Food manufacturing is defined as a process industry. As a result, food safety auditors benefit from adopting a process approach for auditing. The presentation will explain the process approach and how it works for auditing a food safety management system (FSMS). A process approach demands risk-based thinking to improve process outputs and prevent undesirable results. As organizations evolve from a procedure-based FSMS to a process-based FSMS there is a paradigm shift from uniformity of routines to uniformity of outputs. When auditors fully understand the process approach the benefit is a higher level of confidence to ensure an organization has a robust FSMS. This presentation will explain the concept and supporting tools such as Turtle and SIPOC diagrams, Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) methodology, the use of risk registers, and context of the organization (interested parties, external issues, internal issues) analysis. It will also describe process-based auditing techniques for how to follow audit trails across integrated processes and measures to verify they meet defined objectives and requirements.

Colin Christmas joined EAGLE in 2019 as a managing director to support EAGLE’s international growth. He is an experienced professional with more than 20 years in the food industry working for Nestlé. Colin had the privilege to live and work in numerous countries around the world, which helped him develop an excellent understanding for process, systems, and standardization while working with different cultures. He has a bachelor’s degree in computing and business analytics from The University of Huddersfield, with specialization in quality control, quality management systems, and business process management. He also has program completion certificates from Wageningen University and Research for Food Safety Management and from the London Business School for an executive leadership program.

These days, food businesses and their contexts, supply chains, etc. are more complex. This has led to more complex food safety and quality management systems and, by default, more complex audits. This session is aimed at seeing the system/the big picture, sharing practical tips on using the process-based approach, and helping auditors find their direction and pace throughout the audit process to help them deliver their audit objectives which, in turn, should help the auditee achieve their objectives, too.

Ray Haddad loves talking food protection! Since 2007, Ray has specialized in food safety, food defense, and food fraud prevention. He has also worked in quality roles, auditing, training, consulting, and supporting various organizations, from small family-owned to multinational food businesses, intergovernmental organizations, and regulators in New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Ray is the principal trainer and managing director at Food Surety Limited, an organization committed to supporting food professionals to do what is right with confidence, so they can be successful and fulfilled protecting consumers everywhere.

Internal auditing is a powerful but underrated business tool for helping you comply with both your occupation health and safety as well as food safety obligations. In this session, the presenter will use his experience to look at the advantages and possible pitfalls involved with internal auditing, and why conducting internal audits effectively is an important part of meeting your obligations under the relevant legislation.

Daniel McConville is the director of McConville Risk Solutions and has extensive experience in food and hospitality providing both food safety and occupational health and safety (OHS) services to a number of industries. McConville Risk Solutions are recognized as food safety specialists and work with some of Australia’s largest providers. As a tertiary qualified food safety and OHS professional, Daniel has expertise in developing and implementing food safety management systems and occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS) to a range of industries including education, hospitality, health and aged care, local government, facilities management, and food manufacturing. Prior to commencing McConville Risk Solutions, Daniel worked for the Willis Group, the world’s third-largest insurance broker, in their workplace risk team, during which he worked on several projects for major companies.

You may or may not be familiar with this classic corrective action: “We brought it up at the team meeting, we told them not to do it again, and we re-trained everyone.” This came up recently during a robust discussion between auditors, and that got the presenter wondering: What is the wider view on when questionable corrective action becomes an audit non-conformance? Listen to the story in this session so far and ponder the question: “Which way will you lean?"

Wendy Edwards has more than 30 years of experience as an auditor, consultant, and in-house quality professional, specializing in high and low-risk food industries. She is currently the head of food safety and quality for a New Zealand-owned business which employs 1,500 people across three countries and generates revenue of around $300 million NZD per annum. Manufacturing operations in New Zealand and Australia are SQF-certified and export food to around 18 countries. In 2019, Wendy was recognized by SQFI as the SQF Practitioner of the Year.

Food safety auditing is a technically challenging and complex endeavor involving quality and safety checks at multiple points along the food supply chain. In this session, the presenter will draw on deep practical experience to address the differences and similarities in auditing farms/feedlots, abattoirs, wholesalers, retailers, and restaurants.

Thea Laufs’ mission throughout the last 28 years has been to improve the food safety culture and assist with the food safety and quality standards trend setting in South Africa. Her experience and expertise include more than 25 years of auditing across all the industries including but not limited to food and packaging manufacturing, QSR, restaurants, hotels, abattoirs, and farms. In addition, she is an internationally certified lead auditor in food safety and quality. She participates on various industry committees (SANS, SAATCA, RMMA, FSSC, etc.) and is always keen to share her technical expertise and guidance to industry. In 2009 Thea acquired the agency for Africa for CPG Global and has grown her client base through her dedication, commitment, and passion for the industry. Her vast experience and knowledge base was the reason she was appointed technical director for food safety for CPG internationally back in 2015.

This session will discuss the importance of CAPA management and how software can help manage the workflow and processes associated with CAPA. A software system can simplify the process by streamlining communication, compiling the data in one place, offering better visibility into the process, and sharing of the CAPA information.

Shamonique Schrick is solutions architect at SafetyChain. With degrees in biochemistry and molecular biology, and more than 10 years of experience as an auditor, food safety expert, and quality specialist, she has a wealth of knowledge to share. Shamonique supports customers in everything from reporting and analysis of data, standardization across processes and facilities, identifying best practices, and the blueprint process. Besides her work at SafetyChain, Shamonique has also worked as a food safety specialist and supplier quality specialist at Cargill, supplier quality auditor for TreeHouse Foods, and microbiologist at MillerCoors.