Supplier Audits and Internal Auditing
How Confident are you in your Supply Chain?
Supplier Audits form the basis of a strong customer-supplier relationship. They determine if your current suppliers’ performance meets business operational standards.
Supplier Audits not only give insight into where your ingredients are coming from, but more importantly, show what conditions they 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 Australia and New Zealand.
Planned, regular, and scheduled auditing 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
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 for the actual audit day. This helps to understand which departments still require improvement or where gaps may be. We can help create the appropriate documents if required as well as provide updates on current legislation, depending on the 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. By using an auditor outside of your business, it 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:
- FSSC22000 and
- Food Vulnerability assessments