The FPA-SAFE team wishes to announce a new member to the FPA-SAFE family of products. FPA-SAFE will be launching the SAFE Express Audit beginning January 15, 2007.

This new offering will still provide the quality and information associated with the FPA-SAFE Audit, but it has been pared down in size to cover slightly less detail. However, key elements such as food safety, food defense and food quality are given full treatment in the Express Audit. The Express Audit should provide users a comfort level with suppliers while controlling costs and time within a supplier’s facility.

The SAFE Team envisions this audit being shorter in duration – 1.5 to 2 days within the audited facility – and yet the information requested in the audit should encourage the auditor to spend more time out in the facility. This audit was created as an off-year audit to complement the FPA-SAFE Audit, but FPA has not limited how customers can use this product. Some customers may be fully satisfied by the information collected within the Express Audit and make this their product of choice. The Express Audit will also focus on corrective actions identified during the previous year’s audit and close out those concerns that were raised. Additionally, the Express Audit will notify the user when structural or management changes have occurred so that the user, if desired, can ask the supplier to schedule a full FPA-SAFE Audit in the next year.

Customers of the FPA-SAFE program have been very excited about this new offering, as now these large multi-national corporations can use one audit scheme to cover all its needs. With the new Customer Interface available on the SAFE website, companies are now able to collect all audits, and have them available for their in-house auditors in one location. Other companies believe that this new offering will help their suppliers control costs and time lost during an audit. Early feedback from some companies on the FPA-SAFE Operation Committee indicates the depth of the Express Audit would suffice in providing food safety, food quality and food defense information it needs to protect its name brand.

Not only have users of the FPA-SAFE program been excited, but so have the suppliers who are audited. Supplier companies believe the Express Audit will fill an important need for their customers by providing a new option for some facilities with limited size and risks, as well as for complex facilities with excellent audit results from past FPA-SAFE audits, enabling them to cut their audit burden and save valuable time and resources.

The FPA-SAFE staff continues to look for ways to improve the SAFE program. FPA-SAFE believes this product will provide new tools to those who use the FPA-SAFE family of audits. We don’t see this audit as a lesser tool, rather as a different tool that will allow some suppliers to be rewarded for doing an outstanding job on the FPA-SAFE Audit. At the same time, SAFE Express allows for continuity of service within the SAFE program, enabling users to fill all needs using one auditing scheme.

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