You will need approval if you intend to operate as a food safety auditor. Food safety auditors carry out the following types of tasks:
- carry out audits of a primary producer's food safety scheme
- take any necessary follow-up action (including further audits) to ensure that identified deficiencies in a food safety scheme have been addressed
- undertake assessments of primary producers to ascertain their compliance with the requirements of a food safety scheme
- report on issues arising from these inspections.
A primary producer is any business involved in providing primary produce, which includes:
- any animal, plant or other organism (or part of) intended for consumption by humans
- any food produced by any primary production activity
- any pet food produced by any primary production activity.
Food safety schemes regulate the activities that may be undertaken by primary producers (e.g. accreditation of operators, requirements for premises and equipment, provisions for the health of the relevant primary produce, etc).
Food safety programs deal with issues such as:
- identifying significant food safety hazards
- monitoring and control of hazards
- product recall procedures
- monitoring and maintenance of hygiene and safety conditions
- compliance with standards, codes, guidelines and testing regimes.
