Auditing


		CORMORANT Technical Services P/L Food Safety Specialists
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Cormorant auditor conducting a Food Stars audit

Who audits?

First party audit:
The auditor has a direct involvement with the business e.g. employee performing internal audit.

Second party audit:
The auditor has an indirect involvement with the business e.g.
- government inspector
- one division of business checking another division of same business
- consultant that audits the program they implemented.

Third party audit:
The auditor has no involvement with the business e.g. consultant that did not implement the program.

If you want Cormorant to be your third party auditor - you must either:
- develop your own program using the Food Stars program
or
- arrange for another company to implement your program e.g. Food Stars Pty Ltd.

Auditing

When the food safety program has been implemented it needs a "new pair of eyes" to look over it to see that the story of what happens in the business is reflected in practice.

There are three steps to an audit:

1. Desk top audit.
This is where the food safety auditors look through the paperwork to make sure it is complete and includes all the components required by the industry standard against which it will be measured e.g. Food Stars. If the paperwork is not up to scratch it would be a waste of time visiting the premises. At this stage the food safety auditors make a checklist of items they want to view during the next stage, the on site audit.

2. On site audit.
This is where the food safety auditors visit the premises. Meetings are held at the beginning of the audit to explain to the proprietors what will happen during the audit and also at the end of the audit to report any findings. During the audit, the auditors need to gather enough objective evidence to demonstrate that the business has put in place the actions described in the food safety program. This is achieved by talking to staff, making observations and looking through records.

3. Report.
The auditors will prepare a written report of the findings in which items discussed at the end of the on site audit are documented. The report will include:

Non conformance reports - these identify places where your story and your practices did not match up. For example, you might have said that a procedure included steps A, B, and C, but the procedure actually observed may have included only steps A and B. Either the food safety program needs updating or the procedure needs to be amended!
Advisory findings - these are suggestions to help improve the efficiency of the program and may include combining forms to reduce paperwork or increasing frequency of monitoring to improve safety.

Food safety program contains living documents that must be continually updated to truly reflect what is happening in the business. Therefore, businesses are encouraged to perform their own first party audit (an internal audit) to check that everything is up to date and working. In addition, at least an annual audit by a second or third party auditor is recommended.

Many large companies require their suppliers to have food safety programs based on HACCP principles that are audited by a third party. These are seen to be the most objective and truly independent assessments of what happens at a business.

If Cormorant helps you to develop your program, it can provide you with second party audits, but a third party audit may also be necessary to meet some of your clients' needs. If you developed your own program, Cormorant will be able to provide third party audit.