BRCGS START!
Food safety certification for small to medium sized businesses.
The BRCGS START! programme recognises and encourages the development of food safety systems in small sites where food safety management systems are immature. Developed in line with the full Food Safety Global Standard, it is recognised and supported by many leading brands and retailers.
Key Benefits
Starts your food safety certification journey
Small food producers get the opportunity to demonstrate recognised stepping stones towards eventual certification to the full Food Safety Global Standard.
Supported by large retailers
BRCGS START! has the full support of leading retailers as it provides them assurance about established food safety systems. This facilitates the way for small businesss to get their products on shelves of big retailers.
Business Growth
Independent research, carried out by the University of Birkbeck demonstrates that organisations operating to BRCGS standards improve food safety, operational efficiency, commercial growth, improved profitability and broad-based innovation.
About the Standard
The BRCGS START! programme gives small food producers the opportunity to demonstrate recognised stepping stones towards eventual certification to the full Food Safety Global Standard.
30% of sites certificates to START! successfully transition to the full standard within two years.
The BRCGS START! programme recognises and encourages the development of food safety systems in small sites where food safety management systems are immature. Developed in line with the full Food Safety Global Standard, it is recognised and supported by many leading brands and retailers.
The START! programme sets out the requirements for the manufacture of processed foods and the preparation of primary products supplied as:
- Retailer-branded products
- Branded food products
- Food or ingredients for use by foodservice companies, catering and food manufacturers
The audit and certification will apply only to products that have been manufactured or prepared at the site where the audit has taken place. This will include storage facilities that are under the direct control of the production site management.
- There are two levels of certification to suit your size, maturity and need
- It is fully aligned with Food Safety Issue 9 and provides a clear roadmap to full certification
- Fully aligned with the GFSI Global Markets programme (the full Standard is GFSI-benchmarked)
- It requires completion of corrective actions on any non-conformities before certification, reducing the need for customers to follow up audit reports
- Public listing on BRCGS Directory, the tool that brands and retailers use for supplier selection
- Improve brand reputation through the use of BRCGS logos to promote your products
Following the publication launch of Issue 2 of the START! Standard in March 2023, audits to the new issue are expected to start six months later on 01 September 2023.
