16 replies to this topic

[daz4246]

I work for a small company that grow cauliflower. We floret the cauliflower into plastic trays in a small purpose built factory and send to customers who further process the cauliflower. When I say we are a small company, we have 2 people in the office. A lady who deals with the book keeping and me who does the buying/selling/paperwork for HACCP etc.
Currently we are Assured Produce but recently we have been told by one of our customers to go BRC. All the knowledge I have on anything technical has been from the internet and a couple of 2 day courses.
I have purchased the BRC Standards Book and WOW I have now realised what a challenge I have on my hands. Ok so I understand that the idea is to setup a Food Safety & Quality Manual but what to put in there I have no idea as the BRC Standards book just baffles me with its long winded criteria.
Is there anywhere I can get a simple list of what is required for the manual. Or is there an example / generic manual I can work from?
Thankyou for any help offered.

[Simon]

Hi Daz, I sympathise with your plight, but there’s no shirking it if you’re in the retail supply chain. Anyway you’ve come to the right place. My background is packaging, but there are lot’s of members here who have achieved the BRC Food Standard in their companies. Hopefully there may be one or two in produce who can help.

Can anyone help Daz?

Regards,
Simon

[BVRC]

Hi Daz

Hmmmm...it is a big task.
I attach a BRC gap analysis, I got it from somewhere on the net a while ago, it is relevant for issue 4, so you might want to look at issue 5 as well for some of the clauses that changed.

Although this is at least a starting point. Since BRC is a combination of a Quality system & HACCP, I suggest you get the foundations in place first, this being your Quality manual(the gap analysis shows which procedures you are required to have for that), secondly you should address your PRP (GMP's), those are things like structural issues, product segregation, glass and brittle material management, pest control etc.

When these are in place you can then do the Haccp study.
I will check back here if you have anymore questions.

Good luck
Bennii

Attached Files

•  BRC_gap_analysis.xls   41KB   464 downloads

[Charles.C]

Dear Daz.

The most basic answer to yr question (I think) is that yr Quality Manual is required to demonstrate how your Quality System addresses the requirements of the BRC Standard.
This is borrowed from ISO 9000 language (hence the long-winded!) and one typical (though not mandatory) structure of the manual follows their same pyramid idea. There are various generic i9k examples on the IT if you Google a bit. As you hv probably noticed, a set of typical, BRC oriented, dwlable hygiene/HACCP procedures is available on this site (doc.exchange section).
The volume of work should normally relate to the specific case if that is any help
I also think there is (or used to be) a, business oriented, example of a Q.Manual layout somewhere on this site but cannot unfortunately remember where.


Rgds / Charles.C

[daz4246]

Thank you people, your comments are helpful. I think I have most things in place like HACCP, pest control, glass control etc it is just a matter of putting it all together and calling it a Quality Manual.
I plan to be BRC by June, I'll let you know?

[Simon]

Thank you people, your comments are helpful. I think I have most things in place like HACCP, pest control, glass control etc it is just a matter of putting it all together and calling it a Quality Manual.
I plan to be BRC by June, I'll let you know?

Thank Bennii and Charles for helping out.

Daz feel free to ask further questions as you work through your BRC system development.

Regards,
Simon

[GMO]

Everyone has given good advice but be prepared not to get a great grade on the first audit, especially if you don't have the support of a decent sized team. One option could be to pay for a consultant to come in, even if it's only for a couple of weeks, they will be able to tell you a good section of what you need to do on day 1 if they're worth their salt. It's an expensive option - most will cost £250 a day minimum but it takes a while to build up the expertise they have and it might be a few years before you get an A if you go it alone. Alternatively, use a free resource; your customers especially the one who is asking you to get it to come and visit; tell you where they think the gaps are, put them right and ask for a repeat visit. If anything they will be wowed by your proactivity and by you involving them!

[daz4246]

Not been on for a while, why? Because I have been busy achieving BRC Grade A!

Thanks for all the advise, Bring on Version 5!

Daz.

[Charles.C]

Dear daz,

Many congratulations, at least 6 for sure !

Rgds / Charles.C

[la.isa62]

Daz Congratulations!!!

I was wondering if I can have a quick chat with you?????

this is my e-mail

Thank you very much I would really appreciate it!!

[Simon]

Not been on for a while, why? Because I have been busy achieving BRC Grade A!

Thanks for all the advise, Bring on Version 5!

Daz.

Congratulations Daz, I hope the forum was of some help to you.

Daz Congratulations!!!

I was wondering if I can have a quick chat with you?????

this is my e-mail

Thank you very much I would really appreciate it!!

La.isa62 it is not advisable to put your email in a post as spammers love to harvest emails for sending their rubbish. The best policy is to discuss directly on the forum or if something really is very sensitive that you cannot share then you can communicate via personal messaging.

Regards,
Simon

[la.isa62]

Thanx Simon, sorry for the inconveniences. I tried the personal messaging but I got an error message.
Well... the thing is that I'm exactly in the same situation as Daz was, and I keep hearing how I'm not gonna be able to get the Certification for BRC... So I was wondering what did Daz do, not only to get it, but to get an A.

sorry again

[Charles.C]

Dear la.isa62

I agree that it’s easy to get overwhelmed on first reading the BRC text, I think this is equally the case for many other auditable standards, eg I found ISO 22000 totally depressing at first sight, (now it’s only moderately depressing )

However I think it is also true as GMO noted that auditors are not expecting a completed work of art at a first audit, they hv their own priorities within the standard which maybe are required to show detailed knowledge / coverage but my guess is that a large percentage of the standard (and the auditor’s checklist) allows considerable flexibility with regard to acceptable responses. Don’t forget that it is also a system which should be capable of “continual improvement”, (ie to generate income for the auditing profession ).

Obviously the ease of implementation is going to depend on a variety of factors, eg existing personal experience of related projects / backup, specific product / process / location etc, current level of implementation of HACCP / FS management systems.

The previous posts in this thread mention the standard approach such as use of gap analysis and consultants. The latter can certainly be helpful however they can also be promotionally rather overwhelming IMEX since they perhaps like to emphasise the amount of work involved. The older, more prescriptive, pre- 2k format of ISO 9000 may offer one route to looking at the BRC management philosophy (up to ver4 anyway). I found the use of a pre-audit was enormously helpful at assessing the existing situation, particularly since there is as yet no “decision” step involved and opinions are maybe more “open”; my guess is that the majority of companies which follow such a route and implement any suggested changes / modifications do not fail.

If there are specific areas where you want advice, please go ahead and ask. I have no doubt someone will respond since so many people here have negotiated this standard already.

Rgds / Charles.C

[Simon]

Thanx Simon, sorry for the inconveniences. I tried the personal messaging but I got an error message.

sorry again

It's not a big issue La.isa62, it's just best practice. Oh and the reason you got an error when trying to use the PM system is because you need to have made 10 posts before you can use it. It's a security thing.

Just reiterate what Charles said, please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Regards,
Simon

[la.isa62]

Thank you very much!!

Well, first of all, let me tell you a little bit how we end up preparing the BRC system in the company. We produce and pack fresh exportation vegetables for Holland, and the importer there, place the product in different brand name supermarkets through EU. Since our vegetables are grow only by one season a year in the country (more or less from November to May), they asked us we need the BRC certification in order to be able to continue the comercial relationship with them, this next season. Our fields are already GlobalGap certified, which, as I told you on another forum, it's a realief for me because I only have to look for all the process in the Packing House.

The main problem was that, never before the packing house, had have any written procedures for anything, everything was empiric, I've been working on all the manuals and procedures, but in the previous season we just have the chance to keep records from all the activities from the last two months from the season, because the system was not set yet. We actually started keeping those records as a preparation to stablished the BRC.

Now some people had told me that I need at least 3 to 6 months of record keeping, in order to show the BRC auditor, how we take care of everything. And that's my problem, what should I do?????? I need to have the audit in place at least early October, in order to keep my client, but HOW DO I MANAGE THE AUDIT IF I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH RECORD KEEPING???

On the other hand, I'm still not so clear about what should I include in the written Complaints Manual.

Thank you very much for your kind help, I hope I've made myself clear because sometimes I'm not so good writing in english

best regards!

[Charles.C]

Dear la.isa62,

I'm a bit surprised that you never needed to transmit any QA type text up till now. Very nice customer.!
Never seen yr "time" question before and I don't see any minimum referred in standard ?. However undoubtedly a bit unusual. Nonetheless, it is surely a "no charge" query to the intended auditor. Sometimes, if you have agreed to a pre-audit, you can also get a preliminary desktop appraisal of yr quality manual and procedure manual for "free" also.

Do you have any complaints ? The basic requirement IMEX is to demonstrate proper follow-up as per standard via a CAR form and whatever else is appropriate. Some documented evidence of discussion with "other" people is sometimes helpful. Same comment for internal audit (must be some complaints there).

Rgds / Charles.C

[JimmyG]

Hello there every one.

I am in a very similar situation to Daz4246. I work on a small farm where we grow Bramley apples. We then grade and pack them in our own pack house before sending them onto another grower who distributes them to the supermarkets.

We have Assured Produce certification but we to have been asked to upgrade to the BRC standard. I bought the BRC Global Standard book and after reading it I realised there is alot in there and that alot of it, as daz said, 'baffles me with its long winded criteria'.

Does any one have any templates or daz could you give me a breakdown of how you went about sorting your BRC out?

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.