GFSI Certification Timeline for Start-ups
Good day all,
I hope all is well and that the new year is treating everyone well.
I have been requested by my company head to begin the process of attaining GFSI Certification. My initial thought was that we were to pursue BRC for food safety, and most likely, packaging and storage, but the requested timeline has put somewhat of a hindrance on that mindset.
We have not started production and have yet to finalize our production line. It is, to my understanding, required by BRC to have 90 days of production records prior to an audit. My management team would like to attain GFSI as soon as possible, so I am now here asking if there are any GFSI recognized standards that do not require 90 days of production records prior to an audit.
I apologize if this is just the global standard, and hence, applies to all GFSI recognized standards, but I thought I'd maybe ask here before diving into researching each standard.
Also, apologies, again, as I know this is the incorrect category for this question, but are there any documentation time requirements for BRC packaging and storage?
Thank-you for any and all insight.
All the best,
Gareth
It is not that the "standard" has a requirement for 90 days it is that an Auditor will be hard pressed to be able to conduct a proper doc audit giben anything less than 90 days.
In my 18 years of SQF and BRC plus a helping of a couple of others I've co-opp'd system developements at breakneck speed, but what matters is the time needed for the staff to umderstand/comprehend as well as having a good roll out with implememtation thus if you wamt to do this right and regardless of which scheme you select a period of pre plan thru all the steps to certification via DIY would be about 10 months min give or take a little and maybe shave 3-4 months off that if working with a consultant.
And yes, I am sure you'll find someone that might tell you 1 to 4 months soup to nuts, but realistically that would be sloppy at best and with unknown variables such as need for capital investmemt, training etc and as a former SQF, BRC, FSSC and IFS Auditor you really don't want to tell an Auditor that ypu only habe 90 days of look back abailable.
For a brand new start up with nothing in place, no documents and no evidence? I would think it would take longer than 90 days. In my past I have been able to take two plants and get GFSI certified within 4-5 months, but that was with a baseline of programs already established as well as production records and such already in use. Realistically if I was asked for a brand new plant starting up, I'd say give me at least a year to help get GFSI certification. If it is a customer concern, you can provide customers with a timeline and assure them you are working towards GFSI. They should be understanding.
Agreed, give the customers a time line.
I'll give an example of a point where you will get stung:
They will say, where is your management review?
Where are your 4 internal audits spread across the year?
Etc and so on.
We were ready 4 months after I got to work but the plant had been operational for a year....
Thank-you all for the information.
This is pretty much what I expected to hear and appreciate the reassurance. I will relay this information and my prior knowledge to my superiors and hope the customers hold-on through the timeline that we provide them.
Thank-you all again!
Gareth