Control

safety
BRCGS Food Safety checklist
Are you ready for your audit?

CHECKLIST

Use our checklist and find out if you are sufficiently prepared for certification.
This tool is designed to help you assess your systems and processes against the requirements of the BRCGS Food Safety standard
to help you prepare for your audit.

The checklist may be used to check your site’s compliance with the standard’s requirements, add comments, and identify areas
of improvement.

This checklist is based on the structure of BRCGS Food Safety Version 9.

Important disclaimer

Section 1 - Senior management commitment and continual improvement

1.1 Senior management commitment and continual improvement

Statement of Intent: The site’s senior management shall demonstrate that they are fully committed to implementing the
requirements of the Global Standard Food Safety and to processes which facilitate continual improvement of food safety, quality
management, and the site’s food safety and quality culture.

1.2 Organisational structure, responsibilities, and management authority

Statement of Intent: The company shall have a clear organisational structure and lines of communication to enable effective
management of product safety, legality and quality.

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2.1 The HACCP Food Safety team (equivalent to codex Alimentarius Step 1)

2.2 Prerequisite programmes

2.3 Describe the product (equivalent to Codex Alimentarius Step 2)

2.4 Identify intended use (equivalent to Codex Alimentarius Step 3)

2.5 Construct a process flow diagram (equivalent to Codex Alimentarius Step 4)

2.6 Verify flow diagram (equivalent to Codex Alimentarius Step 5)

2.7 List all potential hazards associated with each process step, conduct a hazard analysis and consider any
measures to control identified hazards (equivalent to Codex Alimentarius Step 6, Principle 1)

2.8 Determine the critical control points (CCPs) (equivalent to Codex Alimentarius Step 7, Principle 2)

2.9 Establish validated critical limits for each CCP (equivalent to Codex Alimentarius Step 8, Principle 3)

2.10 Establish a monitoring system for each CCP (equivalent to Codex Alimentarius Step 9, Principle 4)

2.11 Establish a corrective action plan (equivalent to Codex Alimentarius Step 10, Principle 5)

2.12 Validate the HACCP plan and establish verification procedures (equivalent to Codex Alimentarius
Step 11, Principle 6)

2.13 HACCP documentation and record-keeping (equivalent to Codex Alimentarius Step 12, Principle 7)

Section 3 - Food safety and quality management system

3.1 Food safety and quality manual

Statement of Intent: The company’s processes and procedures to meet the requirements of this Standard shall be documented to
allow effective, consistent application, facilitate training, and support due diligence in producing a safe product.

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Statement of intent: The company shall operate an effective document control system to ensure that only the correct versions of
documents, including recording forms, are available and in use.

3.3 Record completion and maintenance

Statement of intent: The site shall maintain genuine records to demonstrate the effective control of product safety, legality,
and quality.

3.4 Internal audits

Statement of intent: The company shall be able to demonstrate that it verifies the effective application of the food safety plan and
the implementation of the requirements of the Global Standard Food Safety and the site’s food safety and quality management
system.

3.5 Supplier and raw material approval and performance monitoring

3.5.1 Management of suppliers of raw materials and packaging

Statement of intent: The company shall have an effective supplier approval and monitoring system to ensure that any potential
risks from raw materials (including primary packaging) to the final product’s safety, authenticity, legality and quality are
understood and managed.

3.5.2 Raw material and packaging acceptance, monitoring and management procedures

Statement of intent: Controls on the acceptance of raw materials (including primary packaging) shall ensure that these do not
compromise the safety, legality, or quality of products and, where appropriate, any claims of authenticity.

3.5.3 Management of suppliers of services

Statement of intent: The company shall be able to demonstrate that where services are outsourced, the service is appropriate,
and any risks presented to food safety, authenticity, legality, and quality have been evaluated to ensure effective controls are in
place.

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Outsourced processing is defined as where intermediate production, processing, storage, or any intermediate step in the manufacture of a
product is completed at another company or another site.

It should be noted that outsourced processing refers to an intermediate step – therefore, during outsourced processing, the product or partly
processed product leaves the site being audited for the completion of the outsourced processing before returning to the site. The audited
site may or may not complete additional packing or processing steps on the product.

Where there is additional storage or processing of raw materials prior to their initial arrival on site, this is not considered outsourced
processing but should be managed by the site using supplier approval, raw material risk assessments and raw material specifications.

Where a product leaves the site and does not return to it, this is not outsourced processing, and the activities completed off-site are outside
the scope of the audit.

Statement of intent: Where any intermediate process step (including production, processing or storage) in the manufacture of a product is
outsourced to a third party or undertaken at another site and subsequently returned to the site, this shall be managed to ensure it does not
compromise the product safety, authenticity, legality or quality.

3.6 Specifications

Statement of intent: Specifications shall exist for raw materials (including primary packaging), finished products and any product
or service which could affect the integrity of the finished product.

3.7 Corrective and preventive actions

Statement of intent: The site shall be able to demonstrate that it uses the information from identified issues in the food safety and
quality management system (e.g., non-conforming products, internal audits, complaints, product recalls, product testing, second-
and third-party audits and online reviews) to complete necessary corrective actions and prevent recurrence.

3.8 Control of non-conforming product

Statement of intent: The site shall ensure that any out-of-specification product is effectively managed to prevent unauthorised
release.

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