HOME | FOOD SAFETY SUPPLY CHAIN SERVICES
Food Safety Supply Chain Services

RQA provides a broad range of manufacturing and distribution services responding to the unique needs of clients. Supplier audits may be performed to assess compliance with the client's existing quality assurance / food safety programme or regulatory requirements.

RQA has experienced and trained food and product safety auditors located throughout the world. The services offered include: RQA FSQS Audits, Customer Tailored 2nd Party Audits, 3rd Party Audits (GMA-SAFE®), BRC Audits, Specialized Audits, HACCP Audits, Pre-shipment Inspections, Food Service Audits, Training Programs. The services offered include the following:

RQA’s Supplier Audit Management System

RQA has developed a web based scheduling and reporting tool to manage your critical suppliers’ audit programme. This provides you with a snapshot of the overall audit performance of your suppliers, as well as a detailed report and history of audits, non-compliances, corrective actions and close out for your suppliers. An RQA account manager will be assigned to your company from the RQA office of your choice. The audit can be either the company’s own 2nd party audit, any of the RQA FSQS audits, or any 3rd party audits.

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Customer Tailored 2nd Party Audits

RQA will work with food manufacturers to develop and implement your 2nd party audit programme. This can include protocol/ checklist development, non-compliance reporting, corrective actions and close out. RQA will develop an auditor qualification/ training and quality assurance regime to fully calibrate RQA auditors on the requirements of your audit programme, and maintain proficiency to your standards.

These audits can be implemented across the region in any language.

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RQA World Class™ Supplier Audit Programme

These audits set the highest standards for suppliers, and are accepted by large international food processors to assess their suppliers globally. These companies have formally incorporated these audits into their ongoing vendor assurance program. These mutual recognition audits cover the following areas; General Food Processing, Food Ingredients, Materials and Packaging, and Trading and Distribution. These audits are in-depth reports that fully describe management systems of the auditee and that can include facility response, corrective actions and follow up.

These audits can be customized to include specific areas of interest regarding your process, product or customer. The audits are typically 1-3 days on-site and are an important part of the continuous improvement process of the audited company.

General Food Processing Audit

Trends such as increased global sourcing of food products, more stringent labeling and regulatory requirements of food products have increased pressure on suppliers to provide comprehensive assessments of food safety and quality systems. RQA has developed a comprehensive audit for general food production that will provide the information your customer needs on your operation. The audit will assess complete food safety requirements (HACCP, hygiene, pest control, cleaning/sanitation, material control, product flow, QA, QC, contamination control, equipment, packaging, warehousing, allergens, security, traceability and recall) required for safe food manufacture.

Food Safe Ingredients Audit

Food manufacturers are increasingly reliant upon food ingredients that require the preservation of chemical activities to support product claims. The production of these products must not only assure the activity of the chemical component, but conform to food safety requirements.

RQA’s food ingredient audit encompasses all the key aspects of a chemical active/ chemical preservation management programme as well as food safety requirements (HACCP, hygiene, pest control, cleaning/sanitation, material control, product flow, QA, QC, contamination control, equipment, packaging, warehousing, allergens, security, traceability and recall) required for safe food manufacture.

Materials & Packaging Audit

Packaging materials, especially food contact packaging, present a risk of contamination for foods. Packaging materials and product processes must comply with standards suitable to domestic and export markets. These requirements include hygiene, contamination control, raw material qualification, and trace-ability.

RQA’s Materials and Packaging Audit food ingredient audit evaluates the management systems that ensure that biological, chemical and physical contamination risks of materials and packaging production are controlled. The audit includes key aspects of food safety requirements (HACCP, hygiene, materials approval for use in food, pest control, cleaning/sanitation, product flow, QA, QC, contamination control, equipment, packaging, warehousing, security, traceability and recall) required for manufacture of food grade materials and packaging.

Trading, Distribution and Warehousing Audit

Trading, distribution and warehousing operations must comply with food safety standards. RQA’s Trading, Distribution and Warehousing Audit will assess the key elements of these operations including Product trace-ability and Recall, Facility and Grounds, Sanitation, Pest Control, Personnel Practices, Material Control and Facility Security.

RQA FSQS Audits

The RQA FSQS Audit will asses your plant against the standards of North American food companies in a timely and efficient manner. This audit has been developed through the input of a number of the largest North American food companies, and is accepted by those companies and others as an accurate measurement of the compliance of manufacturing quality systems to North American standards. RQA has a Certified RQA FSQS Auditor near you to enact this audit. RQA Certificates can be issued for this audit based on the performance of your plant.

This is generally a two day audit that focuses not only on conformance to policy and procedure requirements during the audit, but on the programmes behind the performance of your factory. Call the RQA Audit Administrator at 61 (0)2 9850 5500 to get more information, and order your checklist for this audit.

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GMA-SAFE® Programme

The RQA Group is a leading audit company for the GMA-Safe programme. RQA Asia Pacific has 21 GMA-SAFE Qualified auditors in over 12 Asia Pacific countries. By far, RQA has carried out more GMA-SAFE audits in Asia Pacific. This experience allows RQA to recognize and address challenges, and provide the best GMA-SAFE audit service for your company. Because of our experience, we can assist you in understanding what is required of the GMA-SAFE audit and the background it. RQA auditors have many years experience in food manufacturing processes covering all sectors of the food, beverage and packaging industries, and the language and communication skills to assure a smooth audit process.

For more information on the GMA-SAFE programme click <HERE>

RQA GMA-SAFE® Gap Audit

In addition to carrying out full GMA audits, RQA is able to complete a GMA-Gap audit. This will help you identify areas of strength and weakness against the GMA protocol. RQA would provide a report to help you improve your company systems and procedures prior to a full GMA audit.

This audit usually takes about 3 days to complete.

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The BRC Global Standards

In 1998 the British Retail Consortium (BRC), developed and introduced the BRC Food Technical Standard to be used to evaluate the quality management systems of food manufacturers

Quickly, this Standard became valuable to other organisations across the food industry.

The majority of UK, and many European and Global retailers, and brand owners will only consider business with suppliers who have gained certification to the appropriate BRC Global Standard.

The Global Food Safety Initiative has been working toward equivalence of other European Standards (Dutch HACCP Code, EFSIS Standard, and IFS, as well as SQF 2000, with some success. Many organizations will accept either of these audits, and require one of them, in order to suuply products.

The Standards are all available in easy reference publications. Click <HERE> for more information on the BRC Global Standards.

RQA Specialized Manufacturing Audits

RQA has developed a number of specialized audits to fit the needs of clients world wide. These focused audits protect food processors beyond the typical food safety programme elements. These audits cover the special needs of GMO claims and can be stand alone or modularized into any audit programme.

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HACCP Certification Programme

RQA’s HACCP Certification program combines the Codex Alimentarius principles for HACCP, GMP, management systems and industry standards to ensure your food safety system is in line with international practices. Having your HACCP system certified by RQA provides assurance that your system is working to manage your food safety risks. The independent 3rd party Certification gives your customers and consumers confidence that your food safety system is sound.

RQA’s HACCP certification also supports your continuous improvement programme, and gives you a marketing advantage by identifying your company as a responsible and concerned food processor.
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Pre-shipment Inspections

Using the network of field representatives located throughout the world, RQA is able to offer pre-shipment inspection services. If you have a shipment of products on one side of the world and you want to be certain of its quality prior to it leaving port, then RQA field representatives can assess the products to an agreed specification. If products are found to be out of spec, huge savings in cost and inconvenience can be made if this is learnt prior to shipping. For example if you are in UK and you have an olive supplier in Greece or a clothes supplier in China a pre-shipment inspection will give you the confidence that what you have ordered is what you will receive.
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Retail and Food Service Audits

RQA’s network of Food Service & Hygiene auditors throughout Asia Pacific means that your retail audit programme can be administered effectively and efficiently. Auditors are trained in Food Service Hygiene and sampling requirements for microbiological analysis.

RQA has its own hygiene audit specifically for food service outlets. This would be typically used by restaurant chains where there is a desire to check the quality procedures and hygiene level of the outlets within a group. The audit can be followed up by sample and swab testing by using one of RQA’s partner laboratories.

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Food Security Assessment

The RQA Food Security Assessment is designed to identify possible areas of exposure or weakness with respect to malicious tampering either from an internal or external source. It is designed to assist facilities that manufacture, process, package, or hold food products. The focus is on all aspects of a food business’s operations are considered. The RQA assessment is primarily based upon U.S. FDA Good Manufacturing Practices (21 CFR 110), FPA and FSIS Guidelines, HACCP System Guidelines (NACMCF, Codex), and Food Industry Best Practices. The one day assessment includes a total of 12 sections, including: Food Defense Plan Management, Internal and external, Personnel Management, Water and Ice Defense, Shipping Receiving as well as others. Each section is further broken into a list of related items. Each item is evaluated and scored using a 4 point scale. Facilities are required to provide objective evidence to demonstrate their level of compliance to the item.
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Training Programmes

RQA has developed a wide range of training programs, including HACCP, International Food Safety Benchmarking Workshop, Product Recall, Allergen Management, Hygiene, and Internal Auditing. These training courses can be customized and delivered in house to fully meet your training needs.

RQA can deliver these sessions in nearly any language and country in India Asia Pacific. Materials and presentations can be in Japanese, Chinese, or English. These are designed for manufacturers exporting, or interested in exporting, to the US and Europe.

The RQA Internal Auditor Training Course covers the theory and practical auditing skills essential when conducting internal audits. This course is aimed at all levels of experience from those with little knowledge of auditing or as a refresher course for more experienced auditors. The course covers importance of internal auditing, preparation, planning and how to conduct an audit. There are sections in the training course which also covers personal attributes, auditor skills and different question types. There are several exercises during the course which gives delegates the chance to put theory into practice.

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GMA-SAFE® is a registered trademark of GMA/FPA (United States Patent Reg. No. 2,682,750)

Contact RQA Asia Pacific
for more details:
+61 (0)2 9850 5500
apacinfo@rqa-apac.com

In Australia Call Toll Free:
1 800 77 23 00

 

 

 

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