Are You Up To The Standard?

If you've ever heard of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), you know  that the leading trade association sets some of the world's best standards for the production, packaging, storage and distribution of safe food and consumer products

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Originally developed in response to the needs of UK members of the British Retail Consortium, the BRC Global Standards are a leading global safety and quality certification program, used throughout the world by over 17,000 certificated suppliers in 90 countries through a network of over 80 accredited and BRC recognised Certification Bodies.

They facilitate standardization of quality, safety, operational criteria and manufacturers' fulfillment of legal obligations. They also help provide protection to the consumer. To help retailers and manufacturers in Canada to avail of these standards, the Marine Institute is offering two training courses this winter in a new BRC standard.

The first course in BRC Global Standard for Food Safety will take place February 23rd at the Marine Institute's Ridge Road Campus. The one-day Conversion Issue 5 to Issue 6 course will take participants through:

• The change in structure of the Standard to distinguish between GMP issues and document issues
• Highlighted changes to the requirement clauses
• Update to the protocol & certification process
• Changes to corrective action requirements

This course is designed for manufacturers, technical managers and consultants who have worked with the BRC standard and have reviewed the new standard prior to the training. The second course,  Introduction to British Retail Consortium (Issue Six) course, is scheduled for March 21-22. This two-day course is designed to give participants an understanding of the background and benefits of the standard, content of the standard and audit planning in preparation for compliance auditing.

Major topics in this training include:

• Audit Scope and Planning for the Audit
• Closing the Audit, Corrective Actions and Certificate Issue
• Details of the Requirement Clauses Including Fundamental Clauses and Statements of Intent
• The Enrolment Scheme
• The Time Spent in Carrying out the GMP and Document Review Audit

Participants can apply online or by contacting Barb Hunt at 778-0404 or Barbara.Hunt@mi.mun.ca For further information on food processing training, contact CBED at 1-709-778-0623, Fax: 1-709-778-0535, cbed@mi.mun.ca or visit their website.