Building Food Safety Culture Through Internal Auditing
5 Keys to a Successful Internal Audit Program
How do you create a food safety culture in your facility? There are a lot of discussions around building a food safety culture, but it is a soft science.
How do we define it? An auditor may be able to say, “I know it when I see it” but when it comes to qualifying it, the challenge is much greater.
As a food industry professional you need some way to measure the culture inside your facilities.
A quality internal audit program is a key factor in measuring culture.
Here are 5 keys to a successful internal audit program.
- Work together with management to define the objectives of the Internal Audit Program and get their commitment.
How can Quality be seen as a money saver rather than a cost center? If you want management commitment, you must speak the language of money. Make sure that you can show how these programs will have a positive impact on the bottom line, saving the plant money. Identify food safety objectives around money, and then build a food safety internal audit program to measure them—and manage them.
- Formalize the audit process.
The more structured the audit program, the more seriously employees will take the process and the results. This will increase the credibility that you will have.
Treat your internal audit like it is an external audit and you are the auditor. Dress like the auditor, use a fancy flashlight, wear a different lab coat, etc. Schedule everything in advance the same way you would for an external audit. Use a team approach and get more than just the quality staff involved in the audit team. Don’t allow interruptions or get sidetracked with non-urgent questions.
How do you get people involved in the audit team? Ask for volunteers but also think of incentives you could provide (provide a meal at internal training meetings, etc) to create excitement about being on the internal audit team. If the plant manager can provide an incentive or require other department participation, that is ideal.
- Communicate well.
Regularly provide updates to leadership at routine meetings about the internal audits. Provide an audit plan and checklist to each auditee one week prior. Take photos of good practices and non-conformances, and provide audit results in a timely manner.
- Manage Internal Audits as its own process.
Ensure you have a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) describing all responsibilities and procedures. Provide training to staff so they know what the expectations are and how the process works. The facilitator should have lead auditor training. Work to include as many people as possible in the audit team, from all departments within the company.
As an audit is happening make sure you ask people about their responsibilities so they can “practice” their response. This also allows you to verify a proper understanding of the procedures they are to follow.
There are five key positions that you want to make sure to include in interviews:
- CCP Operators
- Receiving Personnel
- Maintenance
- Purchasing
- Training
EXTRA TIP: Occasionally conduct Internal Audits on off-shifts. This ensures that everyone has the same culture.
- Use a corrective action management program for all internal audit findings.
Take note of how your teams respond to findings. Do they get defensive or see an opportunity? This is one way to understand the health of your food safety culture.
Keep in mind that lists of Corrective Actions can be too long to manage. Prioritize, focus, and reduce auditing frequency if you never have time to close out the list. You can also use a plant improvement plan (PIP) for those long-term physical issues or capital projects rather than putting it on the corrective actions list every time.
Food safety culture is hard to define but easy to recognize. An internal audit program is an indicator of an organization’s food safety culture. For those that want to promote a stronger food safety culture, the internal audit is a great first step.
