SafetyChain Blog

The FDA is digging in more into company food safety plans and hazard analysis practices. In fact, a written hazard analysis is a required part of your food safety plan, which must be prepared or overseen by one or more preventive controls qualified individuals. Continuously improving your food safety plan relies on your ability to accurately measure food safety culture at your plant.

Certification against Issue 9 standards began on Feb 1, 2023. Recently, SafetyChain covered changes in BRCGS Issue 9 from BRCGS Issue 8. If you haven’t yet, read our previous blog to learn what is the BRCGS Food Safety standard, because in this blog, we’re going to hit the ground running and tell you how to prepare for your audit against Issue 9 standards.

When BRC Issue 9 was published on August 1, 2022, there was time to procrastinate. After all, certification against Issue 9 standards only just began on Feb 1, 2023. But now that we’re well into 2023, and with a mandatory, unannounced BRC audit conducted every three years, Issue 9 is a high priority for all manufacturers hoping to pass or keep their BRC certification.

In this blog, we’ll cover the major changes between Issues 8 and 9 of the BRC. But first, let’s provide an overview of the BRC audit and what is BRC certification.

Food allergies are on the rise, with the prevalence of food allergies nearly doubling in recent decades. As a result, the FDA has increased the pressure on food manufacturing and processing companies to control allergens.

There are a number of details many food retailers overlook when it comes to food code compliance. In this blog, Food Safety Manager, Karla Acosta, provides a walk-through on food code compliance so food retailers can pass their audits.

If you think completing an audit is just another box to check off for compliance: think again. Conducting an internal quality audit is a business investment that shouldn’t go to waste. If you’re not maximizing all of your business investments, you’re leaving money on the table.

This year has seen a significant rise in Form 483s following FDA site visits. Plant management is getting caught off-guard when on-site auditors fixate on items that seemingly weren't in the scope of previous audits. If the FDA sees a product on hold for something out of range, they may ask if internal food safety investigations are in motion and if appropriate action is being taken. 

Quality and safety standards for the food and beverage manufacturing industry have been shifting as the world experienced unprecedented supply chain disruptions through the pandemic. From this disruption, the FDA and other regulatory bodies have adapted some compliance requirements to ensure a steady supply of safe and quality food while developing new regulations. It is crucial that manufacturers understand, prepare for, and implement policies to comply with these changing standards.

Most organizations understand the value of performing internal audits. The objective of auditing is to gain insights into your processes, help you maintain conformance, mitigate risks, and improve your operational excellence.

However, there are best practices you can incorporate into your audits to make them more effective, insightful, and useful to increase the likelihood of continual improvement.

For some companies and departments, the ‘a’ word is dreaded and met with suspicion or even resentment. But audits, especially internal audits, are tools managers can and should use to drive improvement and support positive change. There are many reasons that a company should perform an internal audit. In the food and beverage industry, GFSI standards require internal audits. In other industries, companies may have internal requirements, and internal audits are a great way to perform health checks regarding quality and safety systems. 

The benefits of performing internal audits are numerous, from identifying gaps in lines and processes to highlight training issues to uncovering culture gaps within the system. By identifying these issues, manufacturers are better able to prepare for external audits. However, internal audits are only valuable tools if companies can incorporate the 3 C’s of Internal Auditing: Communication, Culture, and Coordination. Let’s dive into ways to make internal audits more successful.