Things to Keep in Mind as You Get Ready for a Food Safety Audit

Unquestionably stringent requirements are enforced on institutions that handle food and for good cause. The safety of the food that people consume worldwide in civilized nations is, in major part, due to these facilities. A facility may face major problems, such as poor cleanliness, which can result in contamination and product recalls if food safety is not carefully monitored. It is your duty as the facility manager to make sure everything complies with regulations. Audits assist in ensuring that food processing facilities operate properly and adhere to safety regulations. ISO 20000 certifications for food safety are challenging, but becoming certified can be challenging as well. You can make sure that your facility performs well by following this advice on how to get ready for a food processing safety audit.

• Train All of Your Employees: Food safety awareness training is one of the most important aspects of managing a secure facility. An employee who has received proper training will be able to fulfill their duties within the establishment with the utmost care for the safety of the food. To keep the facility functioning well even when you are short-staffed, it is ideal to cross-train your employees. Training shouldn't take place just once. Cross-training gives your facility's staff more flexibility and equips them with new abilities.
• Use PPE Equipment: A key component of being ready for a food processing safety audit is making sure that all staff are dressed properly. By bringing contaminants into the sanitized processing area, inappropriate clothing can cause accidents or contamination. Utilizing strict hygiene procedures and PPE, or personal protective equipment, is necessary to prevent contamination. By using personal protective equipment (PPE), you can reduce the chance of contamination and guarantee that workers won't sustain cuts, burns, or other harm from wearing the wrong gear.  
• Do Your Pre-Audit: Consider performing a pre-audit to ensure that the premises can pass food safety audits? A pre-audit would require going over an ISO 22000 audit checklist and ensuring that the facility meets the necessary food processing safety standards. During that time, you would examine the company setup, speak with the employees, test them, and look for any flaws that might adversely affect you. Once the pre-audit is complete, you may go back to correct any problems to make sure the business passes all safety audits. Pre-audits should be carried out at least once a year to help ensure that your facility is operating securely. This will also give them the chance to rectify any problems and make ongoing improvements.
• Prevent and Reduce Insects in Your Facility: Insects can cause serious contamination issues in your facilities since they bring bacteria and illnesses. Because they might be difficult to get rid of once inside, it is essential to keep bugs from getting into the building. During an audit, the auditing team will check to see what security measures you've put in place to keep insects out, such as making sure there are no gaps or fissures that they can fit through. You can further discourage insects from entering by installing insect-attracting lights outside the structure. Keeping an area clean and sanitary is essential to lowering the number of insects because food waste is the main draw for them.
• Make Use of CIP Systems and Practices: Even though employee ISO 22000 auditor training is essential, maintaining a clean food processing facility is more important than anything else. It is critical to verify that facility managers are taking the necessary actions to clean and sanitize their facilities during the food safety audits. Companies should ideally employ a variety of cleaning techniques and procedures in the workplace, including clean-in-place (CIP) practices. CIP systems are automatic cleaning methods that thoroughly clean the interior surfaces of equipment in a food processing facility without needing any of the equipment to be disassembled. The surfaces of pipes, tanks, mixers, blenders, roasters, and many other pieces of processing machinery are among them.
• Choose the Right Drainage: Food processing plants are carefully inspected by food safety auditors to make sure they adhere to all safety standards. They'll pay particular attention to a floor drainage system. Floor drains keep floors clean and reduce contamination by diverting wastewater and other fluid waste from the floor surface into a drain channel. The distinctive, grate-free architecture of the linear systems also makes them simpler to clean and maintain, especially when combined with CIP capabilities.
• Make the Food Processing Plant Successful: It's crucial for managers of facilities that produce food to understand how to get ready for a safety audit. The auditing process will go more successfully and smoothly if you take the time to prepare the facility and staff. These are just a few of the more crucial preparation measures you may take, but you can go even further by researching the applicable food processing safety regulations for your facility. Even though installing a new drain system will likely increase costs, the facility will be cleaner and more hygienic as a result. Overall, all of these upgrades help to improve your facilities and safeguard your workers and goods.

Source: https://foodsafetystandard.wordpress.com/2023/08/16/things-to-keep-in-mind-as-you-get-ready-for-a-food-safety-audit