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Background
Based in Llantrisant in south Wales, the Welsh Pantry is a privately-owned bakery business which produces a range of branded and own-label savoury pastries such as pies, sausage rolls, quiches and ready meals. The company supplies many of the UK’s biggest retailers, including Aldi, Lidl, Iceland, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda.
Welsh Pantry’s state-of-the-art BRCGS certified facility can produce an impressive 7,200 small pies, 16,200 slices and 50,000 sausage rolls per hour.
Through the Welsh Government’s Clusters programme, the Welsh Pantry received five days funded support from ZERO2FIVE to help them update their food safety management systems to meet the requirements of the newly issued BRCGS Issue 9.
Support from ZERO2FIVE
ZERO2FIVE provided support with the updated and expanded equipment section of BRCGS Issue 9, helping the company to develop a commissioning procedure, risk assessment and purchase specification template for new equipment. ZERO2FIVE had recently delivered a series of workshops on Hygienic Equipment Design and so were able to call upon this expertise whilst supporting the company.
ZERO2FIVE carried out an in-depth internal audit of the company’s supplier approval and internal audit systems against BRCGS Issue 9. As a result, ZERO2FIVE identified several areas of improvement which Welsh Pantry were able to focus on.
ZERO2FIVE delivered bespoke workshops on Food Defence and Food Authenticity on site to eight members of the Welsh Pantry’s staff. The Food Defence workshop supported compliance with BRCGS Issue 9 clause 4.2.1, which focuses on the training requirements for staff engaged in threat assessments and food defence plans. The Food Authenticity workshop supported compliance with clause 5.4.1, which focuses on the training requirements for staff involved in vulnerability risk assessments on site. The training covered topics including key definitions, the principles of food defence and food fraud risk, methods for conducting vulnerability and threat assessments as well as supporting the site to identify specific risks to their site and raw materials.
Benefits of the support
As a result of the support from ZERO2FIVE, the Welsh Pantry were able to implement improvements to their food safety management systems in line with BRCGS Issue 9. In July, the company had their unannounced BRCGS issue 9 audit and were awarded an AA+ grade.
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Dan Walker, Technical Manager, The Welsh Pantry, said:
"
ZERO2FIVE’s support with BRCGS Issue 9 has benefited the business in many ways. The new BRCGS clauses relating to equipment were a major change for the site and the documentation provided by ZERO2FIVE was adopted immediately to ensure compliance.
The in-depth internal audits on supplier approval and internal audits raised several areas of improvement for the business. With supplier approval being a key area of focus for the business this calendar year, it is greatly appreciated.
Finally, the Food Defence and Food Authenticity training was well received and has provided the foundations for robust food defence management for the Welsh Pantry going forward.”"
