40.2 Whyhavea hygiene improvement auditin the first place?
Before we get into someof the technicalitiesof auditing for improvement, the
question whyand underwhatcircumstancesa facility should seeka hygiene
improvement auditshouldbe addressed.Firstof all, complianceto locallegal/
regulatory (hygiene) standards (European Union, US Food and Drug
Administration,US Department of Agriculture, FoodStandardsAustraliaNew
Zealand)is simplyaconditiosinequa nonfor any foodmanufacturerand
authoritieswill normally cometo inspectfacilities.Therefore, the first priority
must be to meetbasiclegal/regulatory (usually Codex Alimentarius-derived)
hygiene requirements.
Beyond that,customers mayhaveadditionalproprietarystandards and will
audit against them.Assuming that a facilitydemonstrablycomplieswithall
locally applicablestandards, why wouldanyonebe interested in an exercisethat
will take timeand resourcesto dig muchdeeper into hygiene issuesand come up
withimprovementproposals that will probably againinvolvetime,resources
and costs?The reasonslie in the criteriamentionedin the introduction.
Although the facility may have passed various compliance focused
inspections, mayoperatean internal (usually alsocompliancefocused) audit
system and mayneverhavesuffereda hygiene-relatedincident up to now,
managementwouldstill not know:
∑ what partsof theirsystemare onlybarely adequate;
∑ whichrepresent costlyoverkill;
∑ whether theremaybe accidentswaiting to happen;
∑ whetherall hygiene-relatedstandards and proceduresare understoodand
practisedin the samewayby all involved;
∑ whether the systemneedsto be updatednowor in the nearfuturebecause of
newemergingissues,existingdevelopment plans (site, equipment,product
portfolio)or problems withageing infrastructure.
After complyingwithbasic applicablestandards,and havingthat confirmedand
recognisedthroughauditing,thereare therefore excellentreasonsto takea
closer and deeper lookand seeka hygieneimprovement audit.
40.3 Auditing and the hierarchy of a controlledsystem
Quality systems for food manufacturing operations are meant to ensure a
consistentflowof safe, legaland in-specificationmaterials all the way fromraw
materials to finishedproductat the pointof sale, but the entiresystemcan
schematicallybe reducedto fourlevelsapplyingto every unit operation(Figs
40.2±40.4):
- Basicdesign. Thisincludesall aspectsof equipmentand infrastructure
design,as wellas standard procedures includingscheduledmaintenance,
686 Handbookof hygiene controlin the foodindustry