BRC Issue 7 and TACCP (or VACCP)

Food manufacturers or suppliers who currently hold or are working towards British Retail Consortium (BRC) certification, should be aware that Issue 7 of BRC Global Standard for Food Safety has now been published and audits against the new standard will commence in July of this year (2015).

One of the most important changes is with regard to the integrity of the supply chain, i.e. product authenticity, claims as to what the foodstuff is or contains and its chain of custody throughout the supply chain. There is now a requirement to conduct a “vulnerability assessment” to assess the risk of adulteration or substitution of foodstuffs.

“Systems shall be in place to minimise the risk of purchasing fraudulent or adulterated food raw materials and to ensure that all product descriptions and claims are legal, accurate and verified.”
(Clause 5.4 BRC GSFS Issue 7)

HACCP, TACCP & VACCP

Historically food manufacturers have used HACCP to identify potential hazards in the production process and have designed their control measures accordingly. HACCP doesn’t really look at malicious intent or financial motivation; it is more about day to day failures, breakdowns and mistakes; it also does not look deeply enough at the vulnerability of your supply chain nor the ability for you to prove provenance of supplies.

The vulnerability assessment that BRC Issue 7 refers to is far beyond the normal food safety management system (HACCP) and is best addressed by use of tools such as Threat Assessment Critical Control Points (TACCP) and horizon scanning.

By using TACCP to augment your food safety management system you will be able to identify potential issues such as:

• Threats to your business from EMA (economically motivated adulteration), where cheap food products are mislabelled and passed off as more expensive for financial gain.
• Malicious contamination of foodstuffs by staff or terrorists.
• Extortion (blackmail), such as the 1990 glass in baby food case.
• Espionage, where product recipes and techniques are at risk (Coca-Cola 2006).
• Counterfeiting, such as the fake Glen’s Vodka case in 2013.
• Cyber-crime or hacktivists who seek to steal information or damage organisations via their computer networks.

TACCP Course with T&G Training Ltd

This one day course is designed to assist your TACCP team by introducing them to the concepts of TACCP and “horizon scanning” so that they can design a TACCP plan that meets the needs of your business, prepares you for BRC Issue 7 and compliments your existing food safety management system.

The TACCP one day training programme covers:

• Scope and purpose of TACCP
• Terms and definitions used in the TACCP process
• Understanding types of threat to a food business
• Understanding the motivation of the attacker
• How to conduct a TACCP study
• Conducting a threat assessment
• Critical controls in a TACCP plan
• Response to an incident and recovery plans
• Horizon scanning
• Auditing and review of company defence arrangements

Further Information

BRC will be auditing to the new standard from July 2015, by attending this programme you will be better prepared and able to comply with the requirements of BRC Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 7.

Can we still use TACCP if we are not BRC certified? Yes you can. TACCP can be used by any food business to improve the safety and integrity of your food products and to reassure the customer that the food they are receiving is safe and to the specification they have paid for.

For more information on TACCP and Food Safety courses – Call us on 0191 3000 232