FOOD SAFETY INSIDER: Sanitation Solutions
Food Safety Audits 101:
A Brief History and
Preparation Essentials
food packaging materials, which come
into direct contact with foods. A manufacturer must first implement the food
safety management program and then
have it audited and certified by a qualified,
external, third party called a certification
body. If the audit is successful, the facility
is certified for 1 year.
With the changes from recent legislation and the numerous, oc- casionally competing, food safety standards in place, it can be daunting to know how to prepare for a food safety audit. FDA,
USDA, GMPs, GFSI, HACCP, SQF, BRC, FSSC, IFS—the alphabet soup of
shifting management programs and agency oversight—are enough to
alarm even experi-
enced quality as-
surance
professionals.
Though differ-
ent standards can
measure various
aspects of the
manufacturing and
distribution
process in differ-
ent ways, each is
designed to im-
prove food safety
by reporting and
measuring con-
trols and activities
such as cleaning,
sanitizing and
worker hygiene.
Depending on
the facility and the standard under which it is being audited, specific re-
quirements and their implementation will vary. However, manufacturers
who have strong programs in place should think of audits as opportunities
to identify how to further improve operations rather than something to be
feared.
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A Foundation in Good Manufacturing Practices
One overarching theme found in all of the Global Food Safety Initiative
(GFSI)-recognized programs are suitability and cleanability to help assure
the floors, walls, ceilings, equipment and personnel do not pose a potential
risk to the food being produced. These food safety basics are not new—in
many ways, they parallel the requirements published in the Code of Federal
Regulations and apply to food manufacturing facilities regardless of
whether they fall under regulation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Industry-created standards, such as the GFSI-recognized programs like
Safe Quality Food (SQF), British Retail Consortium (BRC), Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) and International Food Standard (IFS), lay out the
rules that a manufacturer must follow in order to control the safety and
quality of their product. The initial push for implementation and certification
against these programs came primarily from the food retail community for
their private label products, but in recent years, the push has extended to
manufacturers of branded products as well as other players in the food
production chain, such as ingredient manufacturers and manufacturers of
Getting Your Ducks in a Row
Before a Certification Audit
You have implemented your program
and have completed your internal verification of your program. As you prepare for
your certification audit, here are some
basic tips that can help you:
• Review the standards – Think of audits like a test in which all of the answers
are provided. The standards by which
your facility will be judged are clearly laid
out, but it never hurts to review them
again to see if any have been updated or
changed since the last audit.
• Conduct an internal pre-audit –
Using a checklist with the latest standards
that apply to your operation, schedule a
daylong walk through of your facility to
observe your processes from start to finish. Have a marked-up copy available for
review. Try to look at operations from an
outside perspective. Whatever the result
of the pre-audit, fix any problems that
are noted.
• Document, document, document –
Make sure that logbooks, product labels,
date stamps, invoices, customer lists and
other documents and records PROVE that
you can recall products quickly. Be sure to
download any logs you might need—
some can be modified to address recordkeeping requirements for the audit, but
make sure they provide the information
needed to show the auditor that you are
consistently meeting the standard's requirements and your own internal requirements.
Whatever the standard, Ecolab can
help you prepare for an audit. Ecolab can
provide public and on-site training and
coaching to help ensure that your operation is running safely and efficiently and
complying with appropriate standards.
Through our Food Safety Institute, we
offer classes taught by experienced, registered trainers on how to develop a food
safety program to comply with the standard you wish to implement. For more information about training courses or for
help preparing for your certification audit,
contact us at Foodsafety@ecolab.com.
