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Auditors are back on
the factory floor.
What can we expect?
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Audits are a regular occurrence across food factories of all types. You could almost call them a way of life for many technical, production and hygiene managers.
But when Covid-19 forced a shift away from ‘in-person’ visits, the usual factory walk-around became a challenge. How do you inspect production lines, equipment condition, food safety culture and process control from a remote home office?
The key to true food safety compliance is being audit-ready - always. Yet with improvement budgets knocked by Covid and far fewer external personnel on site, lockdown has led to changes in focus areas for both management and factory staff alike.
So, as many sites re-open their doors to both announced and unannounced audits, here are 9 key points to help you get audit-ready.
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1. Process flows and controls
From metal detector checks to hand washing and site colour coding policies, there’s often a great deal of detail to remember. And then the auditor goes and asks that very question…There are lots of ways to do this - every site has its own style. Remember that humans process images 60,000 times faster than text. However you choose to do it, having processes displayed visually overcomes language barriers, reinforces training and saves your team getting caught out. -
2. Equipment condition
When was the last time you carried out a thorough check of all equipment? Have any utensils used by hygiene, quality or production been overlooked?Complete a full factory walk-around (have a camera at the ready) and check the condition of every last brush, test piece and pen. Before removing items that shouldn’t be there, take photos which can be shared with relevant area managers and included in future staff training. -
3. Equipment storage
Steering the virtual auditor away from items stored incorrectly is no longer an option. Inspect your shadow boards to ensure the correct equipment is present and that all handheld equipment has a ‘home’, from PPE through to hoses. If an item doesn’t belong where it is, does it need to be there or can it be better stored elsewhere? How clear is the current storage process?Remember BRCGS’s requirement that equipment must be ‘cleaned and stored in a hygienic manner to prevent cross-contamination’1. Over 1,500 production sites use shadow boards for highly visual and effective tool storage. -
4. Hygiene and production conflicts
With production volumes likely to increase as buying trends normalise post-Covid, analyse the knock-on effects in the factory. The age-old feud between hygiene and production windows is still a challenge for many food producers, and auditors will be looking for any corner-cutting.SegriScreens help many factories run hygiene and production side-by-side, as well as multiple other uses from allergen segregation through to engineering and maintenance cordons. -
5. Ingredient containers and storage
An expense that may have been put off if cash was tight, perform a visual check on existing trays, trucks, bins and dispensers. In particular, look for any signs of wear and tear such as chips, cracks and friction damage, which can pose serious foreign body and contamination risks.When ordering new foodgrade containers, ensure that your plastics register is updated to reflect this. If stickers or labels are used to identify containers, consider a more permanent, food-safe marking solution such as IndeliMarking or TuffX tags. -
6. Equipment servicing and calibration
Even at the best of times, with a full schedule it’s easy to miss a reminder or let a date slip. Auditors will be checking that all serial numbered items are ship-shape, including thermometers, verifiers such as LazaPorts, scales, test pieces and other equipment. This means valid calibration certificates to a recognised national or international standard3, up-to-date verification logs and knowing where each item is being used. -
7. Fit for use equipment – and proving it
It’s not just about serial numbered equipment items. The BRCGS Food Safety Standard states that cleaning equipment must be ‘hygienically designed and fit for purpose’, and also, ‘suitably identified for intended use’.1 Similarly, the FSSC states, ‘tools and equipment shall be of hygienic design and maintained in a condition which does not present a potential source of extraneous matter.’2So it’s time to ditch the make-do-and-mend utensils that may have crept in and ensure they are replaced with food grade, colour-coded and compliant equipment. And make sure you have the required Declarations of Compliance on file to prove it. -
8. Process changes
Social distancing and workforce protection forced new ways of working throughout 2020. For the majority of factories, this meant new equipment and production layout changes since your last on-site audit.From temporary Covid screens through to wearing face visors and temperature checks, ensure that procedures for these are fully watertight, with paperwork and documentation updated to suit. -
9. Food Safety Culture
Especially relevant for sites being audited to BRCGS’s Food Safety Standard, remember that, once again, auditors will now be able to see and, more importantly, feel the food safety culture first-hand. Interestingly, this clause (1.1.2) was the 5th most common cause of BRCGS audit non-conformances in 2020.Senior management play a major part in setting true culture excellence from the top down, and in many instances, they have been working remotely or part-remotely throughout the pandemic. Getting their boots back on the factory floor, and demonstrating their involvement, is critical to an effective product safety culture throughout the organisation.
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Sure, these points are largely common sense and are fundamental to any food safety plan. Proof of your great food safety culture will be that not one of them has been let slip while auditors have been off-site. Even if you think you’re home and dry on all nine points, don't risk the headache of an audit non-conformance that could easily have been avoided. Reach out to the Klipspringer team for extra support to ensure you are truly audit-ready.
1 BRCGS Food Safety Standard V8, 4.11.6.
2 FSSC 22000 (Foundation Food Safety System Certification), ISO/TS 22002-1:2009, Prerequisite programmes on food safety — Part 1: Food manufacturing, 11.2.
3 BRCGS Food Safety Standard V8, 6.4.3.
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