BRCGS or SALSA: which certification should your co-packer have?
3 November 2026
When a buyer asks whether your product is “certified”, they usually mean the factory that makes it has passed a third-party food safety audit. If a co-packer makes your product, its certification is the one that counts. In the UK, the two names you will meet most often are BRCGS and SALSA.
BRCGS in brief
BRCGS began in 1996 as the British Retail Consortium’s way of giving food retailers a common approach to auditing suppliers, and its first standard was published in 1998, according to High Speed Training’s guide. The same guide notes it was the first standard benchmarked by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).
The Global Standard for Food Safety covers:
- senior management commitment and a product safety culture
- a food safety plan based on HACCP hazard analysis
- a documented quality management system
- the factory environment and operating conditions
- food fraud prevention, product security and food defence
- extra requirements for high-risk and high-care production areas
Certification has to be renewed every year with a new audit.
SALSA in brief
SALSA stands for Safe and Local Supplier Approval. SALSA describes itself as a certification scheme for small and micro food and drink producers. It is a non-profit joint venture of the Food & Drink Federation, the NFU and UK Hospitality, and the Institute of Food Science and Technology monitors how it is delivered and keeps the register of approved auditors.
Businesses are audited every year. There are versions for brokers and distributors, small brewers (SALSA plus Beer) and small cheesemakers (SALSA plus Cheese), and an optional mentoring day before the first audit.
How they compare
| BRCGS Food Safety | SALSA | |
|---|---|---|
| Aimed at | Food manufacturers of any size, often supplying large retailers | Small and micro food and drink producers |
| GFSI-benchmarked | Yes, the first standard to be benchmarked | Not stated by the scheme |
| Audit | Every year | Every year |
| Typical step up | The BRCGS Start! programme helps smaller sites work towards it | Many small businesses start here before moving on to BRCGS |
Which one do you need?
Ask your buyer. It is the simplest and most reliable answer, because requirements are set by each customer rather than by law. As High Speed Training puts it, certification is usually driven by customers asking for it. Many smaller producers start with SALSA and move to BRCGS as they grow.
A few practical rules:
- Supplying large supermarkets or exporting? Buyers at this level often ask for a GFSI-benchmarked standard such as BRCGS. Confirm with each one.
- Selling to independent shops, delis, farm shops or regional wholesalers? A scheme built for small producers, such as SALSA, may be accepted, but check.
- Supplements and cosmetics use different standards, often Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), so these food schemes may not apply.
Check the certificate, not the logo
A logo on a website doesn’t tell you whether the certificate is current. Ask the co-packer for:
- the certificate itself, with its expiry date
- the audit grade (for BRCGS)
- the scope, meaning which products and processes it covers, so you can confirm it includes yours
On CopackIndex, each co-packer listing shows the certifications the company or its directory entry states, with the source and the date we checked.