Swaggerty's Farm has scored the highest AA Certification in BRC Global Food Safety standards for 10 years in a row, with 2022 seeing the company’s eleventh consecutive highest score. Scoring an A, the highest grade from BRC in 2013 to 2014, three times—with two scores in 2014—and receiving AA certifications from 2015 and on, Swaggerty's Farm consistently improves and cultivates a culture of food safety.

There are various national, third-party and food safety risk assessment standards to abide by, but Swaggerty's Farm elects to conform to the highest level of international food safety guidelines. The BRCGS is the authority that has set the benchmark in global food safety standards for over 25 years.

"It's like graduating at the top of your class, an achievement at any level, but the BRCGS is like going from a class of 100 to a class in the thousands and earning an elite degree," says Greg McCann, quality control director at Swaggerty's Farm. "I am exceptionally proud of our team and our company. This grade is a remarkably high achievement on a global scale and speaks volumes to how committed we are to food safety."

The BRCGS standards are now in their 9th edition, evolving and changing over time to include guidelines about food safety culture with requirements pertaining to senior management commitment, a food safety plan (HACCP), food safety and quality management system, site standards, product control, process control, personnel, high risk and high care, and requirements of traded products. 

"Each year, we raise our standards, continuously striving to maintain the highest practices and processes in food safety," McCann states. "With supply chain issues and shortages presenting numerous challenges this year, it's been a testament to our culture and proof that food safety is at the core of our daily operations."

Founded in 1930 by Lonas Swaggerty, Swaggerty's Farm is now one of the fastest-growing sausage companies in the U.S. and is still family-owned and -operated in East Tennessee. "We will always be dedicated to quality," states Owner, President and CEO Doug Swaggerty. "Like with my father and grandfather, quality is non-negotiable. And we know that our quality starts with our safety, our team, and our culture. It's our name on the package, it's what's on our family table, and it's on family tables throughout the country."

To learn more about the BRCGS standards, visit https://www.brcgs.com/our-standards/food-safety/.

To find out more about Swaggerty's Farm, visit www.swaggertys.com.

Source: Swaggerty's Farm