The ‘bootcamp’ is a joint-venture by Cert ID Europe and Reaseheath College in a bid to overcome an “acute shortage” of suitably qualified BRC auditors and the increasingly stringent and practical requirements of the BRC.
Richard Werran, md of Cert ID Europe, said the “intensive course” would give food professionals the opportunity to gain essential practical audit experience.
“We are very aware of the shortage of well-trained BRC auditors and that those in the industry need to be up to speed with the evolving and challenging requirements of today’s fast moving food industry,” he said.
‘Completely unique’
“Our BRC auditors ‘bootcamp’ is completely unique and has been developed in partnership with Josie Foster Consulting and Reaseheath College to deliver an intense but highly practical training course designed to facilitate the career development of experienced food industry professionals who are seeking a career move into independent auditing.”
Several food manufacturers had already signed up to the six-day course, Werran said.
“We are delighted too that both manufacturers and retailers are excited by this initiative as they wish to encourage and support a new generation of qualified auditors to step forward,” he added.
The course will cost around £6,000, covering course fees, examinations, certifications, mentoring, facilitation of practice audits and registrations in order for a student to practise as a BRC Auditor.
The programme will be split into two parts. First, Ground School Training will take place over a one-week period and will consist of a four-day BRC Third Party Auditor Training course. That will be delivered by Josie Foster Consulting, a BRC training provider and end in Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point Level 3 training at Reaseheath College.
This will be followed by a two day-assignment.
Practical
Students then move on to the practical element of the course in Practical Audit Training, which will see them working in real food manufacturing environments to deliver a BRC audit.
This will include working as an observer right through to full BRC auditing – the BRC requires an auditor to have carried out 15 audit days, including 5 full BRC audits, before qualification.
Those graduating prior to the launch of BRC v7 in 2015 will be offered a BRC v6 to BRC v7 conversion course free of charge.
Meanwhile, The Food Manufacture Group will be hosting a one-day food safety conference, in October, at the Heritage Motor Centre, in Warwickshire.