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Third Party Food Safety Audits & Inspections

One of the keys to any successful Food Safety Auditing Program is to "know who you are buying from.". In order to do this, food suppliers' facilities should be inspected on a regular basis either by your own auditors, approved 3rd party auditors or combinations of the two methods. This must be done in a comprehensive but cost effective manner.

All of your facilities and processes, as well as those vendors and suppliers who service your food material, warehousing and transportations needs should be evaluated on a regular basis by your own inspectors.

However, adequate and up to date standards and requirements can only be verified through approved 3rd party audits. Combinations of these two methods are the best way to protect you against unexpected safety or quality incidents. At the same time, the process must be accomplished in a comprehensive, yet cost effective manner.

EpiHealth has extensive experience in understanding how to develop, implement and validate/verify supplier-auditing programs. We offer comprehensive services in this regard such as:

• Supplier Auditing Optimization (review of current programs and recommendations for modifications, if needed)
• Developing and helping to implement new programs (includes guidelines for selecting Third Party Auditors, role of consumer complaint monitoring and cost implications to you and your suppliers)
• Conducting Triage Audits in cases where recalls or consumer complaints are involved
• Developing risk-based auditing instruments

Contact us to see how EpiHealth can be of assistance with regard to food inspections or food safety audits.

Third Party Audits - Food Safety Inspection

Third party audits provide a credible verification system to the entire food processing industry including retail environments, meat, fish, and poultry, vegetable and produce suppliers. Having a HACCP plan in place is often a first step to a successful food safety program, but is not entirely enough to ensure that food safety standards are being adhered to on a consistent basis. Purchasing food products from an outside source may directly impact on the success of your business, if your vendor does not adhere to the same strict sanitation standards as maintained in your operations.

EpiHealth Associates's team has conducted third party auditing services to the food processing industry for the last 35 years. These third party audits have not only been successful in identifying potential problems in the food supply, but have also allowed our inspectors to act as liaisons between vendors and supplies to ensure that problems are solved in a safe, efficient and economical manner.

• Our team consists of trained, experienced epidemiologists, sanitarians, environmental health specialists, microbiologists and former members of local, county, state, and federal regulatory agencies.
• We serve our clients in the areas of foodborne illness prevention, risk management, risk mitigation and food safety, while ensuring clean, safe, sanitary food sources to our clients.
• Our audits are normally unannounced. We evaluate, verify and reassess HACCP plans, Standard Sanitary Operating Procedures (SSOPs) and Good Management Practices (GMPs) and validate Critical Control Points (CCPs).
• Our audits not only focus on the review of HACCP documentation, but concentrate on inspection of storage, food production and processing units, assessment of equipment/utensil condition, water/sewage systems, garbage disposal, pest control and structural components (walls, floors, ceilings, lighting and ventilation).
• After an audit, EpiHealth's food safety consultants will recommend Corrective Actions in all problem areas and validate them.
• EpiHealth's consultants are fully trained to conduct a mock recall or outbreak investigation to train employees to handle emergency situations.

Contact EpiHealth Associates today for more information about how we can assist your company or read the Food Safety FAQ for commonly asked questions.