Grimsby, United Kingdom-based seafood company JCS Fish has achieved accreditation to a new edition of the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety, the firm announced on 15 April.
JCS Fish is among the first businesses in the Humber region to secure accreditation under the BRC’s new Issue 8 food safety standard. Auditing for the new standard began for JCS Fish on 1 February, 2019 – the same month that the company underwent its annual BRC audit, for which it received a AA Grade certificate last week.
The process for securing recognition under BRC’s new standard proved rigorous, noted Ann Rogers, the quality manager for JCS Fish.
“The new BRC regime proved tougher than any of those we’ve done before, with nine sections rather than the previous seven and an even stronger emphasis on achieving the right food culture in a business,” said Rogers in a press release. “I am so proud of the whole team, whilst QA is responsible for documents and training, we couldn’t achieve these standards without the co-operation and enthusiasm of everyone at JCS Fish.”
The family-owned JCS Fish has been accredited to the BRC standard since 2008, achieving AA status in 2017. The BRC Global Standard for Food Safety is considered to be “the most widely used of the commercial standards for assuring production of safe food, and a universal benchmark set by the U.K.’s major retailers to identify suitable suppliers,” according to JCS Fish.
Developed by retailers, the standards under the British Retail Consortium umbrella focus on food safety, packaging and packaging materials, storage and distribution, consumer products, agents and brokers, and retail. The food safety standards, in particular, are intended to be applied as a “framework by which many companies base their supplier assessment programs,” the British Retail Consortium says on its website.
JCS Fish, which specializes in processing and supplying salmon products, is looking to continue to grow both its foodservice business and its BigFish Brand in 2019, it said. The company recently contracted with As Nature Intended, a fast-growing London-based natural foods retailer with six outlets, to feature its BigFish Salmon Fillets and Smoked Salmon products on shelves.
“It has been a great first quarter for our business, we’re a close-knit team and it is a pleasure when we continue to achieve important accreditations such as our BRC AA status, which is a stiff test even for much larger organizations than our own,” said Louise Coulbeck, JCS Fish’s director.
Image courtesy of JCS Fish. Pictured: JCS Fish Quality manager Ann Rogers (center) with factory manager Luke Gallagher (left), and commercial manager, Jack Coulbeck.
