BRC Global Standards has announced that the BRC/IOP Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials Issue 4 has been successfully benchmarked against Issue 6 of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Guideline.
It is the first time GFSI has recognised packaging standards, and the BRC/IOP (Institute of Packaging) Standard is the first packaging-specific standard to be recognised.
The Standard was originally developed in 2000 and, now in its fourth edition, is designed to ensure that factory hygiene and production systems ensure the manufacture of safe packaging that meets customer specifications.
“Packaging has a vital role to play in food safety,” says BRC packaging technical manager Joanna Griffiths.
“Recognition of the BRC/IOP Standard by GFSI increases the confidence of food manufacturers when sourcing packaging materials from certificated sites and provides greater incentives for packaging manufacturers to raise standards and become certificated.”
The British Retail Consortium was instrumental in the development of a GFSI benchmarking document for packaging standards for manufacturers, ensuring relevant guidance for the packaging industry and greater recognition for sites already certificated to the BRC Standard.
Launched in 2000 following a number of food safety crises, the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a business-driven initiative for the continuous improvement of food safety management systems to ensure confidence in the delivery of safe food to consumers worldwide.
The BRC Global Standards are a leading global safety and quality certification programme, used throughout the world by over 18,000 certificated suppliers in 90 countries through a network of over 80 accredited and BRC recognised certification bodies. They facilitate standardisation of quality, safety, operational criteria and manufacturers’ fulfilment of legal obligations. They also help provide protection to the consumer.
