11 replies to this topic

[GMO]

Hey all, has anyone gone through this process yet? What was it like? Any curveballs on the call?

Edited by GMO, 17 April 2020 - 07:47 AM.

[AndyDiff]

Hi GMO - There is some info & feedback in this thread: https://www.ifsqn.co...ncelled-audits/

 

I have attached the risk assessment template our CB used, which was carried out over a remote video link.

 

Regards

Andrew

Attached Files

•  BRCGS - Summary of each area of the risk assessment (002).pdf   52.73KB   213 downloads

[trubertq]

I'd like to know the price other people are being quoted for this audit. We have got a  price of £1950!!

[pHruit]

I'd like to know the price other people are being quoted for this audit. We have got a  price of £1950!!

 

Techni-K were running a survey of CB costs for this - it's surprisingly varied!

https://techni-k.co....n-body-results/

 

(If you're not currently subscribed to their free daily email update thing then it's possibly worth signing up - actually be pretty useful over the last few weeks)

 

[trubertq]

They're quoting Eurofins at £1550, for an 18 hr assessment but that can't be right, that would be 2 x 9hr days on the phone!!

[pHruit]

They're quoting Eurofins at £1550, for an 18 hr assessment but that can't be right, that would be 2 x 9hr days on the phone!!

 

I think the argument is that most of those 18 hours are their own back-office stuff, conducting the actual risk assessments, technical review, administration etc.

We've also got no idea of the actual data behind the "average" figures they're quoting, so whilst the scale of the variation is rather surprising, I'm a bit wary of inferring too much from it - for all we know the Eurofins one could be a single data point from an enormous site with 47 different HACCP plans, and the UK Food Certification one at £300 could be one guy in a 20m² facility who only makes a single product.

 

Nonetheless it was interesting to note BRC's own comment that they can't control the fees the CBs are charging - did seem like they might want to distance themselves from it a bit

 

 

 

[MlissaB]

Hey all, has anyone gone through this process yet? What was it like? Any curveballs on the call?

 

Which standard are you looking at? I've been through it with three plants, but all were to BRC Packaging so I would think the standard and scheme would have an impact as much as the CB.

[AndyDiff]

I'd like to know the price other people are being quoted for this audit. We have got a  price of £1950!!

 

Hi. Our CB is indicating a half day rate charge of £535.

[GMO]

Which standard are you looking at? I've been through it with three plants, but all were to BRC Packaging so I would think the standard and scheme would have an impact as much as the CB.

Global standard for food safety.  Any learnings though?

[zoelawton]

We received a remote BRC audit last week - which resulted from a complaint they received. 

 

The auditor informed us about the future of auditing during the current pandemic. 

 

We are unannounced and are due our audit anytime from now-september.

 

He said he was due to be with us the week prior, but due to Covid-19 this couldn't happen. 

 

He said we can apply for a risk assessment of Covid-19 control at a cost of £1000, taking between 2-4 hrs for a 6 month extension, or we can leave that and still be audited whenever that should naturally be, however it would be announced instead of unannounced. 

 

Obviously the audit we received wasn't a full audit as it was just investigating a complaint, however we were asked to send a list of documents the night prior, and then the next day we conference called from 9am, broke at 11.45 for 45mins and continued until about 1.30. This involved just going through some documents and a visual tour of the production area via Facetime where he asked standard questions about the process and anything he saw.

 

 

Hope this helps

[MlissaB]

Global standard for food safety.  Any learnings though?

 

What we had was a 2-1/2 phone call for each site verifying our certification history, any changes we have had since our last audit and a lot of discussion on what effects COVID-19 is having on our business and what measures we are taking in response and proactively due to the crisis. 

 

This is for non-contact packaging though so I would think it would be far more in depth for plants actually processing food.

[GMO]

Thanks everyone.  Really helpful.