Setting the food safety standards: Auditing Solutions
Any business supplying food within New Zealand must comply with a complex range of important requirements regarding food health and safety.
These requirements are to identify and create awareness of potential hazards for the consumer. These may be concerning preparation, production, manufacturing, packaging, storage, handling, transport or distribution of any food type.
Under the Food Act (2014) each business must have a Food Control Plan which sets out what steps a food business needs to take to make their food safe. It’s all very well to have the plans, yet who makes sure the plans are actually being properly implemented? Auditing Solutions NZ is a recognised national leader in evaluation or “verification” of food plans across the wider food industry sectors in this country.
While there are many factors that can influence the duration of an evaluation/verification, there are three main parts for a business to be aware of – preparation, on-site assessment, and reporting. The time to undertake each of these will vary, depending on the food safety risk, the size of a business and the complexity of the processes the business uses.
Auditing Solutions has put together information about the verification times for different businesses and has given tips on reducing the duration of a verification. Auditing Solutions senior operations and quality coordinator Jessica Neale advises that a business should be well prepared, with all its records readily available. Staff should be on hand to talk with the verifier and answer questions. Businesses should also complete a check before verification to ensure their operations and documents are fully implemented.
Verification may take longer if:
• There are special conditions for a business’ registration.
• Any corrective actions from previous verifications have not been carried out.
• Any new non-compliance issues are discovered on-site.
• There have been significant changes since registration.
For further information about how to prepare for a verification, contact Auditing Solutions on 0800 43 82 43.
