Plasticum Norwich Ltd has recently been awarded the British Retail Consortium (BRC) accreditation for Packaging and Packaging Materials – issue 4. The production plant in North Walsham (UK) has gained the "A-level", which is the highest level. The accreditation enables Plasticum to expand and further develop its business into products that have contact with food.

The achievement was not only a matter of senior management commitment, but one in which every single department had been involved. The dedicated project manager – Quality Manager of Plasticum Norwich – was supported both by an internal core team and some external parties such as Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance. As a team they accomplished the required changes and focused on challenges like a gap analysis, new standard operating procedures, potential hazards and risks to attain the accreditation.

Enzo De'Luca, Operations Manager at Plasticum Norwich: "Gaining BRC certification is the result of our continuous efforts to attain the highest quality level. It shows our commitment and tenacity to deliver packaging products that constantly meet the current standards that the market is demanding. Thanks to the genuine determination and tenacity of the team this superb result has been achieved."

The BRC management system can be compared with Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP), but with additional requirements regarding the hygiene of the production environment, products, processes and personnel.

The BRC Global Standards are a leading global product safety and quality certification program used by certificated suppliers in over 100 countries and the standards are recognised as a GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) benchmarked food safety scheme. A growing number of retailers and major manufacturers across Europe and the America's require this independent certification from their suppliers.