What is BRCGS Food Safety? A guide for food factories

BRCGS Food Safety is one of the food safety standards widely adopted by food manufacturers and processors to meet the requirements of customers, retailers and international supply chains. The standard focuses on food safety management systems, site standards, product control and operational processes. For businesses implementing BRCGS, pest management is also an area that needs to be closely managed and supported by data.

1. What is BRCGS Food Safety?

BRCGS Food Safety is a standard developed by BRCGS to help food manufacturing sites establish and demonstrate management systems that support product safety, legality and quality requirements. The version in use in 2026 is Global Standard Food Safety Issue 9, published by BRCGS in August 2022. BRCGS has already begun developing Issue 10; however, businesses should continue to use Issue 9 as the basis for current certification activities.

For pest management programmes, businesses can explore the key changes introduced in BRCGS V9 in relation to risk management, data and traceability during audits.

The standard is designed for food manufacturing, processing and packing sites, with assessment covering senior management responsibility, the food safety plan, quality management systems, site standards, product control, process control and personnel. Auditors review both the documented system and how requirements are implemented in practice on site.

BRCGS Food Safety is therefore commonly used by businesses to demonstrate their food safety management capability to customers and supply-chain partners.

2. What areas does BRCGS Food Safety assess?

BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9 is structured around several interconnected groups of requirements. Key areas include senior management commitment, the HACCP-based food safety plan, the food safety and quality management system, site standards, product control, process control and personnel management. Some sites may also need to meet additional requirements depending on their operations and certification scope.

An important aspect of BRCGS is its assessment of how effectively the system operates in practice. Businesses need to maintain records, define responsibilities, carry out inspections and provide evidence that corrective actions have been implemented when deviations are identified.

This approach closely links BRCGS with the facility's prerequisite programmes. Sanitation, maintenance, waste management and pest management all contribute to maintaining suitable conditions for the food safety system to operate effectively. In practice, these requirements need to be translated into a structured pest control process with clearly defined monitoring points, responsibilities, inspection frequencies and monitoring data.

3. Why is pest management important under BRCGS?

BRCGS Food Safety includes a dedicated section, 4.14 Pest Management, for pest management requirements. A core requirement is for the entire site to have an effective preventive pest management programme that minimises the risk of infestation and provides the resources needed to respond rapidly when issues arise.

The programme needs to consider pest risks to products, raw materials and packaging. When evidence of infestation is identified, the business must record the finding and implement appropriate measures to eliminate or control the risk before product safety is affected.

Pest management under BRCGS should therefore be managed as an ongoing programme rather than as isolated treatment activities. Site assessment, prevention, monitoring, treatment, record keeping and effectiveness review all form part of this process.

4. What does BRCGS require from a pest management programme?

Businesses need to establish a management system appropriate to the risk level of each area. Areas such as raw material receiving, storage, loading docks, production areas, waste zones, drains and the external perimeter need to be considered when monitoring devices are positioned. Each area may also have different pest groups and activity indicators, so monitoring-point placement should begin with correctly identifying common factory pests and the areas where they are most likely to occur.

BRCGS also requires appropriate technical competence. Where an external provider is used, the facility needs to work with a competent pest management organisation; where pest management is carried out internally, responsible personnel must be trained and able to demonstrate appropriate competence. When evaluating a service provider, businesses should consider not only its ability to control pests, but also its IPM capability, data transparency and audit support.

Documentation is also important alongside site inspections. Records of pest findings, inspection results, pest-exclusion activities and corrective actions need to be retained so that the business can monitor programme effectiveness and provide evidence during audits. These data should be consolidated into pest control reports that show pest activity levels, trends, abnormal areas and preventive or corrective actions.

5. Why is trend analysis important during a BRCGS audit?

Data from rodent stations, monitoring traps and insect light traps help businesses track changes in pest activity over time. If insect captures at a particular location continue to increase, the facility needs to investigate the cause and take action before the situation develops into a larger problem. For facilities with multiple monitoring points, data can be consolidated through the PestMan Dashboard for trend analysis, hotspot identification and detection of unusual changes over time.

BRCGS also requires the pest management programme to be reviewed periodically by a competent specialist. Analysis results can be used to adjust device locations, monitoring methods and preventive measures across the facility.

For QA/QC teams, trend analysis provides clearer evidence of programme effectiveness. Auditors can compare monitoring data, actual site conditions and corrective actions when evaluating the business's ability to manage pest-related risks.

6. Key points to review before a BRCGS audit

Complete documentation still needs to be supported by appropriate site conditions. Gaps beneath doors, inadequately protected drains, poorly positioned traps and waste areas that support pest activity can all affect audit findings.

Businesses also need to ensure that the device map matches actual site conditions. Changes to the facility layout, production lines, storage areas or receiving and dispatch routes should be reflected in the pest management system so that field conditions remain consistent with documented records. The monitoring-point system should therefore be managed as a continuous process from site assessment and device placement to regular monitoring and updated whenever operating conditions change.

Corrective actions, in particular, need to be tracked through to completion. Recording a risk without addressing it or reviewing the effectiveness of the action taken leaves the programme incomplete.

7. How does VFC PestMan support businesses working with BRCGS requirements?

VFC PestMan implements Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programmes based on site assessment, risk evaluation and monitoring data. Each area is assessed according to its operating conditions so that the control system reflects actual pest risks.

Inspection data are used to track trends, identify hotspots and recommend CAPA when abnormal activity is detected. This management approach helps QA/QC teams maintain transparent records and prepare more proactively for audits.

Practical application: See how PestMan implemented risk-based IPM and standardised records and reporting at an F&B manufacturing facility that reduced pest incidents by 80% and achieved BRC certification within 90 days.

For businesses developing or reviewing their programmes against BRCGS Food Safety requirements, VFC PestMan can support the process from site assessment and monitoring-system design to effectiveness evaluation and continuous improvement of the IPM programme

BRCGS Food Safety requires businesses to manage food safety through a structured system in which pest management forms an important part of site standards and operating conditions. Preventive structural controls, data-based monitoring and timely corrective action help businesses maintain a more consistent pest management programme and improve audit readiness.