Food safety in food industries involved in food processing, manufacturing, wholesale, and distribution is vital. This is to ensure that consumers eat safe food to avoid diseases. To ensure that food industries follow the required guidelines during food production, food safety auditors visit various food processing industries for inspection.
Food Safety Auditing Defined
Food safety auditing is when food safety auditors ensure that food safety standards are maintained in food manufacturing plants. A qualified food auditor should have a bachelor’s degree in food science or any related field, analytical skills, critical decisions, and know database and scientific software. By inspecting various food industries, food auditors ensure transparency in the food supply chain and continuous improvement in the responsible industries.
Food safety auditing is also crucial because it helps various organizations evaluate their management systems, avoid incidents, achieve their commercial goals and follow the regulatory requirements.
Food Safety Auditing Process
Food safety audit structure includes first party, second party, and third party. The food auditing process involved in this structure has five steps including;
Planning
Food safety auditors must plan depending on their specific objective in food safety auditing. They must know the criteria to use, what process to follow, and the type of food safety audit. During planning, they should also set a budget throughout the entire process. Another important consideration during planning is considering what resources to use. Organizations should determine whether they need internal resources, external resources, or both.
Execution
After planning, food safety auditors can execute their plan. In this step, they look at the safety records and statistics, and current problems facing a specific organization. The execution steps involve using tools such as cross-reference matrices and turtle diagrams to help in the food safety audit. They develop strategies to help the firm have continual improvement and avoid future problems in food processing. After this, they talk with the organizations’ managers and interview several employees.
Corrective and Preventive Action
Using data collected for a specific period, food safety auditors take corrective and preventive action to avoid problems. They discuss these solutions together with those responsible for the food manufacturing process to ensure they take responsibility. After making solutions, organizations should store data on how they monitor their food processing process.
Verification
This step helps food auditors to assess whether the corrective and preventive actions put in place are working. Here, organizations can also check whether they have achieved their goals. Whether the solutions are working or not, food auditors should continue carrying out follow-up interviews and audits to improve the organization.
Evaluation
Audit evaluation involves ensuring a strict food audit schedule, how resources are being used, and whether the management system is putting effort to ensure corrective and preventative actions are working. Food auditors also develop more effective audits to ensure that various organizations achieve their food safety goals.
Food safety auditing ensures that consumers eat safe food every day. Again, food safety auditors visit various food processing industries to ensure that they follow the regulations required. This has helped to prevent foodborne diseases.
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