MANAGING

UNANNOUNCED

AUDITS UNDER GFSI

SCHEMES

Tell me about it….

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Question: What is your area of responsibility

in your organization:

1.QA/QC/ HACCP coordinator/ Food Safety

Manager

2.Production/ Product Development

3.Operations

4.Other

Tell me about it….

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Question: Are you currently certified to a

GFSI Standard? If yes, chose a standard.

1.No

2.SQF

3.BRC

4.FSSC 22000

5.Other

Program Outline

•Expectations and challenges of an

unannounced audit

• Best practices to plan and promote

being audit ready all the time

What is an unannounced audit?

UNANNOUNCED

• not made known

publicly or declared

in advance

Dictionary.com

Unannounced Audits- Customer Trend

• ASDA British Supermarket (subsidiary of Walmart) has asked all

its suppliers to pass BRC unannounced audits

• Costco US has begun to ask for unannounced audits

Sustain the environment seen during audits

year round!

Unannounced Audits- GFSI Trend

• BRC – Two options:– Fully unannounced

– GMP portion unannounced

• SQF Code Edition 7.2, July 2014

– One unannounced audit within each 3-year certification cycle

• FSSC 22000 – pending 2016

Tell me about it….

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Question: Have you had an unannounced

audit?

1. Yes

2. No

3. I don’t know

4. No, but we know it is coming

Tell me about it….

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In your opinion, how prepared is your company for an

unannounced audit?

1. Fully prepared – we are audit ready 24/7

2. Almost prepared – would like 1 day notice

3. Not very well prepared – 1 week notice would really help

4. My worst nightmare – luckily my CV/resume is up to date

“Audit-Ready, Every Day”

Challenges with unannounced audits

• How will you manage if

key personnel are absent?

• What if you are unable to

locate documents?

• What if people (e.g.

HACCP team) are pulled

away?

Key Personnel Absent

• Scheme usually requires

there to be someone

who deputizes in the

event of absence of a

responsible person.

–How knowledgeable is

this person?

–Have they participated

in previous audits?

Locating Documents

• How is data collected,

managed and stored?

• Time to access information

• Make electronic records

easily accessible

• Consider access for back-up

Staff Resources

• Communication, communication, communication!!

– Senior management

–Departments

–Operators

Unannounced Audit Plan

Formulate a plan of attack

• When/where are you going to start?

• Who should be involved?

• What resources are going to be needed?

• What are anticipated obstacles?

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Using just a couple of words,

indicate one key thing to

include in an unannounced

audit plan?

What not to do…

• Refuse entry

Current situation

• Identify what you do now in preparation for an

announced audit

–Additional cleaning

–Training refresher

–Review paperwork

–Run certain products

–Organize warehouse

Add these elements to your unannounced audit plan!

Have a plan – in advance

• Work on systems in an ongoing manner

• Ongoing attention to corrective and preventive actions (CAPA)

Have a plan – day of the audit

• Designation of personnel

• Greeting and meeting- the audit room?

• Trained escorts and back ups

• Internal communication

– Not to warn but to activate roles

Testing the Plan

Internal Audits

• Mock unannounced audits

• Audit when key personnel

not available

Summary

Unannounced audits

are going to happen

–Plan ahead

–Follow your plan

Thank you!

Jennifer McCreary

Technical Manager, Training Services

NSF International

jmccreary@nsf.org