SQF Auditor questions to employees
What are some of the SQF interview questions Auditors ask employees? I'm trying to prepare the crew for this portion of the audit. Please and thank you all!
Some question I witness an auditor asking to regular employees:
-What SQF stand for/mean?
-Who is the SQF Practitioner?
-What is your job or task? explain with details (he most likely will ask questions related to food safety)
-Who is in charge of Food Safety?
-Who can put the product on Hold?
-What do you do if you see a product that cannot be ship or send out?
-What do you do if you see an intruder or unidentified person in the site?
Just my two cents.
My auditor likes to ask employees about food-grade and non-food-grade lubricants.
If you have a CCP, ensure folks that record that information are well versed on DEVIATION PROCEDURES!!! Everyone knows to run the test pieces, but can everyone tell you what to do when it doesn't function properly or a time/temp step etc
Our auditors never asked employees on the floor "what FSSC stands for" or something like this. Only questions pertaining to their duties.
Our auditors never asked employees on the floor "what FSSC stands for" or something like this. Only questions pertaining to their duties.
We have had auditors ask what does SQF stand for, do they know what HACCP stands for and do they know to report open pest bait stations that are outside. AND do they know not to eat the bait.
Absolutely true!
I have had the same questions listed above as well as specific plant GMP questions. Make sure your GMP training is drilled into the employees, it's typical for the auditor to take a copy of the GMP training sheet (or pick a few items off the list) and quiz the employees.
- When and for how long do you have to wash your hands?
- Where are you required to wear hair/beard nets?
- What is the 'GMP' area? (this was from my training sheet)
- What do you do if you feel like you have the flu?
- What do you do if you see a bird in the facility? ("Ignore it we see them sometimes" was an answer one of the temps gave. Turns out the 'we see it sometimes' included the previous places he worked while with the temp company.)
I have had the same auditor for three years. He told me that every audit he asks the employees the same questions. My employees were completely clueless the first year, he did not give us a non-conformance or anything but kind of hinted that next year he will if we are unprepared. The second year I had two employees absolutely nail the questions, and this year he didn't bother talking to a single production employee as he knew they were very prepared.
He always asks:
1.) What is SQF? - Safe Quality Food OR Our Food Safety Program
2.) Who is the SQF Practitioner? - BY NAME
3.) Why does the company do SQF? - Increase Food Safety OR to Get More Customers!
4.) Where is the SQF Policy Statement? - Employee must describe exactly where the posted SQF Policy Statement is. (Cafeteria!)
He also asked my Office Staff
1.) What is the SQF Policy Statement? - Management's Commitment to SQF
2.) What was this years goal in the SQF Policy Statement? - Employee should be able to state the goal or at least find a statement and read it aloud
3.) Have you received Training? - YES
2) What do you do if equipment (i.e. the metal detector) goes off?
3) What are GMPs?
4) What do you do if you notice unusual activity or a strange person in a restricted area.
Hello,
what is the answer to this?
Who can put the product on Hold? what is the answer to this?
What do you do if you see an intruder or unidentified person in the site?
What do you do if you notice unusual activity or a strange person in a restricted area.
Thank you
My auditors ask about the job task being preforming, especially at CCP's and to those who monitor them. They have asked what the CCP limits are and why.
Every auditor I have ever had wants to speak to employees monitoring CCP and/or process controls --will ask job specific questions AND a question de jour
2023 was "what is food safety culture"
2022 was "who would you tell if there was a food safety issue"
Indeed they will most likely ask questions about their work and what kind of food safety risks are involved.
I always tell my team to be open and honest. It is completely ok if you are unsure or are overwhelmed. Not everybody is comfortable being audited.
Just have them refer to their team-leader if they don't know. Almost all auditors I have encountered are receptive to this.
If saying the truth or ''I don't know'' leads to a (justified) non-conformance I am okey with this. It just shows us a direction that we need to work on.
Hello,
what is the answer to this?
Who can put the product on Hold? what is the answer to this?
What do you do if you see an intruder or unidentified person in the site?
What do you do if you notice unusual activity or a strange person in a restricted area.
Thank you
All answers depend on your SOP's. In the plant I've run and plants I'm working with right now:
- QA and Production staff can place items on hold. Only certain authorized QA can remove them from hold.
- They all report it to their supervisors/managers. We actually had me go in unannounced and unknown to one of our plants to challenge the food defense program. Long story short, I start off sneaky and went unchallenged for 45 minutes, actually walking amongst the crews and breaking rules on purpose. When I finally gave up, we had a meeting and I had been reported to floor supervisors and executive staff well over a dozen times, execs figured I was a corporate guy and just let it go. Now the procedure is for employees to report to their management, and management can approach to identify and call authorities if required.
- Same as intruder, report to supervisors/managers.
When auditors ask my regular production employees questions, I almost want the majority of their answers to be "report it to my supervisor." I don't expect a regular employee to know the ins and outs of each procedure, just be well enough versed in the SOP to how it pertains to their job, and anything above it they should be going to a supervisor.
Thank you for all your help!!
My old work place, we used to provide our employee cheat cards. The cheat card was the size of a business card and on the cheat card, there was definition of SQF, GMP, HACCP, and any other Food safety definition. If the auditor ask our employee any questions, the employee will take out the cheat card and read it to the auditor. The past 10 SQF audits, there was no issues and the auditor thought it was clever.