PET Food Processing - March 2019 - 25

Risky
business

FOOD SAFETY

Audits help mitigate food safety issues.
By Chris Crawford | petfoodprocessing@sosland.com

The pet food manufacturing process is a delicate
one that requires accounting for the safety and quality of each product. Caution is required at every
step to prevent contamination and to protect the integrity of the final product, says David Nyachuba,
Ph.D., corporate director, food safety for privatelabel pet food manufacturer American Nutrition,
Ogden, Utah. "Whether your company has an internal audit process or uses a third-party, one thing is
certain - staying ahead of safety risks is key to avoiding
a potential recall and passing your FSMA inspection,"
Nyachuba adds.
While no system can guarantee pet food manufacturers will never experience a recall, there are processes that
can be implemented to greatly reduce the likelihood. Pet
Food Processing spoke with some industry experts to
learn the benefits of performing audits, how to prepare
for one and what shortcomings audits might uncover.

Benefits of audits

Douglas Marshall, Ph.D., Certified Food Scientist
(CFS), chief scientific officer, Eurofins Microbiology
Laboratories Inc., Des Moines, Iowa, says the company works closely with the American Feed Industry
Association to provide Safe Food/Safe Feed certification,
which is a common standard in the pet food industry.
Marshall says Eurofins conducts audits for clients,
issues reports on its findings and certifies companies
against various industry standards, depending on client

needs. Audits are beneficial to manufacturers for a
myriad of reasons, including that customers might require certification against specific food safety auditing schemes. Internally, an audit can provide a business case that products are fit for service and safe
for consumption.
Mary Landis, regional sales manager, Eurofins, says
the cost of performing audits upfront is much less than
dealing with fines or a potential shutdown by the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) later. Landis says
manufacturers are required to have an employee onsite
who is Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI)
certified. This person oversees planning for audits and
visits from FDA inspectors. Eurofins offers a PCQI certification program for these individuals as well.
Elaine Vanier, DVM, technical manager, animal
wellness programs, NSF International, Ann Arbor,
Michigan, says the company provides a comprehensive range of feed certification and food safety auditing
services for pet food manufacturers and helps them
demonstrate compliance, provide assurance and drive
continuous improvement, such as through second- and
third-party audits. Third-party audits are performed by
an entity with no affiliation to the company, Vanier says.
Second-party audits can be done to a proprietary standard and are generally conducted on behalf of the company instead of by their own people.
Vanier says the No. 1 benefit of third-party audits is
a non-biased assessment of a manufacturer's operations.

Aside from grading
manufacturers on
their safety standards,
audits can be a valuable
benchmark tool used to
determine growth and
consistency, or address
recurring issues.
Eurofins Microbiology
Laboratories

www.petfoodprocessing.net | March 2019 | PET FOOD PROCESSING

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PET Food Processing - March 2019

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