Development

Unannounced auditing has increased significantly in recent years. Standard owners (such as IFS, BRC and FSSC22000) are tightening the requirements even more. In addition, they find it important that the certificates they issue are an assessment of the quality performance throughout the year and not only of the performance on the audit day(s). One of the means of achieving this is to have the audit take place unannounced.

Mandatory?

Unannounced audits are not (yet) mandatory for every quality system, but you can already choose this at IFS or BRC. Sometimes it is possible that your customer - often retailers require this - will unexpectedly be on the doorstep for an audit.

The GFSI indicates that they include unannounced audits in their assessment of the various quality standards, so the expectation is that the non-commitment of these will disappear and that this will become an obligation. For this reason, when the FSSC22000 was last renewed, it is now mandatory for one of the follow-up audits to take place unannounced.

Working method

An unannounced audit means that the auditor of the certification body can be on the doorstep at any time. Because quality and food safety are mainly produced on the shop floor, the auditor must be on the shop floor within half an hour of arrival. And then the company starts its regular and complete certification audit, which will last the whole day or several days. The audit includes the testing of the entire system, i.e. both the documentation and the practice.

New role of quality manager

This means that you as a company must be prepared for an audit at all times. Make yourself less dependent on your quality manager. Transform the quality manager from the 'person who arranges everything with regard to quality' to the person who is the 'questioning, specialist and sparring partner' for everyone in the field of quality and food safety’. After all, quality is everyone's responsibility; give the employees that responsibility too.

Tips

• Make an (annual) quality plan, which is NOT based on the annual audit cycle, but which suits you (e.g. calendar year). Here you can plan internal audits, management reviews, calibrations, hygiene inspections, review of documents, etc.
• Form an internal audit team. Do not only have the quality manager carry out audits, but also create a team of employees who are trained as internal auditors and audit each other's departments. This works both ways: the 'strange eyes' of another department often see things that they no longer see in the department itself. But it also certainly contributes to the development of ideas across the departments when one gets to know each other's activities.
• Meet with the HACCP-team at least 5 to 6 times a year. If this always includes CCP performance, new processes and products, the system is verified and validated throughout the year. A revision of your HACCP system will then be done faster and your system will stay up to date.
• Make sure that the replacement during holidays and in case of illness is well organised for the key officials.
• Draw up an audit roadmap for the (certification) audits, in which the fixed components that are still covered are listed. Record who is responsible for the relevant subjects and who is the 1st (and possibly 2nd) replacement.