BRC risk zone clarification

Hi again, 

After looking into the appendices on version 9 of the BRC code, it defines areas like my entire plant as low risk. We are a seafood wholesaler and processor. per the guidelines, " Low risk.......products that will always require cooking by the consumer before consumption (e.g. raw meat and fish)......" clause 4.3.1 and appendix 2. page 145 of the standard

Am I missing something? I posted previously under SQF about being low-risk and was quickly corrected. Any sort of guidance is helpful here as I am labelling the production risk zones for clause 4.3.2

The responses i've been getting asking for help have been great and I really appreciate peoples time in helping others navigate these challenges.

Hi ForestM,

I would agree that according to BRCGS your open product areas will be low risk.

Here is a decision tree from Issue 8 which I thought helped a lot but wasn’t included in Issue 9 so maybe it didn’t quite work for everyone:

BRCGS Production Zone Decision Tree 1.png   991KB   0 downloads

Follow the tree for your products down to step 4, yes and you get; Low-risk area – for example, raw meat, vegetables (e.g. potatoes), prepared meals containing raw protein, frozen pizza, unbaked frozen pies

Also note from Issue 9 of the BRCGS Standard:

The hygiene standards in such areas generally require greater emphasis on preventing foreign body and allergen contamination, although they will still need to be based on the risks associated with the specific products. Good manufacturing practices, including good process flow, are still expected.

Products manufactured in this area include the following:

• products that will always require cooking by the consumer before consumption (e.g. raw meat and fish). Where consumer cooking instructions are provided, these must be fully validated (see Part II, clause 5.2.4)

Kind regards,

Tony