Baking&Snack - July 2012 - 102

Q &A

FOOD SAFETY TRAINING

and teach the employees better ways to do their own internal inspections.

root cause. The two work well as an overall review of facility activities.

How has the role of AIB auditors changed?
Ms. Olewnik: The role has not changed. All AIB inspection staff is trained to do a thorough physical inspection and offer guidance to the facility being inspected. This activity simply strips out the program review portion of our current AIB Consolidated Standards inspection, eliminates the rating and puts full focus on the assessment of the facility. Digging and training are key.

What are the advantages of this system over others for the baking and snack food industries?
Ms. Olewnik: The advantage of this program is learning. Skilled AIB inspectors not only find not-soobvious food safety issues, but work closely with the facility to identify methods of looking at and identifying potential problems, and providing ideas on ways in which the issues can be fixed. Again, with no score, the customer is encouraged to be open and honest about things they have seen but can’t seem to rectify. We encourage open dialogue in conjunction with a thorough evaluation. The area of the facility evaluated can be identified before the inspector gets to the facility. It can be based on issues that are identified but not solved. Or the inspectors can simply follow their nose and see where it takes them. So far, the outcomes have always been highly enlightening.

How does FS 360 integrate with the GFSI and Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)?
Ms. Olewnik: FS 360 is not designed to integrate, but to align and complement GFSI by providing a deep physical inspection and educational component that is not allowed in the GFSI audits. This process provides an independent, supportive instructional approach to aid in identification and evaluation of potential food safety issues. Additionally, digging into processes on the production floor will help support the training requirement for FSMA.

How does AIB FS 360 encourage ownership of the issues found during the process?
Ms. Blair: The inspector partners with the facility personnel to help identify issues and their root cause and come up with both short term and long term solutions, where possible. The program was designed to encourage ownership of the findings and help to partner with the facility employees in identifying solutions.

How does the inspection and education process encourage facility ownership of food safety and sanitation?
Ms. Blair: The more information and expertise that sanitation or hygiene personnel have, the better they can help protect the product by ensuring a clean facility and product handling areas.

How does AIB FS 360 complement current GFSI schemes?
Ms. Blair: GFSI audit schemes provide a thorough review of written food safety systems and programs with lesser review of the different areas of the physical production floor. AIB FS 360 provides a thorough and deep assessment of equipment while it is down. This allows the inspector and facility personnel to spend all the time needed to look closely at the physical production area. The inspector will work with the facility personnel to identify root cause and provide direction and methods of improving food safety. No documentation is reviewed unless an issue is identified that requires a document check to try to identify a

What options such as third shift inspections are offered?
Ms. Blair: For the FS 360 to be most effective, equipment should be down or not operating. This is the only way the inspector and facility personnel can open the equipment, look inside and find any issues that might impact the safety of the product being produced. The inspection can be conducted at any time, day or night, on any shift and any day. Most audits and inspections are carried out 9 to 5, Monday through Friday when equipment is running and access is limited. Facilities rarely have outside eyes reviewing activities during off hours or late night shifts. This approach provides a more complete overview of production challenges in total.

Why is report writing kept to a minimum?
Ms. Blair: Companies have a choice of the type of report they receive. Some companies have opted to receive a summary that lists the date of the activity and the personnel attending. Other companies have requested an executive summary, and there is another option to have a full report, although that does require an additional day. Again, the point of the activity is to teach and train. We would encourage the facility personnel to take good notes and participate in the activity. The point of the activity is to have both sides work together with an open dialogue and not be concerned about failing an audit.

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