The intent was that if the documentation (procedures and evidence of implementation-performance records) were accurate and notations genuine and legible, then an objective opinion of historical product food safety conditions could be determined. This documentation review was performed in a conference room or office. The first few versions of many GFSI-benchmarked standards required more time for documentation review as opposed to actual time spent in the operational areas. This change in terminology and activity causes misunderstandings between auditor and auditee, and causes plant personnel to misunderstand what is required for program development, implementation, and maintenance. An audit is an evaluation of historical documentation with little emphasis on current conditions unless there are obvious physical situations affecting product risk. Adoption, use, and competition of the ISO-type audit in the late 1980s and 1990s brought a change to the term from GMP inspection to GMP audit, but with little change to what was actually performed. Prior to the late 1980s, the premier food safety activity was the GMP inspection, an evaluation of a facility’s compliance to the GMPs during a defined period of time with little emphasis on the historical documentation. The terms inspection and audit are often used interchangeably, but they have distinctly different meanings, which results in confusion between the auditor and auditee. ![]() The aim of this article is to compare how the “new” GFSI is different from the more long-term GMP inspection and how it can cause confusion in the execution of a GFSI-benchmarked audit. Stakeholders and businesses such as retailers, manufacturing companies, distribution centers, warehouses, and regulatory agencies have offered input about the content of each audit scheme. GFSI food safety audit schemes or standards were developed using ISO concepts (9000, 17021, referencing 17025, 19011, 22000) and HACCP (CODEX Alimentarius 4), in addition to the scheme owner’s opinion of what makes an effective and comprehensive audit. The outcome since 2000 is that the GFSI audit process is the fastest growing global food safety evaluation activity. ![]() The GFSI-type food safety audits started with the British Retail Consortium (BRC) in the middle to late 1990s, then, with that popularity, other food safety audit schemes were developed, benchmarked by GFSI, and adopted around the world. Then in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ISO 9000 Quality Audit Process was popular, followed by a resurgence of HACCP. Before 1990, the primary food safety approval activity was the Good Manufacturing Practices inspection. The adoption and use of Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) food safety audits have presented manufacturing companies with an interesting challenge not experienced since the early 1990s.
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