Description
About the BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit
The BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety is the certification scheme many retailers and food businesses ask their suppliers to hold. BRCGS says it supports over 24,000 businesses in more than 130 countries. BRCGS Issue 9 is the current issue, and a site is judged clause by clause, on its documents, its records and what the auditor sees on the factory floor.
The BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit is built on the Standard’s own structure. Folder S04 is section 4, folder S05 is section 5, and so on, so when an auditor works a section you can hand over the matching folder. A separate folder, S00, covers the audit protocol in Part III.
Every BRCGS Issue 9 clause, with a named document behind it
The BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit answers the requirements a site has to meet:
| Part of the Standard | What the pack covers |
|---|---|
| Part II requirements | All 328 clauses across 72 subsections in sections 1 to 9 |
| Statements of intent | All 57, including the 12 fundamental requirements |
| Part III audit protocol | 25 blocks: audit options, grading, non-conformities, recertification, unannounced audits |
| Appendices a site acts on | 6, including production risk zones and root cause analysis |
| Position statements | All 4 in F926 version 5, dated 6 October 2026 |
Every Word document opens with a table of the BRCGS references it answers. The build that produced this pack fails if any BRCGS Issue 9 clause is left without a working document. That is a check we run, not a claim we make.
BRCGS Issue 9: the printed Standard is not the whole Standard
BRCGS position statements extend the Standard and are binding, and they change text printed in 2022. A site working from the PDF alone would miss them. The BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit is written to F926 version 5:
- Position Statement 1 updates clause 1.1.10 and the voluntary unannounced audit protocol: the site has to have its
arrangements with the certification body in place before the audit window opens.
- Position Statement 2 stops a site moving to another certification body during the final 4 months ahead of its re-audit date.
- Position Statement 3 redefines an initial audit.
- Position Statement 4 adds suitable protective footwear to clause 7.4.2, effective 10 August 2026.
BRCGS is developing Issue 10. As far as we can see it has not announced a publication date, so we do not give one. Check the BRCGS website for later position statements and for news of Issue 10.
Start by measuring where you stand against BRCGS Issue 9
The Issue 9 Self-Assessment and Implementation Roadmap workbook arrives pre-loaded with 420 rows: every clause, statement of intent, audit protocol block, appendix and position statement. Each row carries its fundamental and conditional flags and the toolkit document that answers it. Add your status, gap, action, owner and due date.
The Audit Grade and Recertification Calendar turns your critical, major and minor counts into a grade using the Part III table, and works out your audit due date, audit window and unannounced year.
The 12 fundamental requirements get first attention
If an auditor raises a major against one of these, a new site gets no certificate, a certificated site loses its certificate, and only another full audit puts it right. BRCGS documents that own one say so at the top. They cover senior management commitment, the food safety plan, internal audits, supplier management, corrective and preventive action, traceability, layout and segregation, housekeeping and hygiene, allergens, control of operations, labelling and pack control, and training.
One site, one story, in every document
The worked examples in the BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit follow one fictional manufacturer of chilled ready meals and soups, with low-risk and high-risk zones, real allergen decisions and a traded product. A metal detector test failure, a consumer complaint about a plastic fragment, a Listeria result from a floor drain, an annual recall test and an internal audit each keep the same reference and the same facts wherever they appear. That is how your own records will need to read at audit. Limits your site must set stay as placeholders, so a number in an example is never presented as a legal limit.
Workbooks that leave the decisions to you
The 45 Excel workbooks in the BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit calculate what can be calculated: dates, totals, hazard scores and summaries. They do not mark a record passed, closed or released. You choose each row’s Status from a dropdown, and a Prompt column flags anything missing or out of limit, for example “Enter the date”, “Overdue” or “Date is in the future”. The one exception is the audit grade lookup, which follows the Part III table. Rows typed below the ruled range turn red and are counted on the summary, so nothing goes missing quietly.
BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit structure and folders
| Folder | Section | Standard | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|
| S00 | Certification and Audit | Part III; App 4, 6, 8 | 9 |
| S01 | Senior Management Commitment | Section 1 | 10 |
| S02 | Food Safety Plan – HACCP | Section 2 | 11 |
| S03 | Food Safety and Quality System | Section 3 | 27 |
| S04 | Site Standards | Section 4; App 2, 3 | 29 |
| S05 | Product Control | Section 5 | 14 |
| S06 | Process Control | Section 6 | 7 |
| S07 | Personnel | Section 7 | 6 |
| S08 | Production Risk Zones | Section 8 | 5 |
| S09 | Traded Products | Section 9 | 5 |
The BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit is 78 Word documents and 45 Excel workbooks. Every file in the BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit has a branded full-page cover and the same styling throughout. Every placeholder is a [square-bracket] token, such as [Organisation Name], so one find-and-replace makes the BRCGS templates yours. They are written in British English, matching the Standard.
Sections 5.8, 5.9, 8 and 9 apply only to sites doing that activity: pet food and animal feed, animal primary conversion, production in the three higher-hygiene zones, and traded products. Those BRCGS templates are marked, so you can record a decision and set them aside.
Where the BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit sits alongside our other food safety toolkits
- Certifying to FSSC 22000 instead? The FSSC 22000 Toolkit is built on that Scheme.
- Certifying to SQF? The SQF Edition 10 Toolkit follows that Code.
- Building the management system on the ISO standard? See the ISO 22000 Toolkit.
- Need HACCP plans only? The HACCP Toolkit covers the Codex principles without a
certification scheme around them.
The BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit is independent of BRCGS, and the Standard is not included
The BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit is independent of BRCGS and is not approved or endorsed by BRCGS. The Standard is BRCGS copyright, and clause 1.1.9 expects a site to hold a genuine current copy, which is available from brcgs.com. The BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit cites clause numbers and short names and describes each requirement in our own words. We check that mechanically: the shipped files were compared against the Standard’s text, and no run of words matches beyond headings and references. Read the Standard itself alongside the toolkit.
List of Documentation Toolkit:
S00 — Certification and Audit (9 documents)
- Issue 9 Self-Assessment and Implementation Roadmap.xlsx
- Certification Scope and Exclusions Record.docx
- Audit Programme and Certification Body Selection Procedure.docx
- Audit Preparation and Audit Day Procedure.docx
- Blended and Unannounced Audit Readiness Procedure.docx
- Audit Grade and Recertification Calendar.xlsx
- Audit Non-Conformity Close-Out Tracker.xlsx
- Certification Maintenance and Logo Use Procedure.docx
- Head Office and Central Function Allocation Record.docx
S01 — Senior Management Commitment (10 documents)
- Food Safety and Quality Policy.docx
- Food Safety and Quality Culture Plan.docx
- Culture Action Plan and Effectiveness Tracker.xlsx
- Objectives Register and Quarterly Report.xlsx
- Management Review Procedure.docx
- Management Review and Monthly Meeting Log.xlsx
- Confidential Reporting Procedure.docx
- Horizon Scanning and Legal Compliance Procedure.docx
- Legislation, Registrations and Position Statement Register.xlsx
- Organisation Chart, Responsibilities and Escalation Procedure.docx
S02 — Food Safety Plan – HACCP (11 documents)
- HACCP Food Safety Plan Procedure.docx
- HACCP Team Charter and Competence Record.docx
- Prerequisite Programme Register.xlsx
- Product Description and Information Sources Workbook.xlsx
- Process Flow Diagram and Verification Record.docx
- Hazard Analysis Workbook.xlsx
- CCP Decision Tree and Determination Record.docx
- HACCP Plan Summary Workbook.xlsx
- CCP and Control Validation Report.docx
- CCP Monitoring and Deviation Record.xlsx
- HACCP Verification and Annual Review Workbook.xlsx
S03 — Food Safety and Quality System (27 documents)
- Food Safety and Quality Manual.docx
- Document Control Procedure.docx
- Master Document Register.xlsx
- Records Control and Retention Procedure.docx
- Internal Audit Procedure.docx
- Internal Audit Programme, Report and Checklist.xlsx
- Hygiene and Fabrication Inspection Programme.xlsx
- Raw Material Risk Assessment Workbook.xlsx
- Supplier Approval and Monitoring Procedure.docx
- Supplier Approval Questionnaire.docx
- Approved Supplier Register and Performance Review.xlsx
- Raw Material Acceptance Procedure.docx
- Goods-In Criteria and Inspection Log.xlsx
- Service Supplier and Outsourced Processing Procedure.docx
- Specification Management and Review Procedure.docx
- Raw Material and Packaging Specification Template.docx
- Finished Product Specification Template.docx
- Corrective and Preventive Action Procedure.docx
- Corrective Action and Non-Conforming Product Log.xlsx
- Non-Conforming Product Procedure.docx
- Traceability Procedure.docx
- Traceability Test and Mass Balance Workbook.xlsx
- Complaint Handling Procedure.docx
- Complaint Log and Trend Analysis.xlsx
- Incident Management and Contingency Plan.docx
- Product Withdrawal and Recall Procedure.docx
- Recall Team, Contacts and Test Workbook.xlsx
S04 — Site Standards (29 documents)
- External Environment, Site Security and Visitor Procedure.docx
- Food Defence Threat Assessment Workbook.xlsx
- Food Defence Plan.docx
- Production Risk Zone Assessment.docx
- Site Map Specification and Flow Control Procedure.docx
- Building Fabric Standards and Condition Checklist.xlsx
- Water, Air and Gases Management Procedure.docx
- Equipment Purchase, Commissioning and Control Procedure.docx
- Maintenance Procedure.docx
- Maintenance Schedule and Hygiene Clearance Log.xlsx
- Staff Facilities Standard.docx
- Chemical Control Procedure.docx
- Chemical, Glass, Sharps and Breakage Registers.xlsx
- Sharps, Wood and Other Physical Contaminants Procedure.docx
- Glass, Brittle Materials and Container Breakage Procedure.docx
- Foreign-Body Equipment Control Procedure.docx
- Metal Detector and X-Ray Testing Procedure.docx
- Foreign-Body Assessment and Equipment Check Log.xlsx
- Cleaning and Disinfection Procedure.docx
- Cleaning Schedule and Verification Log.xlsx
- Cleaning in Place Procedure and Validation Record.docx
- Environmental Monitoring Programme.docx
- Environmental Monitoring Results and Trends.xlsx
- Waste and Surplus Product Procedure.docx
- Pest Management Procedure.docx
- Pest Records and Trend Analysis.xlsx
- Storage Control Procedure.docx
- Dispatch and Transport Procedure.docx
- Storage, Vehicle and Haulier Monitoring Log.xlsx
S05 — Product Control (14 documents)
- Product Development and Change Procedure.docx
- Shelf-Life Validation Protocol and Study Record.docx
- Labelling, Artwork and Cooking Instruction Procedure.docx
- Label Verification and Change Record.xlsx
- Allergen Management Procedure.docx
- Allergen Risk Assessment and Validation Workbook.xlsx
- Food Fraud Vulnerability Assessment Workbook.xlsx
- Vulnerability Assessment Plan.docx
- Claims and Provenance Control Procedure.docx
- Packaging Control Procedure.docx
- Product Testing, Laboratory and Release Procedure.docx
- Product Test Schedule and Results Trend.xlsx
- Pet Food and Animal Feed Procedure.docx
- Animal Primary Conversion Procedure.docx
S06 — Process Control (7 documents)
- Process Specification and Work Instruction Template.docx
- Process, Quantity and Deviation Control Procedure.docx
- Process Monitoring, Quantity and Deviation Log.xlsx
- Labelling and Pack Control Procedure.docx
- Line Clearance and Pack Check Record.xlsx
- Calibration Procedure.docx
- Calibration Register.xlsx
S07 — Personnel (6 documents)
- Training and Competence Procedure.docx
- Competency Matrix and Training Records.xlsx
- Personal Hygiene Standard.docx
- Plaster Test and Hygiene Compliance Log.xlsx
- Medical Screening Procedure and Health Questionnaire.docx
- Protective Clothing and Laundry Procedure.docx
S08 — Production Risk Zones (5 documents)
- Zone Segregation, Maintenance and Changing Procedure.docx
- High-Care and Ambient High-Care Risk Assessment.xlsx
- Drain Map and Air Handling Record.docx
- Zone Cleaning Procedure and Limits.docx
- Zone Waste, Laundry Validation and Audit Procedure.docx
S09 — Traded Products (5 documents)
- Traded Products HACCP Scope and Approval Procedure.docx
- Traded Manufacturer Register and Review.xlsx
- Traded Product Specification and Legality Procedure.docx
- Traded Product Assurance and Results Log.xlsx
- Traded Product Traceability Procedure and Test.xlsx
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is the BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit?
The BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit is 123 editable Microsoft Word and Excel templates for BRCGS Issue 9, the BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety: 78 documents and 45 workbooks. Folders follow the Standard’s section numbers, and each of its 328 clauses has a named document.
Does the BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit include the Standard itself?
No. The Standard is BRCGS copyright. Get your copy from brcgs.com, where the document page for Issue 9 lists a free PDF as well as paid and printed versions. Clause 1.1.9 expects your site to hold a genuine current copy in any case.
Is the BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit approved by BRCGS?
No. The BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit is independent of BRCGS and is not approved or endorsed by BRCGS.
Will this get us certificated?
Certification comes from an audit by a certification body that BRCGS recognises. The BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit gives you the documented system and the record templates. Your site still has to run them, keep the records and pass the audit.
Does the BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit cover the position statements?
Yes. The BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit is written to F926 version 5, dated 6 October 2026, and includes a register for tracking later ones.
Do we need sections 8 and 9?
Only if they apply to you. Section 8 applies to sites whose products need higher-hygiene production zones, and section 9 to sites choosing to include traded products in their audit. The Production Risk Zone Assessment helps you decide.
What formats are the BRCGS templates in?
Microsoft Word (.docx) and Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), 78 and 45 respectively. Every file is fully editable, unlocked and unprotected. The workbooks have dropdowns, frozen headers and worked example rows that you delete before use.
Where do we start?
With the Issue 9 Self-Assessment and Implementation Roadmap and the Food Safety and Quality Manual. The self-assessment shows which BRCGS documents you already have an answer for, and which clauses need work first.
Guides for the BRCGS Food Safety Toolkit
Free articles that explain the requirements this toolkit covers.
- BRCGS vs SQF: A Clear 3-Scheme Comparison With FSSC 22000
- BRCGS High Risk High Care: A Clear Guide to the 3 Zones
- BRCGS Traceability Test: A Practical 3.9.3 Walkthrough
- BRCGS Manual: A Clear Guide to What Clause 3.1 Asks For
- BRCGS Unannounced Audit: A Clear Guide to the 4-Month Window
- BRCGS Audit Checklist: Practical 2-Part Self-Assessment
- BRCGS Fundamental Clauses: Essential Guide to All 12
- BRCGS Audit Grades: Clear Guide to AA to D Scoring
- BRCGS Issue 9: Clear Guide to 328 Clauses and 4 Updates
- BRCGS Certification: Clear 8-Step Guide for Food Sites















































Reviews
There are no reviews yet