Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Third-Party Audits
The fi rst verifi cation step includes a scheduled, annual third-party audit in which an
auditing company sends a trained, independent auditor to the facility to look at all
food safety procedures and verify that they are properly designed and implemented.
This audit can take a day or more to complete. The auditor walks through the facility
during production hours and monitors the different production steps to better under-
stand the processes. During the walk-through, the auditor observes many processes
including sanitation procedures and quality assurance monitoring steps. After observ-
ing production, the auditor then looks at many documents and written plans to deter-
mine whether adequate food safety procedures are implemented, monitored, and
corrected on a daily basis. This is when record-keeping procedures become important
as verifi cation steps.
The audit score is usually determined from answers generated on a written survey
by the auditor and a complicated scoring system that summarizes the answers. The
fi nal score is sometimes put into numerical categories with rankings such as “superior”
or “excellent” so the processors can determine where they stand with regard to all
other processors undergoing the same audit procedure.
Most buyers require an annual third-party audit at their suppliers' locations to take
the place of their own audit or to provide a trained external expert to look objectively
at their procedures. Outside auditing fi rms can be better prepared to act in this capacity
than a buyer because they can focus on this role with all their resources:
They can conduct uniform training of auditors.
They can use written survey questions that can be modifi ed over time to better refl ect
updated food safety practices.
Their expertise allows them to cover many operations over a year's time, thus pro-
viding a reinforcing experience.
The third-party audit scores can provide a relatively unbiased or independent opinion
that can be used in maintaining relationships or building new ones between the
customers and the processors.
Most third-party audits are preannounced, but processing companies are advised to
be “inspection ready” at all times so that they can welcome an unannounced audit at
any time. In fact, customers may require unannounced audits more in the future.
Supplier Approval Programs
A supplier approval procedure is another verifi cation step that some customers want
in a fresh-cut processing plant. Customers want to know that a processor is taking as
much care in selecting ingredient suppliers as the customer is in selecting a processor.
Processors need to determine what can be realistically measured in supplier food
safety programs. Processors need to have accountability that the suppliers can provide
a consistently safe product and work together in assuring the customer of the product's
safety. First, write out the realistic steps that can be taken to identify food safety
procedures that are important for a supplier to have in place. For growers, that may
be GAPs in place, a third-party audit, and a letter of guarantee that the produce was
grown according to regulations covering agriculture. Second, visit the suppliers or call
