BRCGS Food Safety Maturity · Issue 9
Your practices positioned clause by clause against BRCGS Issue 9, with the action plan that closes the gaps.
10 themes, a 5-level scale. And the action that moves each level to the next.
The framework’s 10 themes, already written from L1 to L5. One company, one business unit, or 300 at once.
BRCGS Food Safety Maturity · Issue 9
10 themes, 5-level scale.
Nordhavn Industries
53 / 100
They measure their maturity with Datamensio
An example
This could be your situation.
Take one company as an example: three sites, three spreadsheets, no shared answer.
Nobody can consolidate.
Nordhavn Industries, 2,400 people in Hamburg, Lyon and Porto. A client asks where the group stands. Each site answers in its own spreadsheet, with its own scales.
Three weeks, a single base.
One BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety, Issue 9 (2022) assessment launched across all three sites at once, from the managers’ interview notes. The framework was already written, its 10 themes and levels L1 to L5 too.
Two costs avoided before being committed.
A score of 53 out of 100, with the gap concentrated on three themes. The AI companion spotted that two actions duplicated those of another audit. The committee report took one sentence to request.
What it saved them
- 3sites measured on the same base, instead of three questionnaires to reconcile
- 2duplicate actions caught before the spend
- 1committee report, with no manual rework
These figures are an example. They could be yours.
The standard imposes processes. Datamensio says where you stand.
01
The framework is already written
Themes, questions and levels L1 to L5, all written. You do not start from an empty spreadsheet.
02
The score lands the same day
Online, by self-assessment link or in interview. Theme by theme, comparable over time.
03
The gap becomes a costed plan
Every step up carries its action. The AI prioritises on expected effect, not on the order of the standard.
04
Progress can be demonstrated
Campaign after campaign, against your target and against your own past. That is what your board asks for.
The maturity scale
One level, the next, and the action that links the two.
It is this mechanism, one level, the level above, and the action linking the two, that turns an observation into a trajectory.
Is the HACCP plan revalidated whenever a process, ingredient or piece of equipment changes?
- N1
No link between changes and the HACCP plan. The plan is revisited only around audits or non-conformities.
- N2
The annual review takes place. Changes during the year are handled depending on the HACCP lead’s availability, with no formal trigger.
- N3
A change management procedure triggers the plan review. The HACCP team is notified and the decision is recorded.
- N4
Every change is subject to a traceable analysis, with documented validation of control measures and updates to diagrams, critical limits and related records.
- N5
Revalidation timeliness and completeness are tracked through an indicator, presented at management review, and verification data feeds back into revising the hazard analysis method.
Action to move from level 2 to level 3
Link the HACCP review to the existing change management process: add a mandatory HACCP team referral box to the change request form, and place the month’s changes on the monthly quality review agenda with the decision recorded.
« With Datamensio, we meet our objectives far more efficiently. The ERDF inspection services and our supervising ministry particularly appreciated an approach that gives them reliable data. »
Director, CCI 94CCI Île-de-France
« We believe this is the most suitable solution to scale our transformation project and measure impact according to our needs. »
Maja SucekChief Operating Officer, Interreg Danube
Rarely on its own
Frameworks combine. Put several together to cover your business, or have the AI write yours.
Take your first measurementon BRCGS.
What this framework covers
BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety Issue 9 is a private, GFSI-recognised framework applicable to food production, processing and packing sites. It combines a HACCP plan aligned with the Codex Alimentarius, a food safety and quality management system, production environment requirements, product and process control, personnel management, and a dedicated section on high risk product zones. Certain clauses are designated fundamental: failing one of them results in refusal or withdrawal of certification. The audit may be announced or unannounced, and the outcome is expressed as a grade.
The difficulty is not understanding the text, it is knowing where the site actually stands between two audits. Is the documentation system alive, or reconstructed in the weeks before the visit? Are HACCP plan validation checks rerun whenever a process or ingredient changes, or only at the annual review? Have corrective actions from previous non-conformities addressed the root cause, or simply closed the file? On a multisite group, the question becomes comparative: which sites could withstand an unannounced audit, and which still depend on one person being available.
Issue 9 strengthened several areas compared with Issue 8: a food safety culture requirement with a formalised, measured improvement plan, clearer requirements on the production environment and high risk zones, greater attention to food fraud and the validation of control measures, and more weight given to observing actual practice during the audit rather than document review alone. One confusion recurs often: food safety culture is not an awareness campaign, it is a system with objectives, actions, indicators and a review.
The certification audit ends with a grade and a list of non-conformities: compliant or not, major or minor. The maturity assessment answers a different question. It places each practice on a progressive scale, distinguishes what is documented from what is applied, and what is applied from what is measured and improved, and points to the precise action that moves it up a level. Datamensio does not certify and does not replace any accredited body. It measures, quantifies the gap to the target level, and turns it into an action plan that can be tracked through to completion.
The framework is ready to use on the platform. You can adapt it to your scope: product categories, high risk zones, own sites or co-packers. The AI adjusts themes, questions and levels, or builds a variant from your quality manuals, HACCP plans and previous audit reports. Across a portfolio of sites, assessments compare across business units and over time, and the AI consolidates gaps into a prioritised roadmap.
Reference standard: BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety, Issue 9 (2022)
The themes assessed
Senior management commitment and food safety culture
Measurable policy and objectives, management review and follow-up of decisions, allocated resources, culture improvement plan with actions, indicators and review, staff reporting mechanism.
Food safety plan and HACCP
Cross-functional team and competence, product description and intended use, diagrams verified on the ground, analysis of biological, chemical, physical and allergen hazards, CCP determination, critical limits, validation, verification and review.
Food safety and quality management system
Manual and document control, records and retention periods, internal audits and hygiene inspections, approval and monitoring of material and service suppliers, specifications, corrective actions and root cause analysis, complaint management.
Site standards and production environment
External environment and site security, layout and flow, walls, floors and ceilings, equipment and hygienic maintenance, utilities and water, waste management, pest control, cleaning and disinfection with efficacy validation.
Product control
Product development and design, allergen management, provenance and status of sensitive materials, authenticity and food fraud vulnerability assessment, labelling and claims control, product release.
Process control
Control of operations and process parameters, calibration and verification of measuring equipment, weight and volume control, foreign body detection and reject management, changeover control.
Personnel
Training in good practice and HACCP, authorisation for sensitive roles, personal hygiene, protective clothing, management of visitors and contractors, medical fitness and return to work after illness.
High risk, high care and ambient high care zones
Zoning and justification, flow of people, materials and air, separation of equipment and utensils, environmental sampling and use of results, access and transit rules.
Traceability, withdrawal and recall
Upstream and downstream traceability by batch, speed and completeness of traceability tests, incident management procedure, documented recall exercise, notification of authorities and customers, lessons learned.
Requirements for traded products and outsourcing
Control of operations entrusted to third parties, certification status of co-packers, contracts and specifications, inspection on receipt, scope declared on the certificate.
A short version of the framework is available for the online self-assessment.
Frequently asked questions
Does this assessment issue BRCGS certification?
No. BRCGS certification is issued exclusively by an accredited body, following an on-site audit. The assessment measures the maturity of your practices against Issue 9 requirements and produces the action plan that prepares for that audit.
What is the difference from a standard BRCGS pre-audit?
A pre-audit concludes with a list of likely non-conformities at a given point in time. The assessment places each practice on a maturity scale, distinguishes the documented from the applied and the measured, and is rerun over time to track progress. The two combine well: the assessment sets the priorities, the pre-audit checks the detail before the visit.
How are fundamental clauses handled?
They are flagged in the framework and reported separately in the readout. A sound overall score that masks a weakness on a fundamental clause is shown explicitly, since that is the point that puts certification at risk.
How long does the assessment take?
The short version can be completed in one working session with the site’s quality manager. The full version, run collaboratively across quality, production, maintenance and HR, typically takes one to two weeks, most of the time going into gathering input from the teams.
Can the framework be adapted to our product categories and zones?
Yes. Themes, questions and levels can be modified, and you can add your own customer requirements or group rules. The AI can also build a variant from your quality manuals, HACCP plans and audit reports.
Can several sites be compared with each other?
Yes. Assessments run on the same framework compare across business units and against previous cycles. A cross-site roadmap consolidates gaps from several sites and avoids duplicating the same actions site by site.
How does this assessment relate to EU regulation?
BRCGS incorporates and goes beyond the hygiene and traceability regulations. A BRCGS assessment therefore provides a reusable basis for the 852/2004, 178/2002 or HACCP frameworks, without repeating the data collection.
Where is the data hosted?
In France, at OVH, with backup at Scaleway. No transfer outside the European Union. The AI models used can be selected, including from European providers.