BRCGS Packaging Issue 7

Your BRCGS Packaging Issue 7 solutions

Key dates

BRCGS Packaging Issue 7 was published on 28th October 2024. The standard can be purchased and downloaded from the BRCGS store: Publications, courses and more to help maintain assurance

The interpretation guide isn’t going to be published until mid November.

The first audits will be conducted to the new standard from 28th April 2025.

What’s new in Issue 7

On first glance you may think that not a lot has changed in the standard, but on closer review there are some chunky topics that have had an update, here we go through just a few of them.

HARA

The hazard and risk analysis section (HARA) has been given a full review. There are new clauses and changes to the existing clauses, to bring it into line with a typical HACCP section.

This is a section that is going to get a lot of attention when you have your Issue 7 audit, so you’ll need to spend some time working through your current system and updating it in line with the new requirements.

Culture

The clause on culture has been expanded to bring it into line with the other standards. There are a number of changes to this clause, including the need to identify the type of behaviours that are required and to assess performance to these. Every department on site, are now required to take accountability for the part of the standard – that they manage on a day-to-day basis. This will mean, that they need to present their part at audit.

Whistleblowing (confidential reporting system)

A whistleblowing process is now required, to bring the packaging standard in line with the other BRCGS standards.

Allergen management

In Issue 6 there was a reference to the need to control allergens. Now, in Issue 7, you must have an allergen management plan. This section needs some careful attention, as the link between allergens and packaging isn’t an easy one to navigate.

Equipment

This section has been rewritten to comply with the changes in the GFSI benchmarking standard. Your engineering team will need to understand these changes, so that they are confident to present them at audit.

Interesting points in the video

51:02 – BRCGS state that the audit will be conducted against the standard, not against the interpretation guideline. That the interpretation guideline is only to assist in interpretation. This is really interesting, as we know that many audits are done the wording of interpretation.

Questions

If you have any questions about the update, please pop them into the comments box below and we’ll answer them for you.