THE BRCGS PLANT BASED (VEGAN) CERTIFICATION PROGRAM GLOBAL STANDARD
The Plant Based Certification Program Global standard on pack Trademark will empower consumers to make informed choices quickly and easily. The Trademark will allow brands and products to differentiate themselves and provides confidence to consumers and industry alike.
Is your company preparing to update its BRCGS food safety program to meet the Plant Based Certification Program Global Standard? A PBCP FOCUSED factory and procedural based gap analysis is conducted to establish a pragmatic and carefully managed action plan to bring you in line as compliant as fast as possible
This gap analysis (pre-audit) service offers the expertise of a BRCGS qualified auditor to come out to your site and conduct a full audit. This allows your business to expose any non-conformity that may result in failure to meet the STANDALONE Plant Based Certification program.
OR You can choose to treat the visit as a COMBINED PBCP standard with your current BRCGS Food Safety Global Standard certification. This would benefit you MORE as it would identify ALL gaps for related BRCGS (“especially important where you make Animal based products”) & PBCP operations to give an effective quick and easier way to manage your carefully managed action plan to bring you FULL compliance
To START the route to certification, the on-site gap analysis will assess the existing level of compliance. A gap analysis will assess:
What food safety systems are currently in place focused on PBCP requirements
How current systems compare to requirements of the standard standalone PBCP OR Combined with BRCGS and PBCP standards together
Paperwork systems (Provision of documented templates)
Fabrication
Personnel requirements – Training awareness in PBCP requirements
GAP-ANALYSIS IS FOCUSED ON PBCP REQUIREMENTS
01. SENIOR MANAGEMENT COMMITMENT
Commitment at a senior level is essential in the development of a good food safety culture. It is also necessary if the PBMS is to be effective, and to ensure the full application and continual development of the system.

“We provide templates and guidance on complaint reviews.”
02. THE FOOD SAFETY PLAN – HACCP
The site shall have a documented, fully implemented, and effective food safety plan incorporating the Codex Alimentarius HACCP principles.

“We provide a HACCP plan based on PBCP requirements and associated documents & records including HACCP review report. We can be part of review HACCP team to support your compliance easy and quickly.”
03. PBMS Maintenance & Reassessment
The PBMS team needs to review the PBMS at least annually, and prior to any changes that may affect product integrity. Appropriate changes resulting from the review shall be incorporated into the PBMS, communicated through relevant training, fully documented, and the validation recorded.

“We provide a HACCP plan based on PBCP requirements and associated documents & records including HACCP review report and associated senior management review reports. We can be part of review HACCP and senior management team to support your compliance easy and quickly.”
04. Documentation and Records
The site shall have a procedure to manage documents that form part of the PBMS. Records shall be kept demonstrating the effective application of each control measure and to facilitate official verifications by the BRCGS approved auditor or other competent authority.

“We provide the gap analysis, action plan and resulting tailor-made documented templates to meet all documentation and record keeping requirements for the PBCP standard certification.”
05. Internal Audits
There shall be a scheduled program of internal audits. The frequency at which each activity is audited within the scheduled program shall be established in relation to the associated risks and previous audit performance; all activities shall be covered at least once a year.

“We provide internal audit template reports or conduct for you, comprehensive fully compliant internal audits to meet the specialist and focused requirements of the PBCP certification. Especially important where your site handles animal based materials as this requires specialist risk assessment based internal audits which are more effectively managed if handled as a separate internal audit scheduled program. “
Support
We are here to provide ready access to any queries regarding supporting publications, and additional resources quickly and easily via our information management system
Training
Hayfields Consultancy Ltd can provide specific PBCP awareness training for shop floor, supervisors and management alike to meet the standards need for specific PBCP training requirements. Training will ensure understanding and implementing the Plant-Based Global Standard, as well as specific food safety topics such as HACCP, root cause analysis, and vulnerability assessment (assessment of food fraud risks).
Alternatively visit BRCGS Training page on https://www.brcgsbookshop.com/bookshop/e-learning-/c-24/c-82
GAP ANALYSIS RESULTS
The results of a gap analysis will highlight any areas of weakness and expose what will need to be improved or introduced in order to achieve certification/s.
LEARN
Visit the BRC Global Standards website
Contact BRC Global Standards for more information
PREPARE FOR AUDIT
Select an audit option (stand-alone or combined)
Perform a self-assessment to determine compliance with the Standard
Select a CB
Provide Information to CB for audit preparation
Define audit date
POST AUDIT
Ongoing maintenance of the Standard and Continual Improvement
Use of PBCP logo
Ongoing communication with certification body
Schedule re-audit date before re-audit due date
APPLY
Apply to the program
Download the PBCP Global Standard and associated documents
ON-SITE AUDIT
Opening Meeting
Site Inspection
Document Review
Traceability Challenge
Final Review of Finding by auditor
Closing Meeting
DOWNLOAD THE PLANT-BASED GLOBAL STANDARD
Printed copies of the Plant-Based Global Standard can be purchased from the BRCGS bookshop, with the digital version available to download FREE of charge at brcgsbookshop.com
PROGRAM LICENSE AGREEMENT
Enter into a Program Lisence Agreement (PLA) outlining terms and conditions, manufacturing site locations, brands and sku's and annual licence fees
Submit a Schedule A
NON-CONFORMANCES AND CORRECTIVE ACTIONS
Corrective actions provided for any non-conformances identified within 28 days
CB reviews evidence within 14 days
If corrective actions deemed satisfactory, certificate of recognition and audit report issued