Aa a “wanna-be auditor”, and with the help of Linda Jackson and Food Focus, I would also like to also acknowledge Donna Crockart, Reshmee Beedasie, Cal Snow and Thea Laufs. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me interview and speak to you about becoming a Food Safety Auditor.
Food Safety Auditors hold an important role in our food safety system. In summary: Food Safety Auditors are professionals who are responsible for inspecting food processing or manufacturing facilities with the aim of ensuring that safety and sanitation (among other) regulations are adhered to.
To add complexity, auditors must be able to practically utilise food safety knowledge, training and experience to objectively analyse and assess food safety, sanitation, and security measures at the location of the food-related facility. Auditors also verify that the establishment is educating and training its employees on food safety practices, however in some instances and depending on the audit this may fall under the job description of the auditor as well. These are just some of the responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of a food safety auditor, others will be discussed further in the subsequent paragraphs. This article is set out with the aim of becoming a third-party auditor.
What is a food safety audit?
Food Safety Audits are a proactive, systematic and documented approach to gathering evidence to verify that an entity is complying with the requirements set out by specific legal and food safety standards¹. Audits can be classified into three groups based on the auditor-auditee relationship²:
• First Party (Internal) audits are a form of self-assessment. During this audit, trained employees conduct the audit with the aim of verifying that procedures and management strategies reflect the requirements of a standard used as well as the objectives of the business.
• Second Party (Proprietary) audits: Where the primary organisation evaluates the performance of a supplier or contractor.
• Third Party (Independent) audits: Where and external, independent (from the client) auditor conducts the audits. This is often for the purposes of working towards or gaining certification.
Food Safety audits are conducted for most food-related facilities, which can vary from the people who manufacture the packaging of food products, to restaurants, to the lady baking in her garage, to the large international manufacturing facilities that make products we use on the daily. That being said the food industry is massive and very diverse, therefore the type of audit and the auditor used must be suitable for that given sector and scenario. Therefore, company’s may choose to use an external company to audit their facilities, the benefit of which lies with the fact that the basics (auditing processes, management systems and the provisions of a qualified auditor) are already in place and just need to be tweaked to the company’s individual needs.
Qualifications before you get started
First things first, everyone I interviewed agreed that to become an auditor, one must have a bachelor's degree in a food-related discipline (NQF level 6 or 7), but thereafter the requirements depended on the type of auditor, the sector and organization you chose. The next step is to gain work experience in the industry, although some companies may be willing to take a graduate on to train as an auditor, this is not recommended. The amount and type of practical work experience needed to depend on the certification body for which you are training (e.g. FSSC may want a minimum of 5 years) as well as the food sector which you want to audit (for instance the requirements for the poultry and peanut industry would differ significantly). By gaining practical experience, you gain a technical understanding of the terminology, culture, risks, practical limitations and difficulties experienced in the sector. In essence, you start to understand how the real world works. Furthermore, one needs to understand that not just any work experience will suffice. You want to gain experience in developing risk management systems, in the sector you are applying for. In other words,20 years of solely doing lab work would not qualify you to become an auditor.
Next week, more about training!
By Jesse Kelfkens
