Covid-19 & BRCGS Food Safety v8 Non-Conformity Trends in 2020

Nobody needs to be told that the Coronavirus pandemic has led to norm changes in almost every industry. The food industry which we all love is by no means an exception to that, including third-party audits.

Unsurprisingly, on-site audits have been made more challenging throughout Covid-19 by a number of factors. These include restrictions in travel, unforeseen changes to normal production schedules, huge pressure on site management to maintain staff safety with social distancing, and also obligations to minimise visitors on site.

Non-Conformity Trends

In data recently shared by John Figgins, Senior Technical Manager for Food at BRCGS, we can see that many of the non-conformities recorded against BRCGS’s Food Safety V8 Standard have remained relatively consistent.

This may be surprising, given the changing pressures of the pandemic and the expanded variety of audit options that it has resulted in, including remote audits or a blended combination of both remote assessment and on-site inspection.
Most Common Non-Conformities

Many of the clauses which ranked among the most common non-conformities in 2019 continue to rank highly. In addition, clauses such as 4.11.1 (Premises and Equipment Hygiene), 4.4.8 (Doors) and 4.4.1 (Walls) have all become increasingly common.

Clauses which were new to the version 8 Food Safety Standard and often resulted in non-conformities in 2019, such as 1.1.2 (Food Safety Culture Plan) and 1.1.6 (Confidential Reporting) have largely fallen down the list for 2020 as sites become stronger in satisfying the clause requirements.

Clause	Position 2020	Position 2019	Issue NC Clause Details
4.11.1	1st	3rd	Premises & equipment hygiene
4.6.1	2nd	4th	Equipment construction & maintenance
4.4.8	3rd	5th	Doors
2.7.1	4th	2nd	Hazard identification
1.1.2	5th	1st	Food safety culture plan (new to V8)
4.4.1	6th	7th	Walls

Enhancing Compliance Standards

Over the coming weeks, Klipspringer will be releasing industry guides to provide practical and innovative ways to help factory hygiene, technical, quality and production teams go above and beyond audit standards. Watch the video for a quick heads-up on some of our latest innovations which we’ll be sharing further.

Get in touch with our team using the contact form below to discuss your site challenges with our team of industry experts. Be sure to also sign up below to ensure you receive our industry analysis on ways to overcome some of the most common nonconformances.

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