BRCGS Storage and Distribution 2026 Changes, and What 2027 Brings

What changed at BRCGS in 2026?

Nine new position statements, applicable since 10 August 2026, followed by a new visual identity in October. There is no new edition of the standard: the official BRCGS page, checked on 5 November 2026, announces neither an Issue 5 nor a consultation.

On the ground, four changes show up at the next audit:

• Contracts. Each subcontractor has a contract or written agreement, signed by both parties, which sets, based on risk, the temperature range, handling requirements, product security, segregation of incompatible products and vehicle type (clause 3.5.2.1).
• Agency staff. All personnel, temporary and employment agency staff included, know their responsibilities and can access the relevant documentation (1.3.2).
• Competence. The people who carry out fraud vulnerability assessments (3.5.3.1) and threat assessments (4.2.1) must understand the principles involved, with evidence: training, experience or the quality of the assessment itself.
• Contract cold operations. Section 17 adds irradiation, and clause 17.3 requires process parameter recording linked to an automatic failure alarm, or manual checks frequent enough to intervene in time.

The clause-by-clause detail is on our BRCGS Storage and Distribution page. On the IFS side, version 3 of the IFS Logistics doctrine, published in April 2026, clarifies the standard without creating a new version of it: see our article on IFS Logistics 3, Broker 3.2, PACsecure 3 and IFS Progress in 2026-2027.

Where does GFSI recognition against the 2024 version stand?

It is under way. The GFSI page of programmes undergoing benchmarking, checked on 5 November 2026, lists “Storage & Distribution issue 4” for BRCGS and “Logistics v3 Standard and Doctrine v3” for IFS. The submission deadline for programmes already recognised had been pushed back to 17 May 2026, according to the GFSI announcement of 26 November 2025.

The same page places each programme owner in the seven benchmarking steps, from application (A) to the GFSI final decision (G). As of 6 November 2026, BRCGS, including Storage and Distribution Issue 4, has completed the application and the desktop review and is at the office visit assessment (step C). IFS, including Logistics version 3, has completed the office visit assessment and is at the corrective action plan (step D). Next come the public stakeholder consultation, the completion of corrective actions and the final decision: no dates are published for these steps.

Two points of the Key Changes document concern logistics directly. Multi-site certification by sampling is reserved for six scopes, including storage and distribution (G), with at least 25% of sites selected at random. And training must cover all personnel, temporary and subcontracted workers included.

What do the standards require of your own service providers?

The same standards as yours, backed by a contract.

• BRCGS. According to the guidance on position statement 14, contracts require subcontractors to operate to at least the same standards as the audited site. Customer contracts, especially those of brand owners, are reviewed so that their handling requirements are carried over. Notifying the product owner before outsourcing is good practice: some brand owners want to approve or reject the subcontractor.
• IFS Logistics version 3. For transport of packed products bought on the spot market, the standard requires a provider certified to IFS Logistics or to another GFSI-recognised standard covering the activity (requirement 4.2.3.3). Otherwise, the contract sets minimum requirements: clean transport units, controlled product temperature, separated products, no smells or other contamination.
• Traceability. IFS Logistics requires a test at least once every 12 months, mass balance included, with a timeframe in line with the customer’s when it is under four hours (4.4.3).
• Unannounced audits. At least one IFS Logistics audit in three has been unannounced since 1 January 2021; it gives IFS Star status, visible in the IFS Database and on the certificate. At BRCGS, it is at least one audit every three years.

For a Moroccan haulier working for certified warehouses, the certificate is becoming the simplest proof of that qualification.

FSSC 22000 Version 7: what does it change for warehouses?

It clarifies the line between a plant’s own warehouse and a logistics provider. According to the FSSC 22000 Version 7 scheme of May 2026, category G covers logistics providers that physically store or transport food, feed or their packaging, whoever owns the products; it can include repacking and relabelling of packed products, freezing and thawing.

• An off-site warehouse is included in the plant’s audit if it belongs to the same legal entity, the same system and the same country, and stores only the site’s products.
• If it also stores for a sister company, category G is added to the plant’s certificate; if it stores for third-party customers, it falls outside that scope and can seek its own category G certification.
• Each off-site warehouse or cross-docking platform adds at least 0.25 auditor day (two hours) to the audit duration.
• The prerequisite programmes for category G are ISO 22002-100:2025 and ISO 22002-5:2025.

The timeline: audits against Version 6 remain possible until 30 April 2027, and upgrades to Version 7 run from 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028. The full comparison is in our article FSSC 22000 v6 vs v7.

PPWR: what affects transport packaging?

Not much before 2030, and mostly inside the EU. Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste (PPWR) has applied since 12 August 2026, but its obligations are phased. The Commission guidance document of 5 June 2026 clarifies three points that matter to logistics providers.

• Reuse (Article 29). From 1 January 2030, at least 40% of the pallets, crates, boxes, trays, drums, pallet wrapping and straps used in the EU must be reusable within a reuse system; from 2040, the target is 70%. For imported goods, the rule applies from the first warehouse in the EU. A consignment destined for a single final destination does not have to be repacked, but a distribution centre or logistics platform is not a final destination.
• Who is responsible. The target falls on the operator that makes the product available on the EU market in transport packaging: manufacturer, importer or distributor.
• Logistics providers inside the EU. A logistics company that receives imported goods and repacks them becomes the producer of the transport packaging, even without owning the products.

On top of this comes, from 1 January 2030 at the earliest, a maximum empty space ratio of 50% for transport packaging. The full calendar is in our article PPWR since 12 August 2026: what applies.

Which dates matter, and what should you do before the end of 2027?

• Reread every subcontracted transport and storage contract: signed by both parties, temperatures, segregation, vehicle.
  
• Check that agency staff know their responsibilities and where to find the procedures.
  
• Document the competence of the people who carry out fraud and threat assessments.
  
• Confirm in writing with each customer the standard and version they accept.
  
• For an off-site warehouse of an FSSC 22000 certified plant, decide between category G and separate certification before the Version 7 upgrade.
  
• List the pallets and transport packaging formats you use for your importing customers.
  

The complete certification path is in our BRCGS Storage and Distribution Issue 4 guide.