BRCGS Food Safety Certification in Morocco and Africa: Issue 9 Guide

What is BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9 certification?

It is proof, issued by an approved certification body, that a food plant meets the BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety. The current version is Issue 9, published on 1 August 2022.

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 consumers. It applies to sites that process or pack food: a sardine cannery in Agadir, a frozen vegetable plant in the Souss, a cocoa processor in Côte d’Ivoire, a fruit juice plant in Kenya or a dairy in Egypt. The Standard is one of the programmes recognised by the GFSI, which is why so many retailers and manufacturers accept it.

Three terms are often confused:

• The Standard is the text published by BRCGS. According to the BRCGS Guide to Certification, it can be accessed free of charge through the BRCGS Store.
• The audit is carried out by a BRCGS-approved certification body. The auditor observes practices, reads records and interviews staff on the floor.
• The certificate only exists once the audit is passed and non-conformities are closed. The site is then listed in the BRCGS Directory, which brands and retailers use to select suppliers.

The Issue 9 document has four parts: an introduction, the requirements (Part II), the audit protocol (Part III) and management and governance (Part IV). Your quality manager lives in Part II. Your managing director should also know Part III, which sets the rules for audits, grades and certificates.

Who asks for BRCGS certification, and for which markets?

Your customers do, almost never your regulator. BRCGS is widely specified by UK retailers and requested by many manufacturers, foodservice companies and European importers.

For an exporter in Morocco or elsewhere in Africa, the request usually comes through one of three doors:

1. A retail listing in the UK or another European market, where a GFSI-recognised certificate is required before the first order.
2. An industrial customer buying an ingredient or semi-finished product (fruit purée, pre-cooked fish, bulk vegetable oil, cocoa products) that enters its own certified supply chain.
3. Private-label production, where you manufacture under the retailer’s brand and must offer the same assurance as a domestic supplier.

BRCGS does not replace national requirements. In Morocco, an exporting plant first needs its sanitary authorisation or approval from ONSSA, the national food safety authority, then must meet the sanitary rules of the destination country. Other African countries have their own food control authorities. BRCGS comes on top, as a commercial requirement.

Your buyer may also accept IFS Food or FSSC 22000, two other GFSI-recognised programmes. The choice is made market by market, and we compare the options in BRCGS vs IFS vs FSSC 22000: which GFSI standard for which export market?.

How is the BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9 Standard structured?

The requirements sit in nine sections that follow the product and the organisation of the site. Some requirements are marked “fundamental”: a major non-conformity against one of them prevents certification.

Three points help you read this table.

First, Section 8 only applies to sites making ready-to-eat products exposed after cooking or decontamination. A cannery that sterilises product in sealed cans usually has no high-risk zone in the Standard’s sense; a plant that slices smoked fish does. The scope must be settled at the gap analysis.

Second, the exact list of fundamental requirements is set in Part II of the Standard. The official BRCGS self-assessment checklist marks twelve: senior management commitment and continual improvement, the food safety plan (HACCP), internal audits, management of suppliers of raw materials and packaging, corrective and preventive actions, traceability, layout, product flow and segregation, housekeeping and hygiene, management of allergens, control of operations, labelling and pack control, and staff training.

Third, the Standard changes between issues through position statements that BRCGS makes mandatory. Document F926, version 4.1 of October 2026, contains four. The latest amends clause 7.4.2 on protective clothing and requires suitable protective footwear where needed, effective 10 August 2026, to align Issue 9 with the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements v2024. A site that has not read F926 is preparing for an incomplete Standard.

Additional modules

BRCGS offers modules that can be added to the audit: GLOBALG.A.P. chain of custody (Module 10), Meat Supply Chain Assurance (Module 11) and FSMA requirements for food exported to the United States (Module 13). They are assessed pass/fail and are not graded; their non-conformities do not affect the grade. The site must tell its certification body before the audit, as modules can lengthen it.

How do grades and announced or unannounced audits work?

The auditor classifies each finding as a critical, major or minor non-conformity, and the number and severity of findings set a grade. The grade is read together with the audit programme: a “+” means the audit was unannounced.

The three levels are straightforward. A minor non-conformity means a requirement is not fully met. A major non-conformity is a substantial failure, or a finding that raises significant doubt about conformity. A critical non-conformity concerns product safety or legal compliance and prevents certification. The exact definitions are set in the audit protocol of the Standard, which the certification body applies.

The Issue 9 protocol has three programmes: announced audits with a mandatory unannounced audit every three years, the blended announced audit in two parts (one remote, one on site), and the unannounced programme. The F926 position statements add very practical rules:

• within three months of an audit, the certification body discusses the options with the site and states the year of the mandatory unannounced audit, never the date;
• an unannounced audit may happen at any point in the last four months of the cycle, including the 28 calendar days before the due date;
• if the site has not agreed contractual terms with its certification body in time, a major non-conformity is raised and the current certificate may expire;
• the site may not change certification body in the last four months before the due date unless BRCGS agrees in writing;
• an initial audit is the first BRCGS audit at a site address, or the audit of a site whose certificate lapsed more than 24 months ago.

For a managing director, the consequence is simple: your grade is visible to customers through the BRCGS Directory, and unannounced audits test the plant’s everyday reality, not last-minute preparation.

What are the 7 steps of a BRCGS certification project?

A project runs in seven steps, from decision to certificate. The last two belong to the certification body; the first five are won or lost inside the plant.

1. Choose the Standard and the scope. Products, lines, HACCP studies, traded products (Section 9), additional modules. A scoping mistake costs you at the audit.
2. Run the gap analysis. BRCGS publishes self-assessment checklists covering every requirement. A useful gap analysis goes further: it walks the lines, opens the records and talks to operators.
3. Plan actions and works. Infrastructure gaps (floors, joints, flows, condensation) need budget and lead time, so they go first.
4. Build the system and run it. HACCP plan based on Codex principles, prerequisite programmes, allergens, fraud, food defence, food safety culture plan. Records must cover a period of real operation before the audit.
5. Train, then audit internally. Every manager must be able to explain what they do and show it. A full mock audit, under real conditions, measures the remaining gap.
6. Pass the certification audit. The auditor observes procedures and processes, reviews documentation and interviews staff, as described in the BRCGS Guide to Certification.
7. Close out and receive the certificate. Non-conformities, with root cause analysis and preventive action, are closed within 28 days. If certification is granted, the certificate is issued within 42 calendar days of the first audit day.

Before you book the certification body, check at least the following:

• The certification scope is written down and approved by senior management.
  
• The food safety culture plan is approved and tracked in management review.
  
• Every HACCP study has been verified on the line, with justified critical limits.
  
• Internal audits cover all requirements and their actions are followed up.
  
• Approval of raw material and packaging suppliers is documented.
  
• A traceability test and a mock recall have been run and timed.
  
• The allergen matrix, cleaning validation and label checks are in place.
  
• Product, people and waste flows respect zoning.
  
• The F926 position statements in force have been applied.
  
• Contractual terms for an unannounced audit are signed with the certification body.
  

How to choose and work with a consultant across the continent is covered in BRCGS consultant in Africa: how to choose one.

How long will it take, and what budget should we plan?

There is no single price: the budget depends on site size, number of HACCP studies, building condition and what already exists. The first serious estimate comes after a written gap analysis.

Audit duration itself is not negotiable: BRCGS publishes an audit duration calculator for Issue 9 that certification bodies apply. Only the duration calculated for your site, stated on the certification body’s quote, counts.

The budget breaks down into five lines:

Auditor travel matters more in Africa than in Europe. A plant in a country with few locally based BRCGS auditors may pay for travel from another country; ask several approved certification bodies for quotes early.

In Morocco, part of the training budget can be funded through OFPPT special training contracts (CSF), under the rules in force and with no amount guaranteed in advance; training engineering may be supported by a GIAC. Our CSF / OFPPT funding page explains the rules and offers an indicative simulation. For a line-by-line view, read how much BRCGS, IFS or FSSC 22000 certification costs in Morocco and Africa.

What is Issue 10 bringing, and should we wait for it?

No, do not wait. Issue 10 is being drafted and BRCGS has announced neither a publication date nor an effective date.

In early 2026 BRCGS ran a public consultation on Issue 9, which closed on 15 February 2026, asking users what works, what should improve and which emerging food safety topics to cover. A technical working group of manufacturers, retailers, certification and accreditation bodies, trade associations and academics has been working on the text since April 2026.

Three reasons to certify against Issue 9 now:

• your buyer needs a valid certificate today, not a draft standard;
• a certificate stays valid until it expires, and BRCGS will publish transition rules with the new issue;
• the topics that grow from one issue to the next (food safety culture, fraud, the production environment) are already central to Issue 9. A robust system today can be upgraded without starting again.

The best monitoring is to follow BRCGS position statements as they are published, like the August 2026 statement on protective clothing. And if your European or UK customers want to audit your plant before listing you, read how EU and UK buyers qualify suppliers in Morocco and Africa.