Poll Results on Failed GFSI Audit

Poll Question:

"Should any company that fails an audit to the BRC, SQF or any other GFSI standard stop producing and selling any food product until an audit pass is achieved?"

This poll has been posted to several discussion forums and groups. The charts below show the vote counts and comparative percentage to date:

This voting trend was expected. It  appears to indicate that failing a Global FOOD SAFETY Initiative audit (or failing to achieve certification) does not necessarily have a significant bearing on the safety of products. In other words there are aspects of the audits that may lead to an operation failing a GFSI audit without significant consequences to food safety.

Some other questions have been raised in the discussions of this poll question in various groups. They include the following:

1. Should an operation fail a GFSI audit if there is no significant food safety concern found?

2. Can snapshot audits that may or may not detect significant food safety concerns be relied upon for the assurance of food safety?

3. Are the audit reports giving the right impressions about the food safety performance of operations, and are they leading to the right courses of action in the assurance of food safety on the parts of the users?

4. Are the GFSI audits merely trade negotiation and agreement audits with some food safety considerations? 

From the poll results to date, it appears that the Global FOOD SAFETY Initiative audits do not consequentially pertain to, or address, FOOD SAFETY in significant respects.

Perhaps a name change is warranted or it has become necessary to re-assess the idea of these being Global FOOD SAFETY Initiative audits. What do you think?

While you are here, and if you have not already done so, you may take this quiz to find out how your product safety and quality audit programs rate: http://gcse-food-health-protection.blogspot.ca/2012/08/product-safety-and-quality-assurance.html

A score of 80% or higher indicates that your audit program may be sufficiently useful and effective. A score of less than 60% indicates your audit program may need to be reviewed for its usefulness.