Food Safety Auditors’ Red Flag: No Documented Issues

Food plants are expected to have environmental issues, especially with pest management

Tue, 04/12/2011 - 06:00

Companies aren’t perfect, and neither are the people who work for them. Since this is a fact rather than a judgment, it’s reasonable to expect errors in manufacturing and process management. When an audited company continues to show a flawless record for, say, a food-safety audit, chances are it has overlooked an issue or two.

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“Food plants need to show and document that they are dealing with environmental deficiencies such as sanitation, maintenance, and conducive condition issues,” says Bruce Achterman, director of marketing and sales for In-Quiz-It Software. “They are expected to have them and expected to correct them. If they don’t have issues, then in most cases it will raise flags as to why they don’t have them.”

In addition, auditors cannot know all the minute details and processes of every segment of the industry, so they will want to see a paper trail, says Zia Siddiqi, Orkin Pest Control’s director of quality systems. “You can’t do that in a week and be prepared.”

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Comments

I agree its not a one day Job. Most of the food industry feels the Pest Management Proffessional as a Magician and Solely responsible for the Pest Scenario. I have noticed that till last minute the facility do carry out the Housekeeping work and some time even avoid the Auditors to restrict the visit. The crucial areas serves as a major either breeding or pest attracting point. Merely not auditing such areas will not serve the purpose as the infestation is bound to cross migrate from this area to the treated areas. To overcome this situations industries should change their focus from Production Oriention to the Good Manufacturing Procedures. Preventive maintance will avoid such situtation and will always ready for the undeclared auditing of the facility.

I agree its not a one day Job. Most of the food industry feels the Pest Management Proffessional as a Magician and Solely responsible for the Pest Scenario. I have noticed that till last minute the facility do carry out the Housekeeping work and some time even avoid the Auditors to restrict the visit. The crucial areas serves as a major either breeding or pest attracting point. Merely not auditing such areas will not serve the purpose as the infestation is bound to cross migrate from this area to the treated areas. To overcome this situations industries should change their focus from Production Oriention to the Good Manufacturing Procedures. Preventive maintance will avoid such situtation and will always ready for the undeclared auditing of the facility.

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