Effectively Digitizing Food Safety Audits

By Judy Sebastian

The age of paper-based auditing and reporting is gradually coming to an end. More organizations and even municipalities are incorporating tools such as the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, mobile solutions and even Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help enhance their existing food safety management systems. Similar developments are shaping how food safety auditors approach their site inspections and reporting methodologies. Although the benefit of digitizing food safety audits outweighs the traditional paper-based approach, the former can prove to be a challenge if not implemented and managed correctly. Here are a few ways to effectively digitize a food safety audit.

Conduct a gap analysis

It’s important to identify where the gaps lie within the existing food safety auditing system, before digitizing it. A thorough analysis will help map out segments of the audit that need to be upgraded or replaced. For example, conducting a mock traceability recall of chilled ready-to-eat meals could help identify how different records are tracked concurrently such as vegetable sanitization logs, cooking and cooling charts, food storage logs, etc. It is also useful to identify whether the existing reporting approach is working for both the auditor and the auditee, before digitizing it.