Site Maintenance: How to Pass BRCGS Food Safety Audits

What is the BRCGS (BRC) Global Food Safety Standard?

The British Retail Consortium published the Global Standard for Food Safety in 1998. It sets the highest standards of industry best practises for food safety, and it is now adopted by over 22,000 sites in over 130 countries. Continued certification is achieved through BRCGS Food Safety Audits.

The standard applies to a variety of facilities in the food and beverage industry, from raw ingredient suppliers, packaging manufacturers, food and beverage manufacturers to caterers.

BRCGS is divided into 7 sections:

1. Senior management commitment and continual improvement

2. Food Safety Plan – HACCP

A Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plans allows organisations to identify, manage and prevent hazards which can impact food safety.

3. Food Safety and Quality Management System

4. Site Standards

Maintaining an exceptional quality of site standards is where Kingfisher comes in. Organisations are required to meet strict standards of cleanliness and hygiene, and sites must be laid out and maintained accordingly. This includes pest control and avoidance of foreign body contamination.

5. Product control

6. Process control

7. Personnel

Why is BRCGS (BRC) Certification Important?

If your site is BRCGS certified then it demonstrates your commitment to the quality and safety of your product. Achieving a strong audit grade also shows you have implemented every possible measure to mitigate or prevent potential safety issues.

In order to achieve BRCGS certification, your facility must consistently promote best industry practises and demonstrate commitment to high standards. This ethos must be ingrained into every level of your organisation, from management to HR; an important theme of the most recent BRCGS issue is to promote a ‘culture of excellence.’

BRCGS argues that a ‘culture excellence’ ensures that high standards are maintained by employees and contractors 100% of the time, including when no-one is around or when an audit is not expected to take place. We are proud that this attitude is deeply ingrained in the Kingfisher working ethos.

BRCGS Audits

BRC audits check that your site continues to be compliant with the latest food safety standards. Any mistakes or hazards which could pose a food safety issue can lead to a ‘non-conformity.’

Audits can be pre-planned or unannounced, and are graded by the following:

We are incredibly proud that our Facilities Maintenance and Industrial Cleaning services have allowed our clients to achieve an AA+ grade with their recent BRCGS audit.

What are the most common Non-Conformities?

A new issue of BRCGS, Issue 9, was published in August 2022 and was auditable from 1st February 2023. The following key changes were introduced as they were the most frequent non-conformities from 2021:

1. Premises and Equipment Hygiene

This was the most common global non-conformity issue in 2021. Thankfully, our Facilities Maintenance Services ensure that outdoor areas and green spaces are upheld to the highest standard of cleanliness and maintenance. Our Industrial Cleaning services ensure that factory production areas and machinery are cleaned regularly to avoid product contamination.

2. Doors; internal and external

Doors were highlighted due to being unclean or in poor condition. Doors should be secure, fitted well, and cleaned regularly. Our Factory Cleaning Services ensures that production doors are regularly cleaned of oil, dirt and contaminants with effective yet food-safe chemicals.

3. Equipment Construction and Maintenance

4. Chemical control

5. Walls; condition and cleaning

Walls are often overlooked when it comes to cleaning, especially at high level. Our Industrial Cleaning Services offer thorough cleaning at both ground level around production as well as high-level access around girders and roof areas.

6. Hazard identification

Our Project Management Strategy means that Kingfisher oversea all aspects of Industrial Cleaning and Facilities Maintenance. This means that we constantly survey our client’s sites for developing hazards so that we can prevent issues before they develop.

7. Risk Assessment for safe storage of ingredients

8. Food Safety Culture Plan

Another common yet disastrous non-conformance issue is contamination – which can be allergenic, microbiological or a foreign body. Our Factory Cleaning Services and Furnace Cleaning Services ensure that there is zero contamination to your products in both cold end production and hot end production areas of our clients’ facilities.

BRCGS conducted industry wide consultations to determine emerging issues and concerns. These included hygiene standards, allergen controls, contamination, traceability, food fraud, labelling and claims.

Benefits of Industrial Cleaning and Facilities Maintenance

Regular Industrial Cleaning and Facilities Maintenance Services means that your site is constantly maintained to a high level of hygiene and cleanliness. They ensure a minimal risk of allergen, foreign body or pest contamination as well as giving you an aesthetically pleasing site for impressing both auditors, visitors and customers.

The following services are all available from Kingfisher to boost your BRCGS audit grade:

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