AUDIT IN THE OFFICIAL CONTROL OF APPROVED PLANTS

• Main Author: E. Paladino
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PAGEPress Publications 2013-02-01
• Series: Italian Journal of Food Safety
• Subjects: Audit, indicators, efficiency, effectiveness, approved plants, official control.
• Online Access: http://www.pagepressjournals.org/index.php/ijfs/article/view/1124

The UE 882/04 Regulation has changed the approach of the official control on food business. The audit as a monitoring tool responds to a logic of making a less frequent but more global check and reported not only to what is possible to verify at the time but also to the system put in place by companies to prevent and manage hazards and risks. This study analyzes the results of an audit program implemented in 2008 to control approved plants assessing through numerical indicators the activity, the efficiency and the effectiveness. To this end a comparison with the monitoring data on the same plants made in 2005, has been done in order to evaluate the possible differences in results due to the use of audit as a monitoring tool. The results show a good degree of implementation of the program and a good effectiveness, assessed by the number of Non-Compliance detected. Compared to 2005 it results the increased effectiveness of control and the reduced number of used hours is evident.