The Global Food Safety Initiative board of directors announced that the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 6 and BRC/IoP Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials Issue 4 have been benchmarked by GFSI and achieved recognition against the GFSI Guidance Document Sixth Edition.

BRC has been recognized against the following scopes:

• D Pre Processing Handling of Plant Products
• EI Processing of Animal Perishable Products
• EII Processing of Plant Perishable Products
• EIII Processing of Animal and Plant Perishable Products (Mixed Products)
• EIV Processing of Ambient Stable Products
• L Production of (Bio) Chemicals
• M Production of Food Packaging

Over the course of the re-benchmarking process, the requirements for food safety scheme ownership, management and supporting systems outlined in the GFSI Guidance Document Sixth Edition were compared against the detailed documentation and objective evidence provided by BRC for each requirement in order to determine equivalence.

The re-benchmarking exercise against the GFSI Guidance Document Sixth Edition represented a significant change from the previous approach against the Fifth Edition, as the document was expanded to cover primary production, processing and supporting activities in a more thorough way, taking a scope-specific approach to eventually cover all parts of the food supply chain.