Scope and Frequency of Plant Self Audits

We are currently doing plant Audits once a month. We are going for our SQF 2000 certification and I was wondering what everyone else in the food industry does for plant self audits of their own facility? Do you do it weekly or monthly and why? Trying to figure out which would be better for documenting purposes, and giving time to repair the corrective actions that would be found in the audit.

Thanks in advance!

It is all relevant and ιt depends on the type of the audit, area and process. You should risk assess the area/process taking into account history and background and act accordingly.
i.e
- GMP audits every week,
- Glass/plastic every month,
- Fabrication at least once every six months but it is getting changed now with the new BRC version 6,
- General Internal audits according to the schedule but the areas covered have been previously risk assessed and results from previous audits taken into account,
- HACCP verification audits, at least once every 2-3 months,
- Training department once a year,
- Mock recall once a year,
- Maintenance once a year,
Crisis incidents, recalls, withdrawals, and or other provocative actions that have put your product/process/company at risk lead to immediate reviews/audits (considering the action has been taken)

We are a Egg processing facility. The audit I was wondering about was our plant audit. Making sure things are being done inside our plant. Sanitation (making sure records are current), lighting in good repair, restrooms clean, eye wash station working, mouse traps in working order, perimeters clean, etc... Alot of monitoring of our logs we have in processing.

Thanks for the response!

We are a Egg processing facility. The audit I was wondering about was our plant audit. Making sure things are being done inside our plant. Sanitation (making sure records are current), lighting in good repair, restrooms clean, eye wash station working, mouse traps in working order, perimeters clean, etc... Alot of monitoring of our logs we have in processing.

Thanks for the response!

How large is your facility?
I break down our facilities into four areas. One area gets inspected each week on a rotating schedule so that the entire facility, including outside grounds, is inspected once per month. This allows for a more in depth inspection.

Marshall

we are a small scale operation. have just under a million laying hens. Currently we have it so once a month we cover all of our areas that need auditing. Is this alright to do, or does SQF like to see it done weekly? Just trying to figure out if I should continue to do it once a month so I give my corrective actions 30 days to get fixed or if I should do it weekly and give myself less time to get areas that need fixing fixed?

we are a small scale operation. have just under a million laying hens. Currently we have it so once a month we cover all of our areas that need auditing. Is this alright to do, or does SQF like to see it done weekly? Just trying to figure out if I should continue to do it once a month so I give my corrective actions 30 days to get fixed or if I should do it weekly and give myself less time to get areas that need fixing fixed?

SQF does not specify frequency of internal audits. It really all depends on you and your facility. If you can thoroughly inspect the entire facility in one day, then once a month is fine.
If you want to divide the facility into areas and just do one area a week, that's fine too, as long as the entire facility is inspected within the month.

It's really your call.

Marshall

I totally agree with the comments above by mgourley. If the site is large then it easier to tackle section by section otherwise it is an ardous process and one will not perform well in condusting the audit. also it is important if you have several trained internal auditors who can then audit different sections to their areas to get a better representation of the audit proces.

Cheers

I am a QA for an egg processing plant. I have my SQF code sections broken down into monthly, quarterly and yearly internal audits, depending on the risk and past history of compliance. I conduct the internal audits myself and one auditor did not like that fact, but it's hard to find someone from another department with the knowledge to conduct the audit and the code says "if possible". I think that you will find conducting the audit more than monthly will be overwhelming and probably not necessary. That doesn't mean you can't walk through the processing plant and make observations and chat with folks and give the supervisor feedback on what you're seeing. Write your internal audit to the code and you will have it broken down into sections of your plant.

Hope this helps

I am a QA for an egg processing plant. I have my SQF code sections broken down into monthly, quarterly and yearly internal audits, depending on the risk and past history of compliance. I conduct the internal audits myself and one auditor did not like that fact, but it's hard to find someone from another department with the knowledge to conduct the audit and the code says "if possible". I think that you will find conducting the audit more than monthly will be overwhelming and probably not necessary. That doesn't mean you can't walk through the processing plant and make observations and chat with folks and give the supervisor feedback on what you're seeing. Write your internal audit to the code and you will have it broken down into sections of your plant.

Hope this helps

I think the OP was talking about GMP/Food Safety/Sanitation audits (inspections).
I certainly agree that you don't need to audit the "code" more than monthly.

Marshall

I am a QA for an egg processing plant. I have my SQF code sections broken down into monthly, quarterly and yearly internal audits, depending on the risk and past history of compliance. I conduct the internal audits myself and one auditor did not like that fact, but it's hard to find someone from another department with the knowledge to conduct the audit and the code says "if possible". I think that you will find conducting the audit more than monthly will be overwhelming and probably not necessary. That doesn't mean you can't walk through the processing plant and make observations and chat with folks and give the supervisor feedback on what you're seeing. Write your internal audit to the code and you will have it broken down into sections of your plant.

Hope this helps

Hello, we are newly certified SQF and until now have had internal audits done by an outside company. I have spread out the code over a year so that several points are done a month so that the entire code is completed once a year. It has been discussed by management that to do a more in depth and effective audit we should;d spread it out over a three year period. I routinely audit our HACCP plans but this cannot be included as I am the practitioner and cannot audit my own procedures and plans under SQF. As an experienced SQF practitioner do you think auditors will go for this if it is based on risk and history. We would do the HACCP plans annually as it is basic to food safety but things that do not change much such as management policy, management responsibility and section 4.2 could be done only once every 2 years. It doesn't say that it must be done in entirety within one year just that it must be done in entirety .
any advice would be useful

Katja, While the SQF code states "regular basis" I'm not sure that an auditor would accept less frequency than a year. Audits are done annually so my auditors have expected to see my internal audits done within this time frame. So, I complete an internal audit of every code item at least one time per year, some are done monthly, some done quarterly and some done annually (including my HACCP plan reveiw). Of course the auditors have aslo told me that you should decide how you are going to meet the code and then must show the auditor that you are following what you say you are doing. I am also in an industry that does not change technology very quickly but having a HACCP team meeting one time per year gives everyone a chance to think through the process flow and talk through any challenges of meeting any CCP's, CP's, QCP's or QP's.