FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY ASSURANCE: CHECKS AND CERTIFICATION
Diagram
Two checks, two powers
Inspection
Done by the government. An inspector visits, looks, samples, and can order changes, seize food, or close a business. It is a legal power.
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Audit
Done by the business itself, a customer, or a certification body. An auditor checks the system against a standard or a contract.
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The difference
Inspection enforces the law; audit checks the system. A business can pass one and fail the other.
Figure 1: Inspection is a legal power of the government; audit is a check against a standard. Drawn in our own style from the FTN Food Safety and Security notes, Unit 5, and from ASQ, The Certified HACCP Auditor Handbook.
Introduction
Inspection and audit are the two ways a food plant is checked, and both involve someone looking at the plant, its records and its people, but they differ in who checks, what is checked, and what power the checker holds. Inspection is done by the government, and it is a legal power: the inspector can order changes, seize food or close a business. Audit is done by the business itself, by a customer, or by a certification body, and it checks the system against a standard or a contract.
The FTN Food Safety and Security notes, Unit 5, set the two side by side in the section on audit, inspection and certification, and ASQ, The Certified HACCP Auditor Handbook, covers the HACCP audit and the auditor. This article follows those two sources.
Quick comparison
Table 1: Inspection compared with audit
| Aspect | Inspection | Audit |
|---|---|---|
| Done by | The government: a food inspector | The business itself, a customer, or a certification body |
| What is checked | The building, the equipment, the records, the staff, and samples for testing | The system, against its own procedures and against a standard |
| Basis | Food law: the minimum every business must meet | A standard, such as ISO 22000, or a contract, such as a customer’s rules |
| Power | A legal power: the inspector can order changes, seize food, or close a business that is unsafe | No legal power: the auditor reports gaps, and the business must fix them |
| Internal or external | Always external, and always by the government | Internal audit is done by the business itself; external audit is done by a customer or a certification body |
| Internal audit | Not inspection: an internal audit is done by trained staff of the business itself | A chance to find gaps before anyone else does, by checking the system against its own procedures |
| Customer audit | Not inspection: a customer has no legal power | Checks that a supplier meets the customer’s rules |
| Certification audit | Not inspection: a certificate is not a legal approval | Checks that the business meets a standard such as ISO 22000, and if it passes, the business gains a certificate it can show to buyers |
| Outcome | An order, a seizure, a closure, or a pass | A report of gaps, and a certificate where the audit is for certification |
| How often | When the government visits, on its own schedule | Internal audits run through the year; certification audits happen on a few days each year |
Scientific explanation
Definition
Inspection is done by the government: a food inspector visits the business, looks at the building, the equipment, the records and the staff, and takes samples for testing, and the inspector can order changes, seize food, or close a business that is unsafe. An audit is a check of a system against a standard or a contract: an internal audit is done by the business itself, an external audit is done by a customer or by a certification body, and a certification audit checks that the business meets a standard such as ISO 22000.
Working principle
An internal audit is done by the business itself: trained staff check the system against its own procedures and against the standard, and it is a chance to find gaps before anyone else does. An external audit is done by a customer or by a certification body: a customer audit checks that a supplier meets the customer’s rules, and a certification audit checks that the business meets a standard such as ISO 22000, and if it passes, the business gains a certificate that it can show to buyers. Inspection is different: it is a legal power, while audit is a check against a standard or a contract. A certificate is not a promise that every pack is safe: it is evidence that a system was checked on a given day and met the standard. The system must keep working between audits, and that is why internal audit, monitoring and management review matter every week, not only before the auditor arrives. Auditors now ask workers questions instead of only reading files: an auditor who asks a line worker what to do when a critical limit fails learns more in one minute than an hour of reading records can teach.
Apparatus
The books used here name no laboratory apparatus for telling the two apart, so no apparatus list is given.
Measurement procedure
An audit is measured by its report: the gaps found against the standard or the contract, and the corrective actions that follow. An inspection is measured by its outcome: the orders given, the food seized, or the closure, and the samples taken for testing. The books used here name no single standard procedure for either one, so no procedure is invented here.
Factors affecting readings
For audit, the standard decides the result: the same plant can pass its own procedures and fail a customer’s rules, because the two standards differ. For inspection, the law decides the result: food law sets the minimum every business must meet, and the government enforces it. Culture decides whether either check means anything: a factory can pass its audit every year while cleaning records are filled in at the end of the shift from memory, and a certificate on the wall does not make the food safe. Private standards sit beside the law, and they set rules that go beyond it: stricter hygiene, deeper supplier checks, and proof of food safety culture.
Formulas and calculations
The books used here give no formula for this comparison, so no formula or worked calculation is given.
Industrial applications
- Inspection: a government inspector visits a business, looks at the building, equipment, records and staff, and takes samples for testing.
- Inspection: ordering changes, seizing food, or closing a business that is unsafe.
- Inspection: enforcing food law, the minimum every business must meet.
- Audit: an internal audit by trained staff, finding gaps before anyone else does.
- Audit: a customer audit, checking that a supplier meets the customer’s rules.
- Audit: a certification audit, checking the business against ISO 22000 and giving a certificate buyers accept as proof.
Advantages and limitations
- Inspection, advantage: it is a legal power, so it can order changes, seize food and close an unsafe business.
- Inspection, limitation: it happens on the government’s schedule, and it checks the day of the visit, not every day.
- Audit, advantage: it checks the system against a standard, finds gaps early, and gives a certificate buyers trust.
- Audit, limitation: it has no legal power, and a certificate proves the system was checked on a few days each year, not that every pack is safe.
FAQ
What is the main difference between inspection and audit?
Inspection is done by the government and is a legal power, while audit is done by the business, a customer or a certification body and checks the system against a standard or a contract.
Can an inspector close a business?
Yes: the inspector can order changes, seize food, or close a business that is unsafe.
What is an internal audit?
An audit done by the business itself, where trained staff check the system against its own procedures and against the standard, to find gaps before anyone else does.
Does a certificate mean the food is safe?
No: it is evidence that a system was checked on a given day and met the standard, and the system must keep working between audits.
Why do auditors ask line workers questions?
Because a worker who knows what to do when a critical limit fails shows the food safety culture is alive, while a worker who looks at the supervisor for the answer shows it is only on paper.
References and further reading
- FTN subject: Food Safety and Security, Unit 5: Food Safety Management Systems and Food Law.
- ASQ Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Division, The Certified HACCP Auditor Handbook, 3rd ed., Quality Press, 2014 (Google Books page read)
