ASI Food Safety Consultants to offer new auditing service
ASI Food Safety Consultants to offer new auditing service
Beginning July 1, produce companies that hire third-party auditors can tap a new service that allows managers, for the first time, to log on to a secure web site and view the corrective actions that need fixing, along with the employee responsible for the task.
Traditionally, a client who contracts with an auditing firm receives a bulky report with a numerical score on the top sheet, explained Karey Gilmore, spokesman for St. Louis-based ASI Food Safety Consultants Inc.
This leaves the unlucky person whose job it is to sift through endless paperwork to find the list of recommended corrective actions, and hunt down the responsible employee to fix them, she said.
But under the consulting firm's new service, a supermarket or food processor is handed an audit that lists all the corrective actions needed at a given facility, the timeframe in which this should be completed, and the person or department responsible for the tasks.
The big innovation is that this information is also posted on a secure web site. Using software called Corrective Action Reporting, which has been used in the automotive industry for years, ASI allows managers at the facility level to log on and make updates as they fix the problems discovered by ASI audits. Managers at the corporate level can see what is being fixed by accessing the secure web site, explained Ms. Gilmore.
The auditing information can be customized and packaged by corrective action deadlines or geographical region for multiple facilities. The service can allow facilities to easily identify persistent problems or employee training needs.
"This service can make life easier for managers in charge of five, six or 10 field audits," she said. The ASI consultant goes out to the field and farms, observes harvest and storage practices, and gives a grade for complying with Good Agricultural Practices, including water purity, building maintenance, field sanitation, packingshed sanitation, cleansers and sanitizers, and pest control.
The Corrective Action Reporting service can list problems uncovered by the field audit with recommended solutions, such as the number of portable bathrooms that are out of operation and need to be fixed, she said.
The 75-year-old, family-run company started as American Sanitation Institute, but later changed its name to ASI Food Safety Consultants and now conducts 4,000 audits a year, including vendor certifications, HACCP audits, allergen reports, Good Manufacturing Practices checks and other food safety audits. Clients range from the largest multinational food manufacturers to privately owned, one-location distribution centers.
Ms. Gilmore would not discuss the cost of the new service, as she said it would depend on the nature of the customized program. For more information, log on to www.asifood.com.
Traditionally, a client who contracts with an auditing firm receives a bulky report with a numerical score on the top sheet, explained Karey Gilmore, spokesman for St. Louis-based ASI Food Safety Consultants Inc.
This leaves the unlucky person whose job it is to sift through endless paperwork to find the list of recommended corrective actions, and hunt down the responsible employee to fix them, she said.
But under the consulting firm's new service, a supermarket or food processor is handed an audit that lists all the corrective actions needed at a given facility, the timeframe in which this should be completed, and the person or department responsible for the tasks.
The big innovation is that this information is also posted on a secure web site. Using software called Corrective Action Reporting, which has been used in the automotive industry for years, ASI allows managers at the facility level to log on and make updates as they fix the problems discovered by ASI audits. Managers at the corporate level can see what is being fixed by accessing the secure web site, explained Ms. Gilmore.
The auditing information can be customized and packaged by corrective action deadlines or geographical region for multiple facilities. The service can allow facilities to easily identify persistent problems or employee training needs.
"This service can make life easier for managers in charge of five, six or 10 field audits," she said. The ASI consultant goes out to the field and farms, observes harvest and storage practices, and gives a grade for complying with Good Agricultural Practices, including water purity, building maintenance, field sanitation, packingshed sanitation, cleansers and sanitizers, and pest control.
The Corrective Action Reporting service can list problems uncovered by the field audit with recommended solutions, such as the number of portable bathrooms that are out of operation and need to be fixed, she said.
The 75-year-old, family-run company started as American Sanitation Institute, but later changed its name to ASI Food Safety Consultants and now conducts 4,000 audits a year, including vendor certifications, HACCP audits, allergen reports, Good Manufacturing Practices checks and other food safety audits. Clients range from the largest multinational food manufacturers to privately owned, one-location distribution centers.
Ms. Gilmore would not discuss the cost of the new service, as she said it would depend on the nature of the customized program. For more information, log on to www.asifood.com.
