BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety · Issue 9
BRCGS Food Safety certification consulting for a grade your retail customers accept, announced or unannounced.
Reach BRCGS Food Safety certification with a BRCGS-approved certification body, at a grade your customers will accept, on a date your production plan can hold. Sterling's expert and experienced consultants build the system the auditor will walk through, from the food safety plan and site standards to product, process and people controls, and stay with you through the audit and every audit after it, in 60+ countries. We ensure successful certification for our clients.
- One all-inclusive proposal for a fixed scope: consulting, Effivity software, Sterling Academy access and internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, in a single proposal
- A team of expert and experienced food safety consultants, advising on management systems across sectors and countries since 2003
- The Sterling Promise: 100% on-time completion, 100% success, 8,100+ client engagements. Sterling does not certify; a BRCGS-approved, accredited body audits and decides
8,100+ client engagements in 60+ countries.
BRCGS client experience
What it is
What is BRCGS Food Safety and what is it used for?
The BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety is a certification standard for sites that manufacture, process or pack food and food ingredients. Written by and for the retail supply chain and first published in 1998, it reads differently from an ISO management system standard: instead of asking you to design your own controls, it prescribes what a food factory must have, from the HACCP-based food safety plan and the documented system to the building fabric, equipment hygiene, allergen handling, pack labelling and the training and clothing of the people on the line. More than 22,000 sites in over 130 countries hold the certificate, and the Standard was the first benchmarked by GFSI.
Current edition. Issue 9 was published on 1 August 2022 and has applied to every audit since 1 February 2023. Compared with Issue 8 it strengthened the food safety culture requirement in clause 1.1.2, aligned the HACCP section with the 2020 revision of the Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene, revised the equipment requirements around hygienic design and introduced the blended announced audit. Position statements keep Issue 9 current; the latest, effective 10 August 2026, adds protective footwear to clause 7.4.2. Issue 10 is in development: the public consultation closed on 15 February 2026 and a technical working group is drafting, but BRCGS has announced neither a publication date nor a first-audit date. Until it does, implement to Issue 9. Issue 9, the position statements and what Issue 10 may change
Who it is for
Who needs BRCGS Food Safety certification?
The Standard is written for the site where food is made, processed or packed, including primary conversion, and can extend to products a site trades; farms, transport and brokers have BRCGS standards of their own. Food businesses come to Sterling for BRCGS from four situations:
- A retailer or brand owner has named BRCGS on its supplier approval form. Retailers in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia accept BRCGS and some expect a particular grade. We confirm at the outset which standard and grade the customer accepts, whether it wants the unannounced programme, and what the scope must cover.
- You want a GFSI-recognised certificate and BRCGS fits the site. Where any GFSI-recognised scheme will do, the choice between BRCGS, FSSC 22000, SQF and IFS is about fit: BRCGS suits a site that wants prescriptive requirements, a grade to show and a report in the Directory.
- An export market or a new customer is opening up. A certificate from an approved certification body, with the report visible to the specifier, shortens supplier approval and replaces a queue of second-party audits with one audit a year.
- A complaint, a withdrawal or a poor customer audit has exposed the site. Foreign bodies, an allergen labelling error or a hygiene finding on a retailer's audit tell the board that a HACCP plan alone is not enough; the Standard adds the site standards, product controls and culture that stop the next one.
Business benefits
How BRCGS Food Safety protects your customers, your brand and your listing
A BRCGS system earns its keep on the factory floor before it earns anything at the audit. We start where a retailer's technologist starts: the flow of product through the building, the state of walls, doors and equipment, the allergen changeover, the label check at the line, and whether the people doing these things know why.
- A grade that opens doorsRetailers and brand owners read AA and A as evidence of a well-run site, and the unannounced "+" shows the same on a day nobody chose. The grade is a sales asset as much as a compliance result.
- Fewer customer auditsA report in the BRCGS Directory that a specifier can read replaces repeated second-party audits with one graded audit a year, every finding and closure on record.
- Fewer incidents and withdrawalsA food safety plan built on the site's real flow diagram, foreign-body, allergen and chemical controls that hold, and a pack check that catches the wrong sleeve before dispatch.
- Authenticity and legality under controlA food fraud vulnerability assessment, supplier approval matched to risk, and claims, specifications and labels a regulator or customer can check against the product.
- A site that runs the same on every shiftHygiene, changeover and monitoring performed and recorded as designed on nights and weekends, which is what an unannounced audit tests.
- A culture the auditor can seeA food safety culture plan with measures, actions and review, so senior management commitment shows in behaviour and records rather than in a policy statement.
Requirements
What are the main BRCGS Food Safety requirements?
Issue 9 sets out its requirements in nine sections, each with a statement of intent and numbered clauses, some designated fundamental. The table is a plain-language map; during the programme your site is checked clause by clause against the Standard's own text, of which every audited site must hold an official copy.
| Section | What it requires of you | What it looks like in practice |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Senior management commitment | Lead the system: policy, objectives, resources, a food safety culture plan, a clear organisation, management review, and the site's obligations to the Standard and the certification body | A culture plan under clause 1.1.2 with actions and measures, reviews that decide, an official copy of Issue 9 on site, and audit arrangements made under clause 1.1.10 |
| 2 The food safety plan – HACCP | Build and maintain a Codex-based HACCP plan: team, product descriptions, flow diagrams, hazard analysis, CCPs, monitoring, corrective action, verification and review | Flow diagrams verified on the floor, hazard identification under clause 2.7.1 covering physical, chemical, allergen, microbiological and fraud hazards, and CCP records completed at the time |
| 3 Food safety and quality management system | Run the documented system: documents and records, internal audits, supplier approval, outsourced processing, specifications, corrective and preventive action, nonconforming product, traceability, complaints, incidents and recall | Internal audits under clause 3.4 spread through the year, suppliers approved on risk, outsourced processing declared under clause 3.5.4, a traceability test that reconciles quantities, a rehearsed recall |
| 4 Site standards | Keep the building and equipment fit for food: security and food defence, layout and flow, fabric, utilities, equipment, maintenance, staff facilities, contamination control, foreign-body detection, hygiene, waste, pests, storage and dispatch | Walls, doors and floors in repair, hygienically designed equipment under clause 4.6, chemicals controlled, detectors challenged, and cleaning and hygiene records under clause 4.11 |
| 5 Product control | Control what the product is: design and development, labelling, allergens, authenticity and claims, packaging, inspection and testing, and release | An allergen risk assessment with validated cleaning, a food fraud vulnerability assessment with mitigation, artwork approved against the specification, and trended test results |
| 6 Process control | Run the process as planned: control of operations, labelling and pack control, quantity control and calibration | Process records against the plan, label and pack checks at start-up and changeover under clause 6.2, legal weight control, and calibrated instruments where it matters |
| 7 Personnel | Make people competent and hygienic: training, personal hygiene, medical screening, protective clothing | Training records for every role including agency staff, hygiene rules followed on the floor, and clothing and footwear that meet clause 7.4 as updated from 10 August 2026 |
| 8 Production risk zones – high risk, high care and ambient high care | Where the product requires it, segregate and control zones by risk, with matching layout, air, equipment, clothing and cleaning | Zoning decided from product and process, physical separation where the Standard requires it, and changing and cleaning regimes per zone |
| 9 Requirements for traded products | Where a site includes products it trades without making them, approve and monitor their manufacturers and control specifications, inspection and traceability | Traded products named in the scope, their producers approved and reviewed, and a traded lot traceable as easily as a manufactured one |
What does useful BRCGS evidence look like?
A food safety plan the HACCP team can defend step by step; hygiene records that match what the auditor sees on the walk; a detector challenged at the set frequency; an allergen changeover validated and verified; a label check signed at the line; a traceability challenge completed within the time limit with quantities reconciled; internal audits that found real things and closed them; and a culture plan with measures, not slogans. These records live in Effivity from the first workshop, so the auditor reads a system that runs, not a binder assembled for the visit.
BRCGS Food Safety requirements explained, section by sectionCertification process
How do you get BRCGS Food Safety certified?
Build and run the system first; then a certification body approved by BRCGS audits it, grades it and decides. Sterling prepares your site and builds the system with your team. The audit, the report, the grade and the decision belong to the certification body, and the Directory listing gives the certificate its value with your customers.
- 01Define the scope and the audit programme.Products, lines, zones and headcount; traded products, outsourced processing or a head office in or out; announced, blended or unannounced; the product categories the certification body must cover.
- 02Gap analysis: review the current site against the requirements.Every section of Issue 9 is checked against the site, the HACCP plan, the records and the building; actions, owners, dates, budget for works and resources are agreed.
- 03Implement and generate evidence.Complete the food safety plan, close the site standard gaps, put allergen, authenticity, labelling and process controls in place, train the people, and run the records in daily production.
- 04Audit internally, challenge and review.A full internal audit against all nine sections, a traceability challenge, a mock recall and a management review; findings raised by us first and closed with evidence before the audit is booked.
- 05Complete the certification body's audit.Typically two to three days on site, or a remote part then an on-site part under the blended option; nonconformities are answered with evidence within 28 days, and the certificate and grade follow an independent review within 42 calendar days of the audit's first day.
- 06Keep the grade between audits.The certificate runs for twelve or six months depending on the grade; the re-audit falls before it expires, at least one audit in three years is unannounced, and the system must be running whichever day the auditor arrives.
Test the route before you test the price. Ask which certification body will audit, confirm in the BRCGS Directory that it is approved for the Standard and your product categories, and confirm its ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation with the accreditation body itself. Offers that skip implementation end with a certificate a technologist rejects and the fee spent. How to choose a credible BRCGS provider · The certification buyer's checklist
Cost
How much does BRCGS Food Safety certification cost?
No single price fits every site: a single-line dry-goods packer with a validated HACCP plan and a sound building is one project, a multi-zone chilled site that needs fabric works and a high-care changing area is another. A Sterling proposal prices the site in front of us, as one all-inclusive proposal with each component visible.
| Cost component | What affects it |
|---|---|
| Consulting and implementation | Condition of the HACCP plan and the site, number of product categories, lines and zones, shifts and languages, and how much of the work your team carries (Design™ or Drive™) |
| Independent certification | The certification body's fee, set from BRCGS's duration calculator by employees, site area and HACCP plans, with extra time for risk zones, traded products and modules; travel; the re-audit every twelve or six months; scheme charges passed on by the body; an official copy of the Standard |
| Internal resources | HACCP and quality team time, supervision on the line, training hours, testing and validation, and the fabric, equipment, pest and hygiene works the site standards need |
| Software and learning | Included in a Sterling engagement: Effivity for the food safety and quality system and Sterling Academy access for your people, with users, courses and access period confirmed in the proposal |
| Continued support | Internal audits, traceability challenges, mock recalls, refresher training, unannounced-audit readiness and the move to Issue 10 under Sustain™ |
What moves the price
- Number of product categories, lines, HACCP plans and risk zones in scope
- Whether the building, equipment and hygiene meet section 4 today, or need works
- Whether a validated HACCP plan exists, or the plan is built from the flow diagram up
- Announced, blended or unannounced programme, and any additional modules a customer wants
What a Sterling proposal always shows
- Deliverables, responsibilities, assumptions and exclusions, in writing
- Certification-body and scheme fees identified separately, so the programme cost is comparable
- Effivity, training and Academy access itemised at no additional cost
- Payment milestones tied to deliverables, not to the calendar
- One all-inclusive proposal. No surprises, ever
Timeline
How long does BRCGS Food Safety certification take?
A BRCGS audit tests the site as it is on the day and the records it has produced, so the system has to run before it can be audited: the plan validated and monitored, fabric and equipment findings fixed rather than scheduled, and hygiene, calibration, training and traceability records accumulated over enough production to show a pattern. Hence the realistic range of five to ten months: the short end for a site with a validated HACCP plan and a sound building, the long end where works are needed or the plan is new. We build the programme around that evidence, with milestones your quality team tracks in Effivity.
| Phase | What determines the pace |
|---|---|
| Scope and gap analysis | Access to the site on a production day, the HACCP documentation, the last customer audit and complaint data, and the choice of audit programme |
| Site standards and the food safety plan | The scale of fabric, equipment, zoning and pest works, the number of products and flows, validation of allergen cleaning and CCPs, and approval times for spend |
| Operation and records | Production running under the system long enough for hygiene, monitoring, calibration, label and traceability records to exist on every shift, then internal audit, mock recall and management review |
| Certification audit | The certification body's availability for your product categories, the audit duration, the 28 days for corrective action evidence and the review before the certificate is issued |
If a listing date, a tender or a season fixes the deadline, tell us on day one. We will say what is achievable and which decisions cannot wait, including works to order in the first month.
Challenges
Common BRCGS Food Safety implementation challenges
BRCGS programmes stall for reasons that repeat from site to site; each has a practical answer.
The building is the finding.
Walls, doors, equipment condition and hygiene are among the clauses most often raised at BRCGS audits, and no procedure fixes a damaged floor. The gap analysis separates what a document can settle from what needs a contractor and a budget, and sequences the works so the audit is not hostage to the last one.
The HACCP plan was written for a different factory.
A plan copied from a template or a sister site carries CCPs the line does not have and misses hazards it does. We rebuild the hazard analysis from flow diagrams confirmed on the floor, cover every hazard class the Standard names, and validate the critical limits before anyone monitors them.
Culture is a poster, not a plan.
Issue 9 asks for a food safety culture plan with actions, measures and review, and auditors raise it often. We help senior management define what the culture should look like on the floor, measure it with data the site already has, and record the review.
The night shift runs a different system.
Hygiene checks, label verification and CCP monitoring done well by day and from memory at night are what an unannounced audit exposes. We simplify the checks to what the Standard needs, train supervisors on why each exists, and move them into Effivity so a missed check is visible the same morning.
Traceability works on paper and fails against the clock.
Lot codes exist, but nobody has traced a batch forward and backward inside the audit's time limit or reconciled the quantities. A traceability challenge early in the programme, then repeated, shows where coding, warehouse records and rework tracking break while there is time to fix them.
Your engagement
What your BRCGS Food Safety engagement includes
A Sterling engagement covers the whole journey, from the first walk of the factory to the certificate and the audits after it, under one all-inclusive proposal and one accountable team, not a set of procedures and a list of other vendors to find.
Scope, gap analysis and implementation plan
All nine sections reviewed against the site, the plan, the records and the building; works, actions, owners and dates agreed before anything starts.
Food safety and quality system development
The food safety plan, the documented system, site standard procedures, allergen, authenticity, labelling and process controls, and training and hygiene rules, built with your people on Sterling's template sets.
Effivity ISO & GRC software
Your BRCGS system runs in Effivity from day one, included with the engagement at no additional cost.
Training for everyone
Internal auditor training for your audit team, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.
Internal audit, traceability challenge and management review
A full internal audit, a timed traceability challenge, a mock recall and a management review, conducted or facilitated as agreed, with findings closed before the auditor arrives.
Certification readiness and support
Choice of certification body and programme, preparation, presence during the audit as agreed, and support through the corrective action period until the certificate and grade are issued.
Certification decisions remain with the independent certification body.
How we deliver
How Sterling supports your BRCGS Food Safety implementation
Every BRCGS engagement runs on Sterling OS™, our delivery operating system: five phases, each with defined deliverables, decision owners and the evidence it must produce. How much of the work your own team carries is your choice; the method, software and accountability stay the same.
- 01Design™Guided implementation: your HACCP and quality team does the work with Sterling's structure, templates, workshops and coaching.
- 02Drive™Fully managed consulting: Sterling consultants carry the agreed work with your quality team, engineers and line supervisors.
- 03Sustain™After certification: internal audits, traceability challenges, mock recalls, refresher and new-hire training, and readiness for an audit on any day of the unannounced window.
- 04Automate™The BRCGS system in Effivity: food safety plan, site standard checks, hygiene, calibration, allergen and label controls, traceability, complaints, audits and management review in one workspace.
- 05Revise™Grade improvement, the move to the unannounced programme, additional modules, sister standards for packaging or storage, and the transition to Issue 10 when BRCGS publishes it.
Deliverables, decision owners and the weekly working session are fixed in the first week and progress is reviewed against them weekly, so an unordered door or an unvalidated allergen clean is visible in month two, not on the audit day.
How Sterling OS™ worksOften combined with
Standards organisations pair with BRCGS Food Safety
- BRCGS Storage and Distribution · Agents and BrokersBRCGS Storage and Distribution certification and Agents and Brokers: Issue 4 and Issue 3 requirements, scopes, audits and cost factors, with Sterling's support.
- FairtradeFairtrade certification and requirements: which Fairtrade International standards apply, FLOCERT's audit, cost and timing, and how Sterling prepares you.
- FAMI-QS / GMP+FAMI-QS and GMP+ certification for feed businesses: how the two schemes differ, their requirement documents, the audit route and how Sterling prepares you.
- FDA FSMA (US)FDA FSMA compliance for food facilities, importers, farms and carriers: preventive controls, FSVP, food traceability and records ready for FDA inspection.
- FSSC 22000FSSC 22000 certification consulting for GFSI-recognised food safety: ISO 22000, sector PRPs and FSSC requirements, ready for a licensed body's audit.
- GLOBALG.A.P.GLOBALG.A.P.
Effivity · BRCGS food safety software, included in every engagement
How Effivity helps you fulfil, automate and simplify the requirements of BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety Issue 9.
Every Sterling BRCGS engagement includes Effivity, the ISO and GRC automation platform built by the Sterling group and used in 50+ countries. Your consultant configures the food safety workspace to the nine sections of Issue 9 within the agreed scope: the food safety plan and CCP monitoring, site standard checks, hygiene, calibration, allergen and label controls, suppliers, traceability, documents, nonconformities, audits and management review, run on the floor every day so the auditor reviews live records rather than a binder. Sterling consulting clients get their Effivity subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost.
Policy, objectives, culture plan and review
Policy, objectives with owners and dates, the culture plan with its measures and actions, and a management review that records inputs, decisions and follow-up.
Hazard analysis and CCP monitoring
Product descriptions, flow diagrams, hazard identification and assessment by step, CCPs with critical limits, monitoring entered on the line, corrective actions when a limit is missed, and scheduled verification.
Documents, suppliers, traceability and recall
Controlled documents and records, supplier approval with risk ratings, specifications, nonconforming product, complaints, corrective and preventive action, and traceability and recall exercises with timings.
Fabric, equipment, hygiene and pests
Site standard inspections by area, maintenance and hygienic-design records, chemical registers, detector challenges, cleaning schedules and verification, pest control and storage checks, each with due dates and evidence.
Allergens, authenticity, labels and testing
The allergen risk assessment and validated cleaning, the food fraud vulnerability assessment and mitigation plan, artwork approval against specifications, trended test results and release records.
Operations, pack control and calibration
Process parameters against the plan, label and pack checks at start-up, changeover and intervals, quantity control records, and a calibration register that flags what is due.
Training, hygiene and protective clothing
Competence and training records for every role and agency worker linked to Sterling Academy, hygiene rule acknowledgements, medical screening and protective clothing records, current at every audit.
Zone-specific controls and internal audit
Zone maps and segregation decisions, zone-specific changing, cleaning and air checks, and an internal audit programme across all nine sections with findings, root cause and closure.
What this means at the audit
The BRCGS auditor spends most of the audit on the factory floor, opens the food safety plan against the process, picks a product and runs the traceability challenge, checks a shift's hygiene, CCP and label records, and reads the culture plan, the internal audits and the management review. In Effivity each is a screen with dates, owners and evidence attached, and the corrective action evidence due within 28 days comes from the same records. Sustain™ keeps working in the same workspace, so an unannounced auditor finds the same system as one who booked.
In your engagement
- Subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost
- Configured by your Sterling consultant within the agreed scope
- Your HACCP plan, hygiene schedules and registers migrated, not retyped
- Admin and user training for your quality team and supervisors
- Modules for QMS, EMS, OHSMS, ISMS and more when you integrate other standards
BRCGS client experience
Client letters on file, available on request.
Signed client letters for BRCGS Food Safety are available on request. The client feedback wall lists every letter by standard.
BRCGS alongside other standards
What an integrated food safety programme looks like in practice.
- 01How an integrated food programme is scoped
Food manufacturing: BRCGS Food Safety, ISO 9001 and Halal as one programme
A manufacturer that supplies retailers and exports to Muslim-majority markets typically needs BRCGS for the retail listing, ISO 9001 for corporate customers and Halal certification for export. Run as one programme, the site keeps one document system, one HACCP plan that serves both the BRCGS food safety plan and the halal assurance system, one supplier approval process with halal and authenticity criteria built in, and one internal audit and management review calendar.
Sterling Academy · BRCGS Food Safety e-learning
Train every employee on the Standard, not just the HACCP team.
Sterling Academy is e-learning built for a factory: short video lessons with checkpoints, a final exam and a numbered Certificate of Completion per learner, verifiable online. Sterling consulting clients benefit from preferential course access and special pricing through their Sterling consultant, including complimentary awareness training for their people as part of the engagement.
- BRCGS Food Safety and hygiene awareness for every employee, with the training evidence section 7 asks for
- Practitioner courses for the HACCP team leader, quality staff and supervisors
- Internal auditor training for the people who will audit the nine sections, as applicable to your standard, as part of the engagement
- Completion tracked by department and shift, with a status report for the auditor
- New hires, agency and seasonal workers trained as they arrive, so evidence is current on an unannounced day
- A Sterling consultant reachable when a learner has a question
Keep exploring
Explore more about BRCGS Food Safety
Watch a video on how to implement BRCGS Food Safety here.
Watch a video on BRCGS requirements here.
BRCGS Food Safety resources
Services for BRCGS Food Safety
Why Sterling
Want successful BRCGS Food Safety certification? Come to Sterling.
Whether you run one line or factories in several countries, Sterling builds a BRCGS system that production can live with and an auditor can grade, reconciling the customer's specification, national food law and the Standard's text for each site, so a group has one way of working without pretending every factory is the same.
Food safety systems in 60+ countries since 2003
HACCP-based food safety and quality systems implemented for manufacturers, processors, packers and their suppliers, with one engagement team accountable across every country you operate in.
All-inclusive proposal
Consulting, Effivity, training and Academy access in one proposal, with certification-body and scheme fees identified separately. No surprises, ever.
Built for the grade, not the binder
Checks your supervisors will actually do, site standards fixed rather than filed, and a food safety plan with only the controls that matter, so the audit day looks like any other day.
Expert and experienced consultants
Consultants who have built food safety and quality systems across sectors and countries since 2003 and know how a BRCGS auditor reads a factory, so the audit confirms a site that already works.
The Sterling Promise
What our BRCGS Food Safety certification success guarantee means
We stay with your site until the agreed BRCGS certification outcome is reached, through consulting, audit preparation and the closure of any nonconformities the certification body raises. Plain explanations, practical delivery on the floor, and the software and learning included in the fee make the programme a capability the factory keeps.
The engagement defines the standard, the scope, the outcome and each party's responsibilities. Your organisation provides accurate information, completes the agreed works and operates the agreed controls. The independent certification body audits, grades and retains its certification decision. Our commitment concerns the agreed certification support; it is not a warranty of a particular grade, that no food safety incident will occur or that every customer will approve you.
After certification
What happens after BRCGS Food Safety certification?
A BRCGS certificate runs for twelve or six months depending on the grade, and the next audit falls before it expires. On the announced programme, at least one audit in every three-year period is unannounced: the certification body tells you the year, not the date, and can arrive on any working day in the four months before the due date, less the ten days you may nominate as unavailable. The report and the grade sit in the BRCGS Directory for the customers you authorise.
Products, suppliers, lines, staff and the Standard itself change faster than any audit cycle, and each change is a reason to revisit the plan, the site standards and the culture plan. Under Sterling OS™ Sustain™ we run the internal audits, traceability challenges and mock recalls with you and keep the system current as the factory changes.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions about BRCGS Food Safety
What does the BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety cover?
The safety, quality, authenticity and legality of food made, processed or packed at a site, in nine sections: senior management commitment, the HACCP-based food safety plan, the management system, site standards, product control, process control, personnel, production risk zones and traded products. It spans 18 product categories, from raw meat and fish to dairy, bakery, beverages, dried foods, confectionery, oils and pet food.
Is BRCGS Food Safety recognised by GFSI?
Yes. Issue 9 is on GFSI's list of recognised certification programmes, announced and unannounced options both, benchmarked against the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements version 2020; BRCGS was the first standard GFSI benchmarked. A certificate from an approved body meets a request for GFSI-recognised certification; check whether the customer also names a grade or the unannounced programme.
BRCGS, FSSC 22000 or ISO 22000: which should we choose?
Ask the customer first. ISO 22000 is a management system standard and is not GFSI-recognised on its own; FSSC 22000 adds sector prerequisite programmes and scheme requirements to it and is recognised; BRCGS is a prescriptive, recognised site standard that produces a grade. A site that wants room to design its own controls tends towards FSSC 22000; a site supplying retailers that read grades and Directory reports tends towards BRCGS.
What do the grades AA to D mean, and what is the "+"?
The certification body grades the audit from the number and severity of the nonconformities it raises, from AA at the top through A, B and C to D; a critical nonconformity means no certificate. An unannounced audit adds a "+", so AA+ tells a customer the site earned its grade on a day it did not choose. The grade sets the certificate's life, twelve months or six, and in practice how a retailer ranks you against other suppliers.
Announced, blended or unannounced: which audit programme is right for us?
All three lead to the same certificate. On the announced programme the date is agreed, but at least one audit in every three years is unannounced anyway. The blended programme, for re-certification audits only, splits the audit into a remote review of records and an on-site part within 28 days of it, the remote part at most half the duration. The unannounced programme earns the "+" on every certificate and suits a site whose system runs the same every day.
Who can issue a BRCGS certificate, and how do I check one?
Only a certification body approved by BRCGS, accredited to ISO/IEC 17065 by a national accreditation body and under contract with BRCGS, using auditors registered with BRCGS for the product categories concerned. Every certificated site, its certification body and its report are recorded in the BRCGS Directory; a certificate that is not in the Directory is not a BRCGS certificate.
What happens if the audit raises a critical nonconformity?
A critical nonconformity, a serious failure against food safety or the law, means certification is refused or the existing certificate is withdrawn. Major and minor nonconformities are answered with corrective action evidence within 28 days and set the grade. The internal audit exists to find anything of that kind while it is still yours to fix quietly.
Is Issue 10 coming, and should we wait for it?
Issue 10 is in development: BRCGS ran a public consultation to 15 February 2026 and a technical working group is drafting, but no publication date and no first-audit date have been announced. Do not wait: certificates continue to be issued to Issue 9, Issue 9 itself had six months between publication and its first audits, and a site built properly to Issue 9 will carry its system across. Revise™ handles the transition once the timetable exists.
Does Sterling issue the BRCGS certificate?
No. Sterling guides the system into place, trains your people and prepares the site; a BRCGS-approved, accredited certification body audits, grades and decides. A provider offering to consult and certify in one contract is selling paper, and a BRCGS certificate that is not in the Directory does not exist.
Before the first call
Prepare a useful BRCGS Food Safety readiness brief
No manual is needed before the first conversation; a short, accurate account of the site and of who is asking for the certificate is enough. Seven questions:
- Who is asking, and for what: a retailer or brand owner (does it name a grade or the unannounced programme?), an export market, or your own decision after an incident?
- Which products, lines and zones should the certificate cover, and are there traded products, outsourced processes or a head office to include?
- Do you have a HACCP plan today, was it ever validated, and when was the hazard analysis last reviewed against the process?
- What condition are the building and equipment in: fabric, drainage, equipment design, pest control, staff facilities and storage?
- What do complaints, customer audits, foreign-body finds and label errors say about the starting point?
- Who is on the HACCP and quality team, and who can decide on works, spend and time for implementation and training?
- Is there a listing date, a tender, a season or an existing certificate expiry that fixes the date?
With the answers we can scope the work and write a realistic proposal. This prepares a conversation; it is not a scored assessment and it is not a certification decision.
Don’t be fooled by certification scams
If it takes ten days, it is not BRCGS Food Safety certification.
A BRCGS certificate is only useful when it comes from an approved certification body, sits in the BRCGS Directory with the right scope and product categories, carries a grade the customer accepts, and stands behind a factory that survives an unannounced walk. The market sells paper: "BRC certificates" from bodies BRCGS has never approved, consultants who do everything while your people do nothing, and HACCP plans copied from another factory. They are cheaper until a technologist opens the Directory or the auditor arrives on a Tuesday nobody chose.
How to choose a credible BRCGS provider
- Ask who will issue the certificate and check in the BRCGS Directory that the body is approved for the Standard and your product categories, and how it is rated.
- Confirm the accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065 with the accreditation body itself, and whether that body sits within the Global ACI multilateral recognition arrangement, which took over the roles of the IAF and ILAC in January 2026, rather than trusting a logo.
- Ask how the site standards will be met. If nobody plans to walk your factory and price the works, the audit will find the doors the proposal ignored.
- Identify who carries each task, which audit and scheme costs are separate, and what support exists in the 28-day corrective action period.
- Ask what your line staff will be taught, and where the records will live. No training and no system means the checks stop the week the consultant leaves; the unannounced audit finds out.
- Turn down "certified in 7 to 10 days", "we manage everything", a promised grade and a single invoice for consulting and certificate. The plan must be validated, the site fixed and the records generated before any credible audit; nobody controls the grade.
Keep exploring
More on BRCGS Food Safety and related standards
More in Food safety & agriculture
Talk to a consultant
Plan your BRCGS Food Safety certification with confidence.
Tell us your goals, locations and target date. We’ll help you define the scope, timeline and next steps.
hello@sterling-grc.com+1 201 263 4443 (global headquarters) · your nearest office and its number are at the top of this page
What would you like to achieve?
Choose a starting point. The enquiry form takes about a minute.
Book my free discovery callContinue to the enquiry form to share your details. Please do not include passwords, sensitive personal information or confidential files. A Sterling consultant replies within one working day. Privacy notice