If you're running a food business in the UK, BRCGS certification is one of the most credible signals of food safety competence you can display—to retailers, buyers, regulators, and consumers alike.
Yet many businesses delay pursuing it because the process feels opaque. Where do you start? How long does it take? What does an auditor actually look for?
We're a CIEH-accredited food safety consultancy covering London, Surrey, Kent, and Buckinghamshire — we help food businesses navigate exactly this process every day. This guide gives you a clear, practical roadmap to BRCGS certification, grounded in real audit experience.
BRCGS stands for Brand Reputation Compliance Global Standards. Originally developed by British retailers in 1998, it has grown into one of the most widely recognised food safety certification frameworks in the world.
It is acknowledged by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and accepted by major retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, and thousands of international buyers.
In practical terms, BRCGS certification tells your supply chain that your food safety management system has been independently audited and verified against a rigorous, globally benchmarked standard. This matters for several reasons:
BRCGS operates multiple standards, each designed for a specific sector of the food supply chain. Choosing the right one is the essential first step, and it is an area where our team guides clients carefully.
If you are unsure which standard applies to your operations, our consultancy team at FooddSure can conduct an initial scope review and recommend the right path before you invest time and resource in the wrong direction.
Before you can achieve certification, you need to understand where your current food safety management system sits relative to BRCGS requirements. A professional gap analysis — comparing your existing documentation, procedures, and controls against each clause of the relevant BRCGS standard — will highlight exactly what needs to be developed, improved, or formalised.
Gap analysis is one of our core consultancy services. We conduct on-site and document-based assessments, producing a clear action plan with priorities ranked by audit risk. This stage typically takes one to three days depending on the size and complexity of your operation.
BRCGS Issue 9 introduced a formal requirement for demonstrable Food Safety Culture — evidence that food safety is genuinely embedded in how your business operates, not just documented on paper.
Auditors now assess this directly, looking for a defined food safety culture plan, clear communication of food safety objectives across all levels of staff, and evidence that management actively drives and reviews progress.
In practice, this means having a documented plan with measurable goals, regular staff engagement activities (briefings, feedback channels, visible leadership involvement), and a review process that shows the plan is acted on rather than filed away.
Businesses that treat this as a tick-box addition rather than a lived practice are a common source of non-conformances at audit — see the section below on where sites most often lose points.
BRCGS is fundamentally a documentation-driven standard. Your food safety management system (FSMS) must be fully documented, implemented, and demonstrably embedded in your day-to-day operations. Key areas include:
This is the stage where most businesses benefit most from expert support. We help clients develop fit-for-purpose documentation — not generic templates, but procedures that genuinely reflect how their business operates and that will withstand scrutiny during an audit.
Documentation alone is not sufficient. BRCGS auditors will look for evidence that your procedures are actually being followed across your operation. This means staff must be trained on relevant procedures, records must be consistently maintained, and any non-conformances identified through internal monitoring must be closed out with documented corrective action.
We recommend a minimum of three months of full implementation before applying for your initial BRCGS audit. This gives you sufficient records to demonstrate that your FSMS is functioning, not just on paper, but in practice. Our training programmes at FooddSure — delivered at Level 2 and Level 3 food safety — help ensure your team understands and owns the processes they are responsible for.
BRCGS audits must be conducted by a BRCGS-approved certification body — an independent third-party organisation licensed by BRCGS to carry out assessments. Examples include SGS, Bureau Veritas, Lloyds Register, and NSF International, among others.
You register your site directly with your chosen certification body, agree on an audit date, and pay the relevant assessment fees. These vary by certification body, site size, and scope of operations.
The audit itself is conducted by a qualified BRCGS auditor. For the Food Safety standard, this is typically a two-day process for a mid-sized manufacturing site, though it may be shorter or longer depending on scope. The audit is split into two parts:
Any non-conformances identified are graded as Critical, Major, or Minor. A Critical non-conformance results in automatic failure. The number and severity of Major and Minor non-conformances determine your final grade: AA, A, B, C, or D.
Following the audit, your certification body will issue a formal report detailing any non-conformances. Minor non-conformances must be closed out with documented corrective action within 28 days. Major non-conformances require evidence of action within 28 days, and may require a follow-up review.
Once all non-conformances are satisfactorily closed, your certificate is issued and your site is listed on the BRCGS directory — a publicly searchable database that buyers and retailers use to verify supplier certification status.
Certain areas come up repeatedly across BRCGS audits, regardless of sector or site size:
Knowing where sites typically lose points is one of the most useful things a gap analysis or mock audit can surface before the real thing.
While every site is different, most businesses follow a broadly similar path from start to certificate:
| Stage | Timeframe |
|---|---|
| Gap Analysis | Week 1–2 |
| Documentation Development | Month 1–2 |
| Implementation | Month 2–4 |
| Internal Audit & Mock Audit | Month 4–5 |
| Certification Audit | Month 5–6 |
This aligns with the four-to-six-month window most businesses should plan for, as outlined below.
From gap analysis to certificate, most businesses should allow four to six months for an initial BRCGS certification. This accounts for the gap analysis and remediation work, the implementation period, and the audit scheduling lead time with your chosen certification body.
Businesses that are already operating robust food safety systems — including fully developed HACCP plans and active prerequisite programmes — may move through the process more quickly. Businesses starting with limited food safety documentation will need longer to develop and embed a compliant system.
Once certified, BRCGS audits take place annually. Your grade from the previous audit determines whether your next audit is announced or unannounced.
At Fooddsure, we provide end-to-end support for food businesses pursuing BRCGS certification. Our CIEH-accredited consultants bring practical, sector-specific experience across food manufacturing, hospitality, retail, and distribution — enabling us to offer guidance that is both technically rigorous and operationally grounded.
Our BRCGS support services include:
Before booking your certification audit, check that you can confidently tick each of the following:
We work with businesses across London, Surrey, Kent, and Buckinghamshire. If you're based further afield, we can often support remotely for documentation and training elements. Get in touch with the team at info@fooddsure.co.uk or call us on +44 7879 342238 to discuss your certification timeline.
From your first gap analysis to the moment your certificate is issued, we support you at every stage:
Contact us today for a confidential consultation. We'll assess your current position, outline exactly what's needed, and build a clear plan to get you certified on time and on budget.
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