Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
In 1999, Safeway Inc. initiated a program requiring third-party food safety audits
of its suppliers of “ high - risk ” produce.
High - risk
was initially limited to leaf lettuce,
but then its meaning was expanded to include other items, and eventually included all
fruits and vegetables that were Safeway Inc. purchases. Shortly thereafter, Albertson's
Inc. requested its suppliers of fresh produce to verify safe production and packing
practices. Specifi cally required were the development of safe production manuals and
routine self- and third-party audits based on the sanitation standards provided in the
FDA ' s
Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fresh Fruits and
Vegetables
. Within several years, other major retail and food-service chains instituted
third-party audits as a means of ensuring adherence to good agricultural and manu-
facturing practices (Laborde 2000). In May 2006, the USDA Agricultural Marketing
Service announced that all fruit and vegetable purchases made for feeding assistance
programs such as the School Lunch Program would require third-party audits verify-
ing that good agricultural and good handling practices were being followed (U.S.
Department of Agriculture 2006 ).
Current Issues
There is no single “national standard” that the produce industry is following, and
individual entities requiring third-party verifi cation of GAPs determine their own audit
standards and auditors. It is not uncommon for the same operation to be audited twice,
thrice, or even more to satisfy the different requirements for various producers/proces-
sors and buyers, leading growers to feel in a state of “audit fatigue” from the large
number of different audits they go through during the year. Until a national standard
that is accepted by the entire produce industry can be developed, or the entities requir-
ing third-party audits accept audits from a wider range of auditing fi rms, this problem
of “audit fatigue” appears likely to continue.
Defi nitions
The following terms are important to understand when discussing audits:
Audit:
A planned, systematic, independent, and documented examination and review
to determine whether activities and related results comply with planned arrange-
ments and whether these arrangements are implemented effectively and suitably to
achieve objectives (Surak and Wilson 2007 ).
Auditee:
The individual or company who is being audited. This may or may not be
the same entity that is the client.
Auditing Body:
A company or government agency that performs audits. These audits
may be fi rst - , second - , or third - party.
Auditor:
A member of the audit team performing the audit.
Client:
The individual or company that requests an audit. The client sets the para-
meters, or scope, of the audit and gives the authority to the auditor to perform the
audit.
External Audit (Second - or Third - Party Audit):
An audit performed by an entity
not employed by the auditee. A second-party audit is an audit that is conducted by
the buyer of the auditee's product.
