How Supplier Audits give confidence to your Supply Chain

Supplier Audits form the basis of a strong customer-supplier relationship.

They determine if your current suppliers’ performance meets your business operational standards, product specifications and regulatory requirements.

Supplier Audits give insights into where your ingredients are coming from. Also, more importantly, they show what conditions ingredients are produced under.  Regular supplier audits will give you the confidence that these ingredients meet the standards and regulations you expect to confidently manufacture high-quality, safe food in New Zealand.

Planned, regular, and scheduled auditing of your suppliers of ingredients and packaging will go a long way to ensuring your trusted brand is protected.  As the global supply chain becomes increasingly more complex, the risk of food fraud such as adulteration, misrepresentation, or substitution for economic benefit is a very real threat in today’s world.

Auditing provides assurance that your ingredients consistently meet a combination of:

• Globally accepted Standards – FSSC 22000, BRC, SQF
• The specifications your business requires by checking against service level agreements (SLA’s) and;
• Compares past audits to check for changes or issues and thereby identifying potential future issues

At Produco we have experienced, qualified auditors ready to assist your teams to ensure regular auditing is completed. 

Audit Preparation

In New Zealand, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has developed a series of operating standards with minimum requirements.  To ensure your business complies with these standards, Independent Verification Agencies (IVAs) and MPI Approved Organisations’ (MAOs) carry out auditing services on behalf of MPI.

Audits ensure the certification system is working effectively and achieves the required outcomes. This system allows food companies to maintain compliance by correcting and improving on any Non-Conformances which are raised during the process.

Produco provides you with the skills and services to ensure all requirements are met pre and post-audit (internal and external audits).  We can visit as a team or individually and carry out a pre-audit check. This can consist of a documentation check to make sure all records and SOPs are up to date, all operating systems are running according to the standards set out by the company and approved by MPI.

A GMP audit can be run to prepare in advance of the actual audit day. This helps to understand which departments still require improvement or where gaps may be. We can create the appropriate documents if required as well as provide updates on current legislation, relative to each company’s product and market.

Post Audit

Produco will prioritise and assist with the closure of Non-conformances and the HACCP review. Observations raised during audits will be reviewed and may be classed as preventive actions as they can suggest potential improvements required within the system to prevent non-conformances from occurring in the future.

Current Resourcing at Capacity?

This is a common problem small-medium sized businesses face.  Using an auditor outside of your business allows your Quality team to continue with business as usual.  An external auditor provides a fresh point of view and an independent assessment of how your business is operating.

The team at Produco are experienced auditors with a wide range of knowledge in the dairy, food, and packaging industries. We can provide a range of audit services of your suppliers including against:

• BRC – unannounced audits are now mandatory every 3 years
• FSSC22000 and
• Food Vulnerability/ Food Defence assessments