BRC Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Institute of Packaging (now known as the Packaging Society) jointly developed this technical standard to assist retailers and food manufacturers in meeting their legal obligations. A key aim of this standard was to help in protecting the consumer by providing a common basis for the evaluation of companies supplying packaging for food products to retailers.

Importantly, it also provided a single common standard and protocol that would enable an external assessment to be undertaken by a competent third party organisation which was independent of both the food manufacturer and of the packaging manufacturer/supplier.

Since its publication in 2001, this packaging standard has become widely accepted and has become adopted by major retailers, manufacturers and packaging businesses around the world.

In addition to the core BRC Global Standards, LRQA can help you with a range of Additional Modules that can be added to the standard audit process.

AuditOne™ Module

This initiative is driven by the Foundation For Strategic Sourcing (F4SS) and aims to develop a single set of quality standards and audit processes that establish a uniform harmonised standard for the industry, so that suppliers can have one audit that meets the requirements of multiple customers.

LRQA has been approved to deliver BRC Packaging Issue 5 + AuditOne™ Voluntary Module certification under AuditOne™ using the technology platform powered by Greenfence. Our knowledge of BRC standards as well of the packaging and consumer goods industry makes us your approved AuditOne™ certification body of choice, and we’re ready to support your certification. On our AuditOne™ page you can find more information about the process.

The AuditOne™ Additional Module and BRC Global Standards Packaging meet the requirements established by F4SS Members in cooperation with Procter Gamble, Johnson Johnson, Unilever, L'Oreal and Estee Lauder among other leading consumer goods brands. The process is intended to create a broad and far-reaching harmonised quality process for the FMCG/CPG non-foods industry.

Traded Goods Module

This module is applicable to packaging products and materials that are purchased and stored at the site prior to sale, and they are not manufactured, further processed or repacked at the site being audited. This Additional Module enables traded goods to be incorporated into the BRC Global Standards audit.

The advantages of the Additional Modules include reduced audit costs as you can include requirements that otherwise would need a separate audit, and meeting geographic or customer needs by covering additional requirements to complement the main standard.

For clients who want to adopt any of the Additional Modules, it is advised that they notify us in advance of their BRC Global Standards audit.

There are significant benefits in certification to the BRC Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials. It helps reduce or eliminate multiple assessments with the additional benefits of reduction in disruption to the business associated paperwork and costs. Additional benefits include:

• Benchmarked by the GFSI, enabling your organisation to achieve certification to a GFSI-recognised standard
• Leading packaging standard of choice with more than 3500 certifications globally
• It offers additional modules, such as the AuditOne™ Voluntary Module, that enables your organisation to comply with F4SS requirements and helps support your organisation’s ability to supply to major brands
• Customer satisfaction – a single comprehensive verification programme enabling regular reporting to food retailers and other parties as agreed
• Best practice – assurance that systems in place are working to enable production of safe packaging
• Reduced costs – continual improvement of the quality, hygiene and product safety systems resulting on operations efficiencies
• Single verification programme – enabling regular reporting to food retailers and other parties as agreed
• Comprehensive and focused on quality, legality and product safety
• Addresses part of the ‘due diligence’ requirements of packaging manufacturer/ supplier; packer/filler and retailer
• Regular surveillance visits help ensure continual improvement of the quality, hygiene and product safety system
• A standardised reporting format gives information on how sites meet the requirements.

Experience

We are a market leader in the provision of packaging, consumer goods, safety, quality and food safety assessment, certification and training services, and some of the world’s best known organisations choose LRQA for their assessment and certification needs.

Proven track record

We have high-profile clients in the packaging, food, retail, logistics, storage and distribution sectors.

BRC Specialists

Our assessors are industry specialists and experts who are matched with your business needs, enabling an effective and robust assessment of your system.

Independent accreditation

LRQA holds accreditation from UKAS to ISO 17065:2012, enabling us to deliver accredited BRC certification.

Global assessment reach

We have certified organisations to BRC across North America, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.

AuditOne™

We are an approved AuditOne™ certification body with resources ready to deliver your BRC Packaging Issue 5 + AuditOne™ Voluntary Module certification.