BRC- IFS

BRC food safety standard (British Retail Consortium) was developed in 1998 by the British Retail Consortium in order to fulfil its legal obligations and additionally to protect the consumer. Over the years it has been revised a great number of times to reflect new developments in Food hygiene and safety requirements.

It is a private certification standard and can be used by any food production, processing or standardisation operation, which produces products under private label or supplies the large supermarket chains in England and Wales.

The BRC food safety standard is based on HACCP principles but focuses mainly on Good Manufacture Practice and Good Hygiene Practice.

It incorporates the following units:

1. Senior Management commitment and continual improvement in order to secure food safety system efficiency

2. HACCP system. An efficient HACCP system is the basis for any food safety system

3. Food Safety and Quality management system. Sets out the requirements for food safety and quality management building upon the principles of ISO 9000

4. Site-Facilities standards. Sets out the expectations for the production environment including the layout and maintenance of buildings and equipment, cleaning, pest control, waste management and foreign bodies control

5. Product control. Includes the requirements for product design and development stage including allergen management, product and ingredient provenance, product packaging and product inspection and testing

6. Process Control. Includes the establishment and maintenance of safe process controls, weight/volume control and equipment calibration

7. Personnel. Sets out the standards needed for staff training, protective clothing and personal hygiene

The most evident benefits for an organisation certificated according to BRC Food safety standard are the following:

• Competitive advantage in exports/customer demands

• Competitive advantage in exports/customer demands

• Compliance with current legislation

• New co-operations with the large supermarket chains in England and Wales

IFS

IFS food (International Featured Standard) is a private certification food safety and quality standard in regards to food processing and food products, and can be applied to all enterprises that process or pack food products in bulk and supply the large supermarket chains in Germany and France.

IFS Food is very important for all food producers, and mostly for the private label food producers as it includes a number of requirements relevant to defined specifications.

IFS Food contains a list of requirements organised in the following 5 basic topics:

1. Senior management responsibility

2. Quality and food safety management system

3. Resource management

4. Planning and production process

5. Measurements, analysis, improvements

IFS Food certification can offer a number of key benefits, for example:

• Competitive advantage in their market place; exports/customer demands

• Increase in customers’ confidence and reduction in the need for customer audits

• Compliance with legislation

• New co-operations with the large supermarket chains in Germany and France

Samaras & Associates Ltd. one of the largest and most reliable companies in Food Safety Management Systems Development with experienced and highly-trained personnel guarantees to offer your company constant support throughout the BRC or IFS system development and implementation, in order to ensure the system’s longevity and efficiency.