BRC Food Safety Internal Auditor Course

What is the aim of a BRC Food Safety Internal Auditor training course?

Running for 14 hours over two consecutive days, our dynamic BRC Food Safety Internal Auditor course equips participants with the knowledge and skills required to perform process audits of modern food production-related Management Systems, in accordance with the BRC Auditing Guidelines and ISO 19,011.

Why should YOU attend this Internal Auditor course?

Have you been designated to carry out internal audits of your organisation’s Food Safety Management Systems? This training course focuses on the British Retail Consortium's 'Global Standard for Food Safety – arguably the world’s leading Standard relating to Food Safety systems. Your SQMC tutor will take you through the Standard, giving you a fantastic grounding in it’s clauses; before explaining SQMC’s time-tested tips and techniques of conducting friendly and efficient, value-adding Process Audits of a food production-related Management System (highly relevant to companies and service providers "from farm to fork").

Or it could be that you’ll be involved in the design, implementation, and continual improvement of a Food Safety Management System (FSMS) - either as an employee, or an external consultant?

Maybe you’re the Manager of such an organisation - you're due to be audited, and you're keen to learn exactly what to expect?!

A few more benefits – at a glance!
 Our Internal Auditor course provides a valuable opportunity to learn or improve auditing techniques and practices.
We believe learning should be enjoyable! So we’re continually working hard behind the scenes to develop dynamic new practical exercises and group activities, to engage delegates in the course content and bring the subject to life.
Time flies! SQMC’s new and improved classroom structures keep ‘lectures’ on theory to a minimum, and avoid ‘death by Powerpoint!’ (We give you extensive course notes, and optional print-outs of the most important slides.) In taking this approach, we free up more time for our enthusiastic Tutors to interact with you individually, and coach you towards your new skills goal.
We restrict our class sizes to ensure you receive that ‘personal touch’. It’s not uncommon for delegates to make new friends with each other, and especially their Tutor – who can be an especially valuable contact throughout your flourishing career.
Add Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points to your record, by participating in this SQMC programme.

For the more technically-minded – here’s an outline of the Programme

Delegates attending this BRC Food Safety Management Systems training course take part in practical role-play scenarios, dynamic case-studies, and team work. SQMC Tutors encourage your questions – no matter how basic you may think they are – as part of a series of lively (not lengthy!) lectures. In only two days, you can learn, understand and appreciate all of the following:
 The leading Global Standard for designing and assessing Food Safety procedures (the latest version of the BRC document - issue 5).
The Requirements of a Food Safety Management System, using the BRC Standard as your yardstick.
Getting to grips with Documentation and Interpretation.
Understand of the principles, methodology, preparation and performance of an Internal Audit, with ISO 19,011 Standard for Auditing Guidelines.
The key to selecting the Audit sample, and the subsequent preparation of checklists – get this right and you’ll perform Process Audits with increased confidence.
How to prepare the findings and statements for a Corrective Action Report.
Master the art of straightforward Audit Reporting, against an appropriate case study.
A look at Corrective & Preventive Action, the follow-up process, and then surveillance.

From the BRC Global Standards website:

SQMC's Technical Department are always one of the first to be informed of changes and updates to the Standards which we champion. We are aware that BRC have been revising their Food Safety Standard, and are soon to release BRC Global Standard for Food Safety "Issue 6"; although no exact publishing date has been announced at the time of writing this article (27/07/2011). However, you can rest assured that the Standards used on any SQMC training programme are - and always will be - the most current and up-to-date available, during your training - or we'll give you your money back! The BRC Global Standards website has this to say about the forthcoming update:

The BRC Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 6 has been extensively revised in consultation with senior representatives from major retailers and food service companies, ensuring that it continues to meet the requirements of manufacturers and retailers.

The Standard was first introduced by the BRC in 1998 and now has almost 14,000 certificated sites in over 100 countries across the world.

Issue 6 places increased emphasis on good manufacturing practice, including a change in the balance of the number and depth of requirements in favour of the implementation of good manufacturing systems within the factory and greater focus on standardising best practices for auditing the Standard.

Key changes for Issue 6 include:
Expanded sections on foreign body control, hygiene and housekeeping, and allergens
Introduction of a new voluntary 2 stage unannounced audit scheme
A reduced number of clauses to ensure each expresses a significant idea, this will contribute to consistency of grading as requirements are now of similar significance

Issue 6 will come into effect in January 2012. Issue 5 can still be used for audits until January 2012

http://www.brcglobalstandards.com/standards/food

Qualification

Successful participants of our BRC Food Safety Internal Auditor courses are awarded with a Certificate of Successful Completion, issued by the Scottish Quality Management Centre. SQMC are an International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA) approved training organisation (T.O. 3808).