Many agricultural businesses have to undergo at least three types of audits, depending on the market they supply to: a food safety audit, a social (ethical) audit, and, nowadays, an environmental (sustainability) audit. These audits are compulsory to access certain local and global markets. The need for these audits stems from consumers’ desire to know that the food and products they buy are safe to consume, sourced ethically, and do not negatively impact the environment when they are produced.
It is important for a business to be mindful of the difference between a social audit, a food safety audit, and an environmental audit because this will influence preparation for these very different audits.
When it comes to managing these three distinct audits, various departments within the retail sector are involved. The outcomes are assessed by experts specialising in each field, evaluating the respective impacts on people, the environment, and product safety. Combining all audits into one is impractical due to the diverse skill sets required for each category and the need to submit reports to different evaluators. Regarding food safety (BRC or GLOBALG.A.P.), it’s essential to note that these audit reports fall outside the scope of SIZA and its mandate.
A food safety audit/standard focuses on the product-specific quality or general food safety systems used to produce a product, which is done with a focus on the product itself.
A SIZA social audit is a management-system-orientated audit that considers all social and ethical risks within the business related to the workforce. Social audits will likely always be more extensive and longer audits as they will be based on the number of employees in the business to ensure all labour requirements are measured through the implementation of a triangulation approach.
Environmental audits focus on the management systems of the business related to waste, soil, water, biodiversity and ecosystems. The aim is to measure the impact business practices have on the environment. Although there is some overlap in the principles between environmental audits and food safety audits, such as evaluating the use of agrochemicals, for example, the focus of reporting and measurements are different. The environmental audit will measure the impact of the agrochemical on the soil, water and other resources for example, whilst the food safety audit will measure the impact on the product.
SIZA recognises this overlap and has already created an option for producers to combine the SIZA environmental audit with their GLOBALG.A.P. IFA food safety audit to allow for a more cost and time-effective approach. However, it cannot, unfortunately, be seen as duplication because the focus is not the same. While the SIZA Environmental and GLOBALG.A.P. IFA audits can be done on the same day, a social audit cannot be combined with any of these two audits and will be done by a different type of auditor who is an expert in the field of human rights or the management of employees, and will be separate from the food safety and environmental audit.
The benefit is seen in the majority of producers opting to combine their food safety and environmental audits. Since 2021, 73,27% of SIZA members have already used the combined option to avoid duplication and save costs.
For more information on your upcoming audit or structuring your audits more efficiently, feel free to contact SIZA at 021 852 8184 or email werner@siza.co.za.
