What action to take when multiple gaps in records are identified?
Good evening all, looking for some advice regarding the best course of action.. I am a week into a new job and checks of records from the previous 12 months show significant gaps in the following areas (So Far)
- Meeting Schedule not completed. No minutes available and no discussion of objectives etc.
- Micro schedule not completed as prescribed in procedures.
- Out of specification Micro results not investigated.
- Horizon Scanning not completed.
- Unexplained gaps in room temperature records.
My plan at the moment is to call a meeting to discuss the lack of compliance in the last 12 months and document failings in an incident report/reports acknowledging the gaps, the potential consequences and put in place corrective actions to bring areas back under control. Although there are multiple gaps I have not yet come across anything that directly compromises the safety of the finished product. Product is Raw Meat. I have an audit in just over a month. Needless to say I was not aware of this situation when I accepted the job! Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. Prop
Da** you're in a tough spot
All you can do is record your steps for now on in detail
The only item that you cannot move forward on is the out of spec micro----there needs to be a formal follow up even though it's months down the road. You'll need to do a RA for this product and then retest like product to see if the results are the same like to like Can i safely guess salmonella or e coli?
In Canada they'd suspend your license for that if you didn't actively do something to correct now that you know (micro no follow up)
Explain to senior management how big a deal this is, that they are risking not just certification, but their license as well. 1 mistake is understandable, a complete lack of food safety support is quite another
My sympathies for the mess. Other similar threads exist here, all with dire anticipations.
Difficult to see how previous audits were (presumably) not failed. ???
Not sure I agree yr conclusion of no direct safety risks to finished product.