What's Covered in a Q^2 Audit? Part I

There are actually 2 types of Q^2 audits. The first type is the Corporate Audit. This audit is conducted annually, unless you're an "A" plant. "A" plants are only audited once every 3 years! (Now that's incentive to score an "A".) The second type is an internal audit. More on internal audits later.

There are 9 categories included in the Corporate audit. They are ..
1. Company Quality Policy
2. Quality Assurance System
3. Research & Development
4. Milk Supply & Handling
5. Third Parties & Their Materials
6. The Supply Chain
7. Hygiene, Housekeeping & the Site
8. Logistics
9. Laboratory

Since we do not handle milk, the Delhi facility is audited against 8 criteria. We have faired pretty good with 1, 2,3,5, and 8. However, serious issues were raised for categories 6, 7 and 9.

The poor scores for section 6 dealt mostly with our documented HACCP system. Work is underway to improve this system - and bring it into compliance with Corporate directives. Issues with section 9 had to do with organization and location of the testing labs. Things have improved with the laboratories since the initial audits.

That brings us to 7. Hygiene, Housekeeping & the Site. Realizing major improvements in this area is the basis for our important project and all of the various work that is being done, in the name of Q^2. We will continue to work hard to make improvements to Hygiene, Housekeeping and the site, in order to reduce risk to our products and bring delight to our customers.

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