Campden BRI Gets UKAS Accreditation for Benchmarking

10 Jan 2014 --- The importance of product benchmarking cannot be overstated. That’s why Campden BRI is proud to have become the first company to achieve UKAS accreditation for its sensory benchmarking method. Benchmarking provides an independent, unbiased overview of a product against its competitors.

This comes from an informed consumer viewpoint, making product benchmarking a valuable, qualitative research tool that benefits manufacturers and retailers alike. In effect, this is confirmation that benchmarking is a form of product analysis.

Campden BRI has over 15 years experience in benchmarking, and now provides a well established and highly regarded service. Each product, from wedding cakes to bagged salads, to alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, is evaluated individually by a small team of assessors for a number of sensory attributes before being awarded an Overall Eating Enjoyment score. The results from this method allows development teams to improve their product, as they can act on the information garnered from the assessor’s response and adjust the product as required to better its overall acceptability and marketability.

Maria Bryan, who has been instrumental in gaining the accreditation, comments: “As the only company to hold a UKAS accreditation for benchmarking, our methods have been internationally recognised for their competence, impartiality and performance capability. The benchmarking team has worked hard as part of the accreditation process to ensure that the expert assessor panel is highly trained to deliver accurate, consistent judgements of products. With such a competent, effective programme, investing in the benchmarking service at Campden BRI means that manufacturers and retailers can stay abreast of new and novel trends, safe in the knowledge that any results produced have gone through a reliable, robust process. These results will provide a valuable insight into product quality and acceptability, giving an upper hand to product developers in an increasingly competitive market.”