Jump to content

  • Quick Navigation
Photo

Are Audit Summaries Required for Annual Records?

Share this

  • You cannot start a new topic
  • Please log in to reply
11 replies to this topic

PorkChop

    Grade - Active

  • IFSQN Active
  • 2 posts
  • 0 thanks
0
Neutral

  • United States
    United States

Posted 13 July 2022 - 07:05 PM

Good Afternoon,

 

We have a good system of maintaining current GFSI Certificates on file and require them to be current for receivals.

Audit summaries on the other had have proven more challenging to aquire.  My questions are:

 

  1. to be SQF compliant is having the audit summary required?
  2. If so would setting a limit to the requirement be acceptable? 

            i.e., BRC score lower than A, SQF score lower than 96 require audit summary while higher scores are all set.

 

 

Thanks, 

Flywell



olenazh

    Grade - FIFSQN

  • IFSQN Fellow
  • 1,363 posts
  • 439 thanks
432
Excellent

  • Canada
    Canada
  • Gender:Female
  • Location:Toronto
  • Interests:My job, church, reading, gym, horror movies

Posted 13 July 2022 - 07:32 PM

Hi Flywell, welcome to the forum! Being GFSI certified for 11 years, I've never heard of audit summaries as a requirement to have on file. Did you mean audit reports? In any case, I don't think it's necessary, however let's see what SQF professionals say (I'm under FSSC22000)



Scampi

    Fellow

  • IFSQN Fellow
  • 5,444 posts
  • 1507 thanks
1,523
Excellent

  • Canada
    Canada
  • Gender:Not Telling

Posted 13 July 2022 - 07:56 PM

do you mean for your suppliers?  you can decide what documentation you need from your vendors based on risk

 

I never ask for the audit report ---just like school, you either pass or you don't


Please stop referring to me as Sir/sirs


PorkChop

    Grade - Active

  • IFSQN Active
  • 2 posts
  • 0 thanks
0
Neutral

  • United States
    United States

Posted 13 July 2022 - 08:04 PM

Yes for our suppliers.  I inherited program I would described as over the top in many aspects.

I wanted to hear it from other food safety professionals that this is not an actual requirement.

I'll just need to update our written procedure on the topic.

Thanks



beautiophile

    Grade - SIFSQN

  • IFSQN Senior
  • 252 posts
  • 81 thanks
41
Excellent

  • Vietnam
    Vietnam
  • Gender:Male

Posted 14 July 2022 - 12:31 AM

do you mean for your suppliers?  you can decide what documentation you need from your vendors based on risk

 

I never ask for the audit report ---just like school, you either pass or you don't

 

My company once had a customer who asked for looking at our CAPA report against the BRC NCs. 

Some people are weird.



Tony-C

    Grade - FIFSQN

  • IFSQN Fellow
  • 4,223 posts
  • 1288 thanks
608
Excellent

  • United Kingdom
    United Kingdom
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:World
  • Interests:My main interests are sports particularly football, pool, scuba diving, skiing and ten pin bowling.

Posted 14 July 2022 - 03:37 AM

Hi Flywell,

 

SQF Requirements are specified in Clause 2.3.4.2 where a summary of the food safety controls implemented by the approved supplier is required:

 

The SQF Food Safety Code: Food Manufacturing – System Elements Edition 9

2.3.4 Approved Supplier Program (Mandatory)

2.3.4.2 The approved supplier program shall be based on the past performance of a supplier and the risk level of the raw materials, ingredients, processing aids, packaging, and services supplied, and shall contain at a minimum:

i. Agreed specifications (refer to 2.3.2);

ii. Reference to the level of risk applied to raw materials, ingredients, packaging, and services from

the approved supplier;

iii. A summary of the food safety controls implemented by the approved supplier;

iv. Methods for granting approved supplier status;

v. Methods and frequency of monitoring approved suppliers;

vi. Details of the certificates of conformance, if required; and

vii. Methods and frequency of reviewing approved supplier performance and status.

 

If you look the BRCGS Scheme then requirements are extended and I expect other food safety management system certification schemes to follow suit:

 

BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 8

3.5 Supplier and Raw Material Approval and Performance Monitoring

3.5.1.2 

The company shall have a documented supplier approval procedure to ensure that all suppliers of raw materials, including primary packaging, effectively manage risks to raw material quality and safety and are operating effective traceability processes. The approval procedure shall be based on risk and include either one or a combination of:

• A valid certification to the applicable BRC Global Standard or GFSI-benchmarked standard.The scope of the certification shall include the raw materials purchased

• Supplier audits, with a scope to include product safety, traceability, HACCP review and good manufacturing practices, undertaken by an experienced and demonstrably competent product safety auditor. Where the supplier audit is completed by a second or third party, the company shall be able to:

– demonstrate the competency of the auditor

– confirm that the scope of the audit includes product safety, traceability, HACCP review and good

manufacturing practices

– obtain and review a copy of the full audit report

or

• where a valid risk-based justification is provided and the supplier is assessed as low risk only, a completed supplier questionnaire may be used for initial approval. The questionnaire shall have a scope that includes product safety, traceability, HACCP review and good manufacturing practices, and it shall have been reviewed and verified by a demonstrably competent person.

 

Also Note BRCGS Guidance that validation of certification is required, not merely a certificate and a score:

The acceptable methods of supplier approval will depend on the raw material and the risks associated with it (e.g. the output of clause 3.5.1.1); they will include one or more of the following activities:

• certification to the relevant BRC Global Standards scheme, such as the Global Standards for Food Safety; Packaging and Packaging Materials; Storage and Distribution; Agents and Brokers; or another of the GFSI-benchmarked schemes. The site must confirm the validity of the certification. This will include:

confirmation of the certification status (e.g. this can be confirmed on an independent database; for BRC Global Standards it can be confirmed at www.brcdirectory.com). Photocopies of certificates are not recommended and on their own are not considered suitable validation of certification status. During the BRC Global Standards audit the site may be asked to demonstrate its validation process

confirmation that the certification remains up-to-date (e.g. by receiving confirmation of successful completion of the recertification processes or by recording certificate expiry dates and completing checks for ongoing certification)

ensuring that the raw materials are within the scope of the certification.

 

Kind regards,

Tony



sqflady

    Grade - SIFSQN

  • IFSQN Senior
  • 250 posts
  • 63 thanks
37
Excellent

  • United States
    United States
  • Gender:Female
  • Location:Wisconsin

Posted 14 July 2022 - 02:52 PM

The audit report/summary is not required but may serve a purpose in your program.  We ask our suppliers to provide the audit report because we use it to evaluate their food safety programs and replace the requirement of auditing your suppliers.  If a supplier is not willing to share, we ask them to provide a letter stating the results are confidential.



Scotty_SQF

    Grade - SIFSQN

  • IFSQN Senior
  • 366 posts
  • 87 thanks
139
Excellent

  • United States
    United States
  • Gender:Male
  • Interests:hiking, gravel biking, exploring the great outdoors

Posted 15 July 2022 - 03:42 PM

Audit reports from suppliers are not required.  In fact, I am not happy when we have a customer request it as there is no reason for them to have such a thing.  You either passed or you didn't and we all know how the audit can go based on the auditor you have sometimes.  I always felt the purpose of going GFSI is to only have to supply your certificate that shows you are certified and that shows you follow the standard.  So I get frustrated when a customer requests a full audit report.  Plus, some of the information in the audit report can sometime be confidential and proprietary.  Just me sounding off at this point...sorry



Thanked by 1 Member:

olenazh

    Grade - FIFSQN

  • IFSQN Fellow
  • 1,363 posts
  • 439 thanks
432
Excellent

  • Canada
    Canada
  • Gender:Female
  • Location:Toronto
  • Interests:My job, church, reading, gym, horror movies

Posted 15 July 2022 - 03:50 PM

Audit reports from suppliers are not required.  In fact, I am not happy when we have a customer request it as there is no reason for them to have such a thing.  You either passed or you didn't and we all know how the audit can go based on the auditor you have sometimes.  I always felt the purpose of going GFSI is to only have to supply your certificate that shows you are certified and that shows you follow the standard.  So I get frustrated when a customer requests a full audit report.  Plus, some of the information in the audit report can sometime be confidential and proprietary.  Just me sounding off at this point...sorry

Completely agree! Even if there's no single comment/finding, it doesn't matter: the details of the audit are none of anybody's business.



YNA QA

    Grade - MIFSQN

  • IFSQN Member
  • 97 posts
  • 17 thanks
26
Excellent

  • United States
    United States
  • Gender:Female
  • Location:Kentucky
  • Interests:Crochet, Reading, Animals, Football

Posted 15 July 2022 - 06:09 PM

Audit reports from suppliers are not required.  In fact, I am not happy when we have a customer request it as there is no reason for them to have such a thing.  You either passed or you didn't and we all know how the audit can go based on the auditor you have sometimes.  I always felt the purpose of going GFSI is to only have to supply your certificate that shows you are certified and that shows you follow the standard.  So I get frustrated when a customer requests a full audit report.  Plus, some of the information in the audit report can sometime be confidential and proprietary.  Just me sounding off at this point...sorry

 

If your customer supplies to Costco, for example, then it is required.  We are newly supplying to Costco this year, and therefore we are scrambling to get the audit report.

 

So while your customer may not actually require it, please be careful about how you handle this, because they may have a certifying body that requires it.



Thanked by 1 Member:

Scampi

    Fellow

  • IFSQN Fellow
  • 5,444 posts
  • 1507 thanks
1,523
Excellent

  • Canada
    Canada
  • Gender:Not Telling

Posted 15 July 2022 - 07:29 PM

If your customer supplies to Costco, for example, then it is required.  We are newly supplying to Costco this year, and therefore we are scrambling to get the audit report.

 

So while your customer may not actually require it, please be careful about how you handle this, because they may have a certifying body that requires it.

Costco here only gets the report on the Costco addendum, not the full report


Please stop referring to me as Sir/sirs


YNA QA

    Grade - MIFSQN

  • IFSQN Member
  • 97 posts
  • 17 thanks
26
Excellent

  • United States
    United States
  • Gender:Female
  • Location:Kentucky
  • Interests:Crochet, Reading, Animals, Football

Posted 15 July 2022 - 08:28 PM

Costco here only gets the report on the Costco addendum, not the full report

 

Oh, when we get audited per the Costco addendum, and for every ingredient used to make a Costco supplied product, we must have that supplier's full audit report on file.

 

I guess each auditor decides how to interpret this requirement differently, which is no different than the SQF code.





Share this


0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users