Auditing of Food Safety Management Systems

Auditing of Food Safety Management Systems

As an auditor one must always challenge oneself as to how effectively I can gather data or information pertaining to a company’s Food Safety Management System within a defined and limited time-frame. As the majority of audits are currently announced for operational and logistical reasons, it is reasonable to assume that manufacturing facilities may put on a ‘bit of a show’ for the auditor. I believe that information is gathered only 3 ways:
1 What I read
2 What I see, and
3 What I hear

1 What I read
What I read on the day tells me about the past i.e., can I see your metal detection checks from last Friday? However I believe that paperwork does not make food safe. This does not however suggest in any way that paperwork is not important.

2 What I see
What I see on the day tells me about the present. I will visually observe how clean the manufacturing environment is and will visually observe work practices. This is very important as a means of assessing, can these people achieve best-practice standards on the day of the audit? If they can’t do it to-day, they will never be able to do it, however it does not necessarily mean it is done everyday.

3 What I hear
What I hear on the day tells me about the future which is what most auditors are interested in. Most hazards which result in food poisoning occur due to people not knowing what they are doing due to lack of knowledge or carelessness as they don’t understand the significance of their work. If I, as an auditor, speak to a food handler at factory floor level and he understands the significance of his role in relation to hazard control, it is reasonable of the auditor to infer that the task will be done correctly in the future. My greatest concerns arise when I speak to production and engineering personnel and they do not appreciate their roles and responsibilities.

Hence knowledge and understanding of hazard control at factory floor level is the most importat element of any Food Safety Management System (FSMS) and when it is present, it is the ultimate reflection on a Technical/Quality Manager doing his/her job effectively.