Accreditations and certifications

There are many third party certifications and accreditations available and the best one for your business depends on many factors. These factors include customer requirements, size of the business, number of product groups, and budget. The accreditations include BRCGS, SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) and others.

The most common food and drink third party accreditations for food safety in the UK are those offered by BRCGS (previously BRC) (Brand Reputation Compliance Global Standards), SALSA ,and others such as NSF CMi, IFS, SAI Global and ISO. These all take HACCP as the starting block and work up from there. Businesses considering exporting may find that their customers prefer ISO 22000 or IFS Food

SALSA has some industry specific modules such as beer and cheese, ISO, IFS and BRCGS have a number of more diverse accreditations. Recently, SALSA launched a Storage and Distribution version of the SALSA food safety standard. This is aimed at smaller storage and distribution businesses who feel that the BRCGS standard is too onerous for them. BRCGS also have START which is aimed at smaller producers as a stepping stone to full BRCGS Food Safety certification

In addition, there  those offered by specific retailers such as Marks and Spencer. Some seek to assure the production of food, such as the Soil Association and for fisheries – MSC. 

 Sector specific 

In addition, there  those offered by specific retailers such as Marks and Spencer. Some seek to assure the production of food, such as the Soil Association and for fisheries – MSC.

You may be able to download copies of the standard free of charge from the awarding body website, as BRCGS does. This  allows you to review the requirements.

If you would like a chat with me to discuss which standard is the best for your business, and the support Alimenti can offer, email or call me using the details at the top of the page, or here.