BRCGS AA+: Why the Baking Paper Primabake® Just Reached the Global Summit of Food Safety

When you line a baking tray, wrap a pastry, or package food for your customers, you’re placing trust in the paper that touches that food. At Papeteries du Léman (PDL), that trust is something we take seriously and the recent audit results from our paper manufacturer have just given that commitment the most rigorous endorsement possible.

The dedicated production area of Paper Machine 6 at PDL’s mill in Publier, France, where every reel of Primabake® baking and cooking paper is made, has been awarded BRCGS Grade AA+ under the Global Standard for Packaging Materials (Issue 7). This is not just a very good result. It is the highest grade in the BRCGS food safety certification scheme awards, and the “+” makes it rarer still.

What is BRCGS, and why does it matter?

BRCGS, Brand Reputation through Compliance Global Standards, is the global benchmark for food packaging safety. Originally developed by the British Retail Consortium and now recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), the BRCGS Standards are what retailers, manufacturers, and food service companies around the world rely on when vetting their packaging suppliers. Today, over 6,000 packaging sites across more than 50 countries hold BRCGS Packaging certification. It is accepted by 70% of the world’s top 10 global retailers and 60% of the top 10 quick-service restaurant chains.

In short: if your packaging supplier isn’t BRCGS certified, many of the world’s most demanding buyers simply won’t work with them.

The BRCGS grading scale for packaging runs from AA at the top down through A, B, C, D, and Uncertified. To achieve an AA grade, a site must record no major non-conformities and fewer than 5 minor ones during its audit. That is already an elite achievement. The “+” suffix is awarded when a site has been elected to undergo the unannounced audit, meaning the auditor can arrive at any time, without prior notice, and the site must be ready.

AA+: The gold standard of food safety culture

Choosing an unannounced audit is a deliberate statement. It means you are not preparing for a visit: you are simply living by your standards every single day. As the BRCGS framework puts it, it is “a better reflection of food safety practices,” and buyers increasingly prefer it precisely because it cannot be staged.

For Stéphane Barbereau, General Manager of PDL, this result reflects something deeper than a compliance milestone. “Achieving BRCGS AA+ on an unannounced audit is the clearest signal we can send to the market: food safety at PDL is not a project we run before an auditor arrives — it is how we run our mill. The team working on Paper Machine 6 has made it part of their daily discipline, and this result belongs to them.”

The March 2026 audit of PDL’s Paper Machine 6 area returned to zero major non-conformities and just one minor, earning the AA+ rating under the latest Issue 7 of the BRCGS Standards. That result doesn’t happen because a team prepares well for one day. It happens because the people working in and around Paper Machine 6 have built food safety into the fabric of how they operate, from raw material intake to the finished reel leaving the production zone.

Caroline Payet, Quality & Safety Manager at PDL, oversaw the preparation and implementation of the BRCGS food safety certification framework across the Paper Machine 6 area. “We deliberately chose the unannounced audit route because we wanted the result to mean something. Any site can tighten its processes for a scheduled visit. What we wanted to demonstrate, and what the AA+ confirms, is that our hazard controls, and our team’s engagement with quality hold up on any given day, without notice. That is the standard we hold ourselves to.”

This is what a genuine safety culture looks like in practice: not a checklist dusted off before an audit, but documented hazard management, rigorous traceability systems, continuous internal auditing, and a team trained and engaged in quality at every step.

A dedicated production environment for food contact paper

It is worth being precise about what BRCGS food safety certification means in the context of a specialty paper mill like PDL. PDL operates multiple paper machines producing a diverse range of specialty papers, from thin print papers to rolling papers to packaging grades. Not all of these are food contact products, and not all of them need to be governed by food safety standards.

What PDL did was make a deliberate and focused commitment: to certify the specific production environment where Primabake®  is made. Paper Machine 6 and its associated production area operate under BRCGS Standards covering hygiene, contamination prevention, process management, allergen awareness, and traceability — precisely because the paper produced there will come into direct contact with food.

This focused approach is a mark of rigor. It means the scope of the certification is clearly defined, the controls are fit for purposes, and the people working within that area are specifically trained and accountable for food contact standards. When an unannounced auditor walked in and found zero major non-conformities, that validation applied to the exact environment where your Primabake® paper is produced.

What does this mean for Primabake® customers?

For Sophie Potier, Manager for Product Quality, the AA+ result is central to how Primabake® is positioned in the market and demonstrates the robustness of its internal processes. “Our customers, whether they are converting paper into retail products or supplying baking paper to food service operators, are operating in environments where compliance is not optional. The BRCGS AA+ certification of the Paper Machine 6 production area gives them something concrete: independently verified proof that the substrate at the heart of every Primabake® product meets the highest food safety standards available. Crucially, this was an unannounced follow-up audit, confirming that our standards are upheld every day, not just when an inspection is planned. In a market where many products originate from less audited supply chains, that distinction matters.”

PDL has been manufacturing specialty papers since 1921. The mill holds ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environment), ISO 50001 (energy), FSC®, PEFC, and REACH compliance. The BRCGS AA+ certification of the Paper Machine 6 production area adds a further, food-specific layer to this framework — one that covers the process controls that matter most when paper comes into direct contact with food.

For Primabake® customers, the practical implications are clear:

• The paper touching your food is produced in a certified, independently audited food contact environment.
• The processes governing that environment are verified without warning and found to be performing exactly as they should.
• Customers can access PDL’s audit report directly via the BRCGS public directory at directory.brcgs.com — full supply chain transparency, one click away.

A milestone that reflects a long-term commitment

Obtaining BRCGS food safety certification for the Paper Machine 6 area was a deliberate investment PDL made to support the growth of Primabake® in markets where food contact compliance is non-negotiable. The AA+ result, on the most recent audit under the newly revised Issue 7 of the BRCGS Standards, is the validation of that investment.

Among over 6,000 BRCGS Packaging certified sites worldwide, AA+ holders represent the top tier: operations where quality is not a performance put on for auditors, but a culture embedded in daily work. The Paper Machine 6 team at PDL is among them.

That is the paper your bread is baked on.

For media inquiries or further information, please contact:

Alizée Degorce

Email: alizee.degorce@avere.pro 

Phone: +33 698961146

About Papeteries du Léman: Papeteries du Léman (PDL) is a leading specialty paper manufacturer, known for its high-quality, eco-conscious products such as Primabake baking paper. With a century of papermaking expertise, PDL is committed to driving sustainable innovation and crafting reliable solutions for professionals in the culinary and packaging industries. Learn more at pdl.fr