Fierce Beer has passed its SALSA Plus Beer audit for a second consecutive year, confirmed on 8 July 2026. SALSA Plus Beer is the UK brewing industry's enhanced food safety and quality standard, built specifically for breweries rather than generic food producers. It sits on top of nine years of SALSA accreditation at Fierce Beer overall, the last two assessed against the tougher, brewing-specific Plus Beer module.

What is SALSA Plus Beer accreditation?

SALSA Plus Beer combines the core SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) food safety audit with an additional module written specifically for brewing and bottling. SALSA and Cask Marque developed the standard together, so it reflects how small and medium breweries actually operate rather than forcing them into a framework built for large-scale food manufacturers.

The accreditation is tailored to breweries classed as SMEs. Fierce Beer fits that profile, and the standard is designed to test operations at exactly that scale, rather than judging a craft brewery against the systems of a multinational producer.

How is SALSA Plus Beer different from standard SALSA?

Standard SALSA covers general food safety practice for small food and drink producers. SALSA Plus Beer adds a brewing-specific module on top, addressing the parts of the process unique to beer: fermentation, cask and keg handling, bottling and canning lines, and cellar-to-glass traceability. It is the difference between passing a generic audit and one built around how beer is actually made.

The additional requirements sit across specific sections of the standard: personal hygiene, cleaning, contamination and cross-contamination prevention, control of raw materials, and waste control, alongside the legal and quality requirements every SALSA member must meet. Each section is assessed by an auditor who understands brewing.

How does SALSA Plus Beer compare to BRC or ISO accreditation?

BRC and ISO are the food safety benchmarks most familiar to major retailers, but both are built for manufacturers operating at industrial scale. Global brewers hold ISO accreditation, and national brands hold BRC certification. Neither framework is designed around a brewery the size of Fierce Beer.

SALSA Plus Beer exists because that gap needed filling. It applies the same rigour and independent scrutiny as BRC or ISO, without demanding the infrastructure only a multinational could justify. For a brewery like Fierce Beer, it is the standard actually built for how the business operates.

What does the SALSA Plus Beer audit actually check?

The audit is a pre-arranged, on-site assessment covering the entire operation: brewing, packaging, storage and distribution all included. Auditors check that raw materials are controlled and traceable, that cleaning and hygiene schedules are followed consistently, and that contamination risks are identified and managed at every stage, not just where it is easiest to check.

Passing SALSA Plus Beer means demonstrating, with evidence, that beer is produced safely and consistently every time, not only on the day the auditor visits. That is what separates an accreditation achieved once, from one held for consecutive years.

How does Fierce Beer maintain SALSA accreditation year after year?

Fierce Beer's food safety management system has been developed and refined over many years, built on HACCP principles, detailed quality procedures and a culture of continual improvement. Regular internal reviews, staff training and verification activity keep the system working day to day, not just in the weeks before an audit.

Consistently passing SALSA audits reflects the strength and maturity of that management system rather than a last-minute push to meet a deadline. Fierce Beer has held base SALSA accreditation for nine years, and stepping up to the tougher SALSA Plus Beer module two years ago built on systems already in place, not a rush to bolt something new on. The record since has come from a series of small, continual improvements, brought in gradually and with the whole team involved at every stage.

What does full traceability mean for Fierce Beer?

Traceability is one of the toughest parts of the SALSA Plus Beer standard to prove. It means Fierce Beer can account for every raw material and every batch, from the ingredients that go into the brew to the pallet that leaves the warehouse. If a question is ever raised about a specific batch, the answer has to be immediate, not reconstructed after the fact.

That matters most when something goes wrong somewhere else in the supply chain. A brewery that can trace every ingredient and every batch can isolate a problem fast and prove exactly what was affected, rather than guessing. It is a quieter part of the accreditation than the audit itself, but for trade partners handling stock at scale, it is often the part that matters most.

Fierce Beer's SALSA Plus Beer track record

Fierce Beer's most recent SALSA Plus Beer audit took place on 8 July 2026. That marks a second consecutive year of SALSA Plus Beer accreditation, sitting on top of nine years of SALSA accreditation at Fierce Beer overall.

Read more about how Fierce Beer got here on our story.

Why does SALSA Plus Beer accreditation matter for trade partners?

For pubs, bars, retailers and distributors, SALSA Plus Beer accreditation gives confidence that Fierce Beer has been independently assessed against a recognised food safety standard, with strong controls, traceability and quality assurance built into production throughout. Working with an accredited brewery reduces the due diligence trade partners would otherwise have to carry out themselves.

A second consecutive year at SALSA Plus Beer level, on top of nine years of base SALSA accreditation, is a strong signal. It shows Fierce Beer treats quality as an ongoing operational discipline, not a box ticked for a single audit. That consistency matters for partners who need every delivery to meet the same standard as the last one.

Fierce Beer also works with trade partners by contract brewing, and the same SALSA Plus Beer standards apply across every batch produced, whether it carries the Fierce name or a partner's own.

What does SALSA Plus Beer mean for Fierce Beer drinkers?

For beer drinkers, SALSA Plus Beer accreditation is less visible but no less important. It means every pint has passed through a supply chain checked for hygiene, contamination control and traceability, whether it is a can bought from a shop or a pint pulled at a bar. Fierce Beer is the same brewery, held to the same standard, however the beer reaches your glass.