We at MQM have decided that it would be helpful to all those certificated food processors out there, and those who might wish to become certificated to the BRC Global Standards Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 6, if we issue some helpful notes concerning the BRC Global Standards Standard clauses, especially the revised ones. And so from now and for the next few weeks we will be doing just that until we cover the new requirements of this recently revised Standard!
Section 1 Senior Management Commitment
Setting Quality Objectives was always part of the requirements of Issue 5. Now there is a requirement to document clear targets / measures of success, to monitor progress against the objectives and to report at least quarterly to senior management. The key word here is measurable. Pick objectives that will lead to improvements and can be measured in some way. Think of these as just a few examples: Training of x% of staff in y months. An improvement in hygiene audit score from 80 to 85% within 6 months. An improvement in surface swab results so that at least 90% are within target of x. Reduction in damages reported from 3% to 1.5% within 1 year. Above all make sure the objectives have some advantage to the operation and of course finances of the company.
The company shall have a demonstrable meeting programme (i.e. evidence will be required) for quality, food safety and legality issues to be brought to the attention of senior management at least monthly. Perhaps set up a simple agenda (Production quality issues, hygiene audit results and issues, non conformances and complaints for the last month, resources etc) and set in stone that the meeting, involving x,y and z, will be conducted on the last Friday of each month, with minutes circulated to senior management, or better still, senior management involved.
The company’s senior management shall ensure that the root causes of non conformances identified at the previous BRC Global Standards audit have been identified and addressed. It is worth starting to get used to the idea of root cause analysis now. When we review the clauses on corrective action this term will crop up again! A non conformance has occurred> Why and how did it happen? What root factors allowed or caused this to happen? An example: Cleaning chemicals are routinely left out, close to food / food areas. The corrective action is not just “ask the staff to put them away”. It is now an investigation – why does this happen? Have we got sufficient lockable storage areas? Are they appropriately sited? Do we have appropriate key-holders?
