KANSAS CITY, MO — Food manufacturing is not for the faint of heart, especially when it comes with the responsibility of food safety compliance. Supply chain challenges; ever-evolving environmental, biological and chemical factors; and constant shifts in consumer preferences and consumption habits are only a few factors bakers must contend with when it comes to internal and external food safety audits.
For more than 20 years, the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) has served as the gold standard for food safety, providing benchmark requirements for globally accepted third-party certifications such as the Safe Quality Food (SQF) program, Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000 and the British Retail Consortium Global Standard (BRCGS).
However, increasing threats to food safety are driving potentially significant changes in the audit world. Those changes result from increased customer audit requests and more intense requirements that go beyond the GFSI benchmarks.
“We’re seeing more audits now that consumers are more aware of what’s on the labels,” said Jim McBride, VP of quality assurance at Chicago-based Schulze & Burch Biscuit Co. “There are now gluten-free, dairy-free and organic audits, and with those comes the rise of new auditing agencies.”
“The depth of the audits is getting deeper,” McBride added. “They’re adding more questions and more topics. They’re trying to drill down to make sure we’re doing what our food safety plan says we’re doing.”
Increased scrutiny comes with stricter requirements.
“I know of a large retailer that has added requirements on top of its standard food safety audit request,” said Ranjeet Klair, a food safety director at The Acheson Group, a global food safety consulting firm. “They have so many additional requirements it is actually shifting the food industry.”
Klair has observed audit requests such as customers asking food manufacturers to use in-line metal detectors with X-ray machines to help detect foreign materials and requiring them to ensure that warm water runs from handwashing sinks within a specific number of seconds.
“The evolution of audits is driven by what is happening in the industry,” said Steve Robert, global VP of sales, marketing and product innovation at AIB International. “The state of affairs is dynamic as new risks and concerns emerge.”
Klair said two primary factors are driving increased audit requests and the additional requirements: ongoing supply chain hurdles and rising instances of food fraud.
“The number of food fraud incidents jumped during COVID due to an unstable supply chain for ingredients,” Klair said. “The more issues you have in the supply chain, the harder it is to access the right materials, which leads to adulteration and misbranding and black-market sourcing and materials. As a result, some of the larger US retailers found their foreign material-related customer complaint numbers had increased.”
The industry mantra is “Audit-ready every day.” Achieving that requires a top-down commitment to developing and maintaining a culture of food safety.
“An effective food safety strategy starts at the top with a visionary leader who leads by example and who exemplifies your commitment to food safety and the associated investment it requires,” Robert said.
This story has been adapted from the October | Q4 2023 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.
