In Food Safety Tech: Six Best Practices for Food Safety Audits

Icicle creator and technology expert Steven Burton was featured on Food Safety Tech’s FST Soapbox again, this time on the topic of best practices for stress-free food safety audits. Given the fact that many regulatory bodies and certification agencies won’t necessarily let you know about an upcoming audit in advance anymore, the standard industry practice of spending months preparing for audits no longer makes the cut. Not only is it an extraordinarily time-consuming misuse of resources, but if US FDA or another agency comes calling – you may not have the time to get your paperwork together.

Luckily, as Burton points out, there is a catch-all solution that will deliver benefits far beyond audit prep: (the right) technology. Burton identifies six best practices to make preparing for food safety audits a breeze:

1. Connect all departments to an online database
2. Utilize the Internet of Things (IoT) to streamline data collection
3. Make your internet audits inspired
4. Train all employees for go-time
5. Give Food Safety Coordinators the proper authority (and budget)
6. Establish a company-wide food safety culture

Check out the whole article for details about these best practices for audit prep >>

Burton ends with this important bit of advice:

Some of these best practices you can start working on tomorrow; others will take time to implement. Embedding these into your company can be a long road, so keep your eye on the prize: A safe, efficient food safety program that impresses auditors and keeps things running smoothly.

Check it out: “Six Best Practices to Make Audits Stress Free” >>

Steven Burton is a technology expert who, in addition to being the CEO and President of Icicle Technologies Inc., developed and continues to build Icicle, a comprehensive food production management platform offering the food industry creative and dynamic solutions for better production, better business, and better public health. Follow him on LinkedIn to hear more about the future of tech, or check out his other articles in leading industry publications.