What is BRCGS Food Safety certification, and who does what?
BRCGS Food Safety certification confirms that a food manufacturing site meets the BRCGS global standard for food safety, currently Issue 9. It is granted by a BRCGS-approved certification body after an on-site audit.
BRCGS describes the standard as the safety, quality and operational criteria a food manufacturer must have in place to meet its legal obligations and protect the consumer. For a Moroccan exporter, it is first of all a condition for reaching buyers: the GFSI page lists BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9 among the recognised programmes, with four audit programmes (announced, blended announced, voluntary unannounced, and mandatory unannounced once every three years). For a buyer in Europe or the Gulf sourcing from Morocco, the question is the mirror image: does the supplier’s certificate cover what you actually buy, under the audit programme you accept?
Four parties are involved, and their roles do not overlap.
Party | Role in certification | What the site should expect from it |
|---|---|---|
BRCGS | Writes the standard, publishes position statements and protocols, approves certification bodies, runs the BRCGS Directory | Binding rules: position statements are mandatory from their implementation date |
Certification body | Calculates the audit duration, schedules, audits, awards the grade, decides, issues the certificate | A quote, an audit plan, a report and a reasoned decision |
The site | Defines its scope, applies the standard, hosts the audit, corrects gaps, reports incidents | Responsibility for compliance every day, not only on audit day |
Consultant (optional) | Helps prepare the system and the teams | A method and skills transfer, never a certification decision |
The standard says so itself: a site that lacks in-house knowledge may use external expertise, a food safety consultant for example, but the day-to-day management of the food safety system remains the company’s responsibility (clause 1.2.4).
The standard can be accessed free of charge through the BRCGS Store. The site must hold a genuine copy of the current issue, hard copy or electronic, and keep track of changes published on the BRCGS website (clause 1.1.9). Once certified, it is listed in the BRCGS Directory, which BRCGS describes as the shop window brands and retailers use to select suppliers.
To choose between Food Safety, Packaging Materials Issue 7, Storage & Distribution Issue 4, Agents & Brokers Issue 3 and START!, see our BRCGS certification hub.
What do the nine chapters of Issue 9 contain?
Issue 9 is organised in nine chapters. The first seven apply to every manufacturing site. Chapter 8 is added if the site has high-risk, high-care or ambient high-care production zones; chapter 9 if it stores products it does not manufacture. The chapter titles below follow the official BRCGS self-assessment checklist in English.
No. | Chapter | What the auditor checks, for example | Fundamental requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Senior management commitment | Policy signed by the person with overall responsibility for the site, food safety and quality culture plan reviewed at least annually, objectives reported at least quarterly, annual management review, meetings at least monthly, confidential reporting system | 1.1 |
2 | The food safety plan – HACCP | HACCP team, prerequisite programmes, product description, flow diagrams verified on site at least annually, validated CCPs and critical limits, annual review | 2 |
3 | Food safety and quality management system | Manual, document control, records, internal audits, suppliers, specifications, corrective action, non-conforming product, traceability, complaints, incidents and recalls | 3.4, 3.5.1, 3.7, 3.9 |
4 | Site standards | Site security and food defence, layout and flows, building fabric, utilities, equipment, maintenance, physical and chemical contamination, foreign-body detection, housekeeping, waste, pest management, storage, dispatch | 4.3, 4.11 |
5 | Product control | Product design, labelling, allergens, authenticity and claims, packaging, testing, product release | 5.3 |
6 | Process control | Control of operations, labelling and pack control, quantity control, calibration | 6.1, 6.2 |
7 | Personnel | Training, personal hygiene, medical screening, protective clothing | 7.1 |
8 | Production risk zones – high risk, high care and ambient high care | Layout, building fabric, equipment, cleaning and workwear in high-risk, high-care and ambient high-care zones | — |
9 | Requirements for traded products | HACCP, approval of manufacturers, specifications, testing, legality and traceability of products stored on site but made elsewhere | — |
Two chapters call for an explicit decision.
Chapter 8 depends on an assessment the site must carry out itself. Clause 4.3.1 requires it to assess its production risk zones using the definitions in Appendix 2 of the standard, and clause 4.3.2 to show those zones on the site map. If the assessment concludes that there are high-risk, high-care or ambient high-care zones, the whole of chapter 8 applies on top of chapters 1 to 7.
Chapter 9 is all or nothing. If the site wants to be audited on its traded products, all of them must be in scope; it is not permitted to include some and exclude others. Non-conformities against chapter 9 count in the grade. If the site prefers to leave its traded products out, the exclusion is recorded on the audit report.
What are the fundamental requirements, and which ones are they?
A fundamental requirement is one that BRCGS considers decisive for product safety. The official self-assessment checklist marks twelve of them in Issue 9. Each opens with a statement of intent, which the auditor assesses in addition to the detailed clauses.
Clause | Fundamental requirement | What the site must be able to show |
|---|---|---|
1.1 | Senior management commitment and continual improvement | Senior management fully committed to implementing the standard and to improving the food safety and quality culture |
2 | The food safety plan – HACCP | A fully implemented and effective plan based on the Codex Alimentarius HACCP principles |
3.4 | Internal audits | Verification that the plan and the standard are actually applied, with at least four audit dates spread through the year |
3.5.1 | Management of suppliers of raw materials and packaging | Approval based on a risk assessment of each raw material, primary packaging included |
3.7 | Corrective and preventive actions | Use of identified issues to correct them and prevent recurrence, with root cause analysis |
3.9 | Traceability | Traceability of every lot from supplier to customer and back, tested at least annually and achievable within 4 hours |
4.3 | Layout, product flow and segregation | A layout, process flows and staff movements that prevent contamination |
4.11 | Housekeeping and hygiene | Cleaning systems that maintain hygiene at all times |
5.3 | Management of allergens | Control of cross-contact, and labelling that meets the law of the country of sale |
6.1 | Control of operations | Production to specifications and work instructions, consistent with the HACCP plan |
6.2 | Labelling and pack control | Products correctly labelled and coded |
7.1 | Training of staff in handling, processing, packing and storage areas | Competence demonstrated through training, work experience or qualification, agency and temporary staff included |
BRCGS grades non-conformities by level; its official documents refer in particular to critical and major non-conformities. A major non-conformity against the statement of intent of a fundamental requirement weighs directly on the certification decision. The levels of non-conformity and their consequences are defined in the audit protocol of the Standard, which the certification body applies.
On the floor, fundamental requirements are rarely lost on a missing document. They are lost on evidence that does not hold: a traceability test that runs past 4 hours because the oil or the packaging is not linked to the lot, internal audits bunched into the month before the audit instead of spread through the year, an allergen matrix that forgets a sauce, an export label checked at start-up but not at a reel change.
Before you book the audit, check that this evidence exists and is recent:
How do you define the certification scope?
The scope states what the certificate covers: a site address, products and processes. The site proposes it, the certification body checks it, and the buyer reads it on the certificate.
Three official rules frame the decision. First, certification is tied to an address: BRCGS defines the initial audit as the first BRCGS audit at a specific site address, or an audit at a site whose previous certificate lapsed more than 24 months ago. Second, each HACCP plan must define its own scope, products and processes included. Third, products or materials kept on site but outside the scope must be controlled so that they create no risk for the certified products.
Common situation in Morocco | What to decide | Effect on the audit |
|---|---|---|
A cannery that also makes cans sold to third parties | Food Safety for the food plant, Packaging Materials Issue 7 for can making | Two standards, two scopes to define |
A plant that stores finished products bought from other manufacturers | Include all traded products under chapter 9, or exclude them | All or nothing; the exclusion appears on the report |
A seasonal range made a few months a year | Include it in the scope or not | Audit date to agree with the certification body, because the audit assesses practices observed in production |
A site that subcontracts a step and takes the product back | Declare the outsourced process | The subcontractor must be approved and monitored |
A customer that requires an additional module (for example the FSMA module) | Add the module to the scope | Assessed under the module’s own protocol |
The additional modules linked to Issue 9 on the BRCGS website (GLOBALG.A.P. Chain of Custody, Meat Supply Chain Assurance, FSMA requirements) are added to the standard; they do not replace it. If part of your business makes packaging, see our BRCGS Packaging Materials page.
Write the scope down at the gap analysis stage, have management sign it off, then confirm it in writing with the certification body before you ask for a quote. A vague scope distorts the audit duration, and therefore the cost, and can produce a certificate the buyer refuses. How the scope drives the budget is explained in our article on what drives the cost of BRCGS certification in Morocco.
How does the certification audit work?
The first audit is announced and takes place entirely on site. The certification body calculates its duration with the official BRCGS calculator, and the audit follows a fixed sequence: opening meeting, inspection of the production areas, document review, traceability test, closing meeting.
A few rules apply specifically to a first audit:
- no blended audit: BRCGS reserves blended audits, which include a remote part, for recertification. It explains that the opening and closing meetings of an initial audit need extra time, which is better spent on site;
- announced by default: the first BRCGS audit at a site is announced, unless the site itself asks for an unannounced audit;
- a calculated duration, not a negotiated one: the certification body applies the BRCGS Issue 9 audit duration calculator and states the resulting duration on its quote;
- management in the room: the most senior production or operations manager on site takes part in the opening and closing meetings, and a member of the senior management team must be available to discuss the food safety and quality culture plan (clause 1.1.11).
The audit assesses real implementation: observation of practices, document review and staff interviews. Non-conformities are confirmed at the closing meeting. The site then has 28 days to send the certification body its corrective actions, root cause analysis and preventive action plan. The certification body reviews this evidence, finalises the report and makes its decision. If certification is granted, the certificate is issued no later than 42 calendar days after the first day of the audit.
How to prepare that day in practice (documents, team, meetings, close-out file) is covered in our how-to on preparing the BRCGS certification audit.
What happens after the certificate: grades, frequency, unannounced audits?
The certificate opens an audit cycle whose rhythm depends on the grade obtained and on the audit programme chosen.
The grade. The certification body awards a grade calculated on the number and level of non-conformities. Official BRCGS documents refer to grades from AA to D, and a + is added after an unannounced audit (AA+ or A+, for example).
The frequency. The next audit is due twelve months later, or six months depending on the grade: BRCGS cites sites graded C or D, which are audited every six months.
Unannounced audits. Every certified site must have at least one unannounced audit every three years. For a new site, the first one takes place in either of the two years after the first audit. Within three months of each audit, the certification body tells the site the year of the unannounced audit, never its date. A site can also join the unannounced programme voluntarily. The options and rules in force at the end of 2026 are set out in our article on BRCGS unannounced and blended audits.
Incidents. After a significant food safety, authenticity or legality incident, including a recall or withdrawal, the site notifies the certification body that issued its certificate within 3 working days. It then provides, within 21 calendar days, enough information for the certification body to assess the effect on the validity of the certificate (clause 3.11.4).
Failure. If the number or level of non-conformities prevents certification, the site corrects them, then has a new full, announced audit no earlier than 28 calendar days after the last audit, with the same certification body unless BRCGS grants a concession.
After the certificate | BRCGS rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
Next audit | 12 months, or 6 months depending on the grade (C or D) | BRCGS079, BRCGS080 |
Unannounced audit | At least one every three years; the year is notified within three months of the audit | F926, BRCGS079 |
Significant incident | Notification within 3 working days, information within 21 calendar days | Clause 3.11.4 |
Audit without certification | New full, announced audit, no earlier than 28 days later | BRCGS079 |
Change of certification body | Not permitted in the four months before the re-audit due date, unless BRCGS agrees in writing | F926 |
BRCGS, IFS or FSSC 22000: does the choice change the preparation?
Not much, in substance. BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9, IFS Food Version 8 and FSSC 22000 Version 7 all rest on HACCP, prerequisite programmes, traceability, allergens, food fraud and food safety culture. What changes is the architecture of the standard, the audit protocol and the scoring: fundamental requirements and grades in the case of BRCGS.
The useful question is therefore: which standard does my buyer accept, under which audit programme, and by what date? Get the answer in writing. The side-by-side comparison of the three standards is on our BRCGS certification hub, and our BRCGS certification case study of a frozen berry plant shows these rules applied to a Moroccan factory.