straight from source.

Thanks, Philip,

This is very helpful and I am sure that others with similar interests will also find your comments useful.

gcse.fhp

gcse what is your location, preferred currency and do you want the standards as downloads or hard copy. This information will help determine the best sales outlet for you.

@Philip, I find the BRC controls over zealous considering users must have an up to date copy of the standard as a requirement of certification.

Regards,
Simon

Simon,

Thanks for the question. The primary location of interest is Canada, with the Canadian dollar as the currency. Meanwhile, price quotes in the selling location currency may prove to be more accurate at the time of actual purchase transaction due to currency exchange fluctuations. I personally prefer downloads if available. It appears that this may not be the case for the IFS standards according to Philip.

gcse-fhp

It's also important to note that some of the standards such as the BRC and IFS are copyright protected and just to clarify, Simon that the requirement for the BRC in not specifically an up to date copy, but rather a GENUINE hard or electronic copy on file for the certification audit.

I just mention this since a photocopy of the the latest standard will not do and in fact will result in a non-conformance (and slap on the hand for breach of copyright)

I apologize, but I couldn't resist conducting the following simple calculation.

There are 17,000 BRC certified companies world-wide. Therefore a genuine copy of the standard at £90 a pop generates a total revenue income of £ 1.5 million.

If I was running the BRC I think I would be producing an issue of the standard every year rather than every 4-5 years.

But to be fair there is no doubt considerable costs in developing each new issue...

I believe that IFS will become free from issue 6 (and will be launched next Monday!)
BRC can be purchased on http://www.tsoshop.c....asp?FO=1235945

Regards