Food Safety Challenges: Audits, Recalls, and Global News

 

In this episode of the Food Safety-ist Podcast, we delve into the world of food safety audits, exploring the different types of audits such as HACCP, SQF, BRC, and ISO standards. We discuss the importance of audits in ensuring businesses adhere to food safety standards and how they can be less intimidating if you’re familiar with your system. We also touch on the significance of internal audits and the role they play in preparing for external audits.

We then shift our focus to product recalls, highlighting the recent recall of Movie Time Popcorn due to an undeclared allergen. The discussion extends to the implications of recalls on brand reputation and the importance of traceability in managing such situations.

In our global food safety news segment, we cover a range of topics from the amusingly named ‘zombie deer’ disease affecting wildlife to the serious issue of botulism risks in food products. We also discuss the recent elimination of two key food safety committees in the US and what that might mean for the future of food safety regulation.

Throughout the episode, we emphasise the value-for-value model of the podcast, encouraging listeners to contribute in various ways if they find value in the content. We invite feedback and suggestions to continue improving the podcast for our audience.

Show Notes
FSANZ Recall Notice
https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/food-recalls/recall-alert/superpop-pty-ltd-movietime-popcorn-fizz-pop-sours-110g

Zombie Deer
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2025/03/hunters-beware-of-zombie-deer/

Foaming Garlic Parmesan
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2025/03/spicin-foods-recalls-garlic-parmesan-sauce-after-foaming-reports/

Trump News
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2025/03/president-trump-eliminates-two-key-food-safety-committees/

Transcript

Good morning, fellow food safetyists, and welcome to this episode for the food safety podcast. This is a podcast for those who just getting into the the food safety realm or those who have responsibility for food safety and have sort of either jumped in at it, being forced to do it because you’re starting up your own business or something like that, and haven’t had, you know, let’s say the the, you know, university degrees and qualifications and all that sort of stuff. So but anyway, in this episode, going to be talking a little bit about, audits, the different types of audits there.

Why they’re not so scary? Going to be talking or actually checking presents to see if that there’s any recalls and have a little bit of a discussion about that, and a little bit of a, waffle to see what’s going on overseas. So without further ado, let’s get on with the show. Yeah. Just as a side note, I’m still trying to find music, so I put music in here. So I and now we kick off the show. So, talking about audits, our food safety business or food businesses, can get audited to a number of different standards. There’s, HACCP, there’s SQF, there’s b r c, there’s, the ISO.

Sorry. The f s f s s c 22,000, SQF, the global gap. Now I’m I’m just checking off this off off one of the auditing websites. I haven’t heard of global gap, out here in Australia, but that doesn’t mean to say that it it’s not out there. Anyway, all that. So there’s and then there’s also DFS for your it says prime safe orders for meat. DFSV is obviously for dairy, dairy food safe Victoria. And there’s, WSE audits for Woolworths and I think it’s CFS, CFSMR for Coles. Hang on. Let’s see. Yeah. CFS, which is the Coles food manufacturing supplier requirements.

WSE is the Woolworths supplier excellence. Yep. Woolworth supplier excellence. Anyway, so, yeah, they’re they’re different things. Normally, if you’re supplying one of the majors and then Aldi, Aldi has an audit. What is Aldi standard is? I can’t find it. Anyway, there is there is a standard for LD two. But, anyway, digress for that. I’m not gonna spend all day looking for that. So, yeah, this this is the the idea of these, the audits is just to check that the business is doing what they say that they’re going to do. So for example, if if you’re on a hazard, they’ll check you against the, hazard guidelines within, I think it’s codex. But if you’re doing SQF or BRC, they’ll check your performance and your activities up against the the relevant standards.

So the the b r BRC, GS and SQF, I think. What do we SQF is version nine, and they’re gonna be going to, I think, version 10 next year. Is that next year? Let’s have a look. SQF version. Apologies about this dead air and listening to my tap, tap, tap, tap, tapping away. There you go. Oh, July this year. Implementation and auditing is scheduled for the first half of twenty twenty six. There we go. Yes. Slated for implementation. Anyway, talk about that later on. So now I will let him know. And there’s also, have their four pillar, Smita audits, and things like that. So, oh, forgot about them.

It’s so, going back to it, I will admit, the first time I went through an audit, I panicked and thought, oh, you know, what do I do here? You know, it it’s the thing. If you’re familiar with the system that you’re operating under, then you shouldn’t be, concerned about the you know, an external audit going on. If you’re doing an internal audit, then you need to be, brutal with yourself. And, ideally, if you’re in control of the management system, you, you know, it’s not ideal that you audit it as well because you’re auditing your own work, and you may not be as hard on yourself as what someone else would be. So, you know, the in a perfect world, the best thing to do is to get someone, x you know, someone that that’s not doesn’t have, you know, control of the the QMS in the quality management system to do the orders.

So for that Yeah. So but, you know, it it’s the thing. Any gaps in the, in the system should have been picked up in an internal audit. So, yeah, picked up in the internal audit. So when the external audit comes, depending on, what your previous ranking was, whether you’re on a twelve monthly cycle or a, six month. No. It’s, you know, it it’s things that they should have been picked up. You know, paperwork is a big thing with the audits, And, you know, ideally, your your paperwork relates to traceability and being able to, trace products back if something happens. If there’s a, contamination or misdeclared allergen or non declared allergen, then you need to be able to go in, dig up that paperwork and say, alright. This is what was produced that day. Or if there’s a foreign object, you know, and the foreign object didn’t come from the manufacturer, then you can trace it back. Okay. You know, did the foreign object come from this supplier? Did it come from that supplier? This is the batch that was used.

And it also helps if your supplies have to do a recall. So let’s say, you know, you’ve got, widget flower, and the widget flower, supplier has had to do a a recall on the flower because there’s a, you know, the the level of kryptonite in the widget flower exceeds the accepted level. So then they would contact all their customers and say, okay. Batch XYZed2479, you know, needs to be recalled. So you’d go through your production records, find out whatever item has that batch number in it, and then go through the process of, recalling it from the system. Now, a a recall like that, your supplier would be the one that would be responsible for the recall, and it would get particular messy, because who pays for it? Our recalls can, depending on the type of the recall, can cause a bit of, you know, loss of trust in the brand.

And then, you know, it it’s and then there’s the the associated reputational damage. I mean, have a look at, the, what was it, iodine, recall for Vitasoy. Let me have a look. No. It’s not. It’s bonsai. My apologies. Bonsai. That was 02/2009. So, yeah, bonsai, because it had, too much iodine, caused nine adults aged from 29 to 47, one child, to have thyroid problems. Subsequently, testing of, bonsai soy milk revealed unusually high levels of iodine. The brand of soy milk was enriched with combo, which is a seaweed product. So, yeah, that was you know, it’s it’s it’s one of those things that it does happen.

And, you know, how I mean, has has how long it’s been, what, ten, fifteen, sixteen years since that? You know? I know it caused a lot of, doubts about the suitability of the product once it became back on the market. And I I know I’m going back to 02/2009. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with the product now. To be perfectly honest, I do drink, bonsai and vitasoy depending on what mood I feel like and, depending on how the bank balance is, because, obviously, there’s a bit of a difference in price. I do prefer to go to those cafes that do use, bonsai when, I go out, and I do feel like a a a soy latte for that. But, anyway, having a bit of a wobble here. So, yeah, it’s it’s one of those things, as I said, a recall and even a withdrawal.

Recall is consumer wide withdrawal is just, hey. Let’s just take it out, bring whatever’s in the supply chain back in. Either one does have the potential to cause, reputational risk to the business, and the idea is to prevent that happening. And we prevent that from happening by following our process systems. Now that really could even you know, all the way from, a approved supplier programs to allergen management, to, you know, testing, you know, end of shelf life testing, both lab and, you know, let’s say, you know, an internal one cooking taste, tasting, smelling, etcetera, etcetera. Yeah. But I’m too depressing here. I meant to be talking about audits.

So this is the thing. So if you’ve done your homework and you know your system, you shouldn’t have a problem, you know, going in with an audit. Some have higher standards than others, but that doesn’t mean to say that you should go through the lowest standard because, you know, if if all your competitors, are making widgets are at, you know, the the, you know, widget standard 52 or widget standard one or whatever it is, and there’s the opportunity to do a widget standard two, three, or four. Obviously, depending on the market that you’re going for and that you’re aiming at, it may be worthwhile, you know, going through a, a a higher standard.

But, you know, that’s a that’s a commercial decision that the business needs to make. So this thing so, you’ve done your homework. You’re you’re pretty confident you’re gonna pass the audit, and the auditor comes in. And what do you do? Obviously, don’t go over the top and greet greet them with open arms and and, you you know, do the whole form routine, talking to them about everything like that. Sorry. Form routine is a, sales or a marketing thing. We talk about family occupation, recreation, and then money. It’s it’s basically pitching for, you know, if you’re trying to sell people stuff. But, obviously, you wouldn’t use that with a with an auditor.

And I talk about money and recreation and all that sort of stuff. But, you know, you you don’t go out there and and be, you know, falling falling down at their feet, falling all over them and and all that sort of stuff. But then by the same token, you don’t, you know, get, start off with an adversarial relationship with them. Because if you’re adversarial with them and making their job hard, then the auditors likely to think, oh, you know what? What are these guys hiding? And if they’re hiding something, do I need to look for it? Which, you know, can drag the audit out, and it can also give you a, you know, a a bad result. So ideally, what you need to do you know, what I found from experience is that when the audit comes, time for the audit, instead in the you know, there’s the opening meeting, talk about it, and then there’s the, agendas and all that sort of stuff. And just be open and honest with them and say, hey. You know what? This is where we think we’re falling down, or this is what we you know, gaps that we’ve seen. We’re improving it. We’ve identified it at the, last, internal audit.

As long as you’ve got corrective actions in place, and you’ve notified you know, you’ve you’ve made you’ve identified it, and you’ve made the or you’re you’re notifying people, and you’re making, efforts to improve it, then, you know, you can’t really get or you shouldn’t really get pinged on it because you’ve identified that it’s a problem, and you’re putting measures in place to prevent it, happening again, for that. The other thing that I wanna talk about with audits is when it does come time with your audit and your audit’s going through and saying this, this, and this, and all you gotta do this, and you gotta do that, Don’t be shy. Don’t be scared to push back on them and say, hey. Hang on.

You know, the standard says this. If you’re pinging me for that, is that based on your interpretation or what? Hang on. Let’s have a look at this standard and train. I’m trying to find a way, that, you know, it can be you you’ve both identified what the problem is, and it doesn’t go through a major nonconformance or or anything like that. It might just be an observation because your interpretation and that comes down to the other thing too, is when auditors are auditing your your, management systems or your business, it’s only based on their interpretation.

There’s, you know, there there isn’t things that said, you know, this is what the business should I mean, you should do in this situation. This is what the business does here. This is what the business does there. So, you know, it’s an interpretation. You know, there’s, a lot of musts and shells and shoulds all through through the, various standards. Obviously, must is something that you definitely must do. You shall and you should, I think, is a little bit different to a could, a little bit higher than a could, but definitely not a must or, you know, you should do this or you should do that. Does it you know, do you do that? Well, if you’ve got a reason for not doing it, well, put that down.

And there. So anyway, you know, these are, you know, things that that aren’t really that bad. Audits aren’t that scary. If you get in if you go into it with the right frame of mind, the right attitude, and everything like that, I think, you know, if you’re new to the system, the first one might be a bit, oh, what are what’s going on here? And after that, once you are aware of how auditing processes work, and everything like that, you know, they should be easy. And as I said, comes back to it, is that how well you know the system yourself. And if you’re aware of your your quality management system, then you shouldn’t have any problems with it. So but, anyway, let me know. Comments and all that sort of stuff, your experience with audits.

What am I gonna go into now? Recalls. Thankfully, there was only one recall, and that was from couple of days ago. Movie time popcorn and fizz pop sours. It’s been sold at spa in Queensland, Drake’s and Priority Health in South Oz, and Manningham Foods in WA. The problem is the presence of an undeclared allergen. So it has gluten in it, for those who are celiac, then that can be a major problem with for them. But, yeah, so best before dates are 10/2025, ’10 June ’20 ’20 ‘5, ’18 June ’20 ’20 ‘5, ninth of July ’20 ‘5, ’20 sixth of August ’20 ‘5, and 09/25/2025.

Jeez. That’s see. I mean and and this comes back to the whole traceability because have a look at the the span of dates that, you know, it goes from the April 10 for for best before product from the April 10 all the way up to the September 25. So it’s, doesn’t say. Stupid. Could be you know, I would have put that down to maybe, one of the ingredients in that. There’s there’s been a a problem with it. Supplies. Let’s have a look. Movie time popcorn. See, I mean, you know, the it doesn’t say what product was contaminated. But, yeah, you know, it it’s the thing. It could have been and, you know, not saying it was or anything like that.

It could just be, something that that happened. Anyway, so comes back to the other thing. Traceability is a big thing. So then, by the looks of it, that big range of dates could possibly be one of their base ingredients or their raw ingredients come from the supplier could have something, and it’s not supposed to. But, anyway, not gonna make any assumptions out of that one. You know, just have a look at the standard dates. But, anyway, as I said, that’s thankfully, that’s the only recall in Australia relating to, any products.

So yes. So, one thing I wanna talk about with this show is that, this show does run on the, value for value framework. So that is that if you get value out of this listening to this podcast or the website, foodsafety.ist, The only thing that I ask is that you return that value back to me. And if you don’t get value of it out of it, hey. Let me know and, you know, I’ll I’ll see what I can do to improve it because this this podcast is here for you. It’s not here for me. You know, I’m not here to to get advertising or anything like that or get big contracts or all that sort of stuff. This is just here to, to help you guys, the fellow food safetyists, to navigate food safety, with rates, audits, standards, and all that sort of stuff. So, you know, adopting the the value for value model. And in line with that, there’s not going to be anything that is members only content, hidden content, premium content, asking for subscriptions or anything like that.

You get everything. So, you know, it’s one thing that that sort of does annoy me, a little bit is where, you know, you you guide looking through a website, and papers do it a lot. Clickbait headlines and hype, you’ve gotta subscribe to find out the rest of it. And yet, you know, you’re looking at ads and and all that sort of stuff. But, yeah, everything here is all for you to look at, all premium. Nothing’s hidden. I’m not gonna give you a watered down version and then make you pay for the work, you know, for something else, you know, to get to get the the ins and outs of anything. So as part of that, there’s, under the value of a value model.

Appreciate it if you could return that value to me in time, talent, or treasure. A time bit is telling other people about this podcast or taking the time to contact me and say, hey. Listen, Cameron, you’ve gotta, you know, you’ve gotta up your game a little bit here. Can you do this, or can you talk about this subject? I’m really struggling with this. You know, all that sort of stuff. Could be anything like that. It could be telling other people about it, improving the pay their listeners to it, talent. Obviously, you’re a food safety person, so you might not be an art person or anything like that.

So but, you know, my website’s fairly basic at the moment. I’d love to have different artwork for different podcasts, podcast episodes, and things like that. But, you know, this is things that happen down the track, and all that sort of stuff. And they know, there’s obviously the the treasure bid. Feel free to, donate. I’m not asking you to or telling you to. I mean, actually, I’m asking you. I’m not telling you to or say that, hey. You need to because, you know, all that sort of stuff. But, you know, this goes just some ways to to reduce expenses or to help cover the expenses that are associated with running a podcast and a website and everything like that. So, yeah, that’s the thing. Time, talent, treasure.

If you wanna know more about it, head over to, foodsafety.ist/mvforv, and you can find out more about it. So, anyway, back onto things that, are happening around the world. And now a lot of these I’m getting from, food safety news, and I will include, links to to all of these things in the show notes. Okay. So, first one, and this was it’s it’s not amusing because of what it is, but it’s amusing because, you know, my my mind went somewhere different. It’s, something from March. It says, hunters, beware of zombie deer. And, you know, it’s just it’s it’s my mind straight went straight to The Walking Dead.

You know, you’ve got all these deer running around zombified, and, you know, just, you know, they they come in to eat you and and eat your brains and and all that sort of stuff, or even zombie land zombies. And, you know, it’s it’s just the thing. That’s where my mind went. But, on a serious note, it is an incurable according to the article, incurable brain disease that’s deadly to deer, elk, and moose. It was from 02/2015, expanded to 23 states and two Canadian provinces since it was first identified in Colorado in 1967.

It’s yeah. It is concerning, that it’s, what is it? It’s called the chronic wasting disease, so CWD, that, you know, there’s all these diseases taking out animals. So, yeah, it’s, yeah, it it’s it’s something that we do need to be aware of. For that, I’m not gonna make I wanna make so many coins here, but I I’m not going to. But yeah. So it it’s the thing is that if you’re overseas and you’re eating wild deer or something like that, just be aware of it now. It says that no cases of transmission to humans have been reported by the CDC, but they do recommend that you do not consume made from a CWD positive deer.

According to the CDC, the high risk parts include the brain, eyes, backbone, and spleen. And that’s that’s something similar with, BSE, ad count. You couldn’t feed brain and spinal matter and all that sort of stuff. But anyway, I just thought that was funny, and and I thought I’d share it with you here. Something else that I wanted to talk about now. This one, I’ve talking about because I was actually listening to something about, botulinum botulinum. So this is Spice and Foods recalls garlic parmesan sauce after foaming report reports. That’s the bottles of foaming when opened.

According to the article, foaming in sealed bottles can signal microbial growth such as Clostridium botulinum, which thrives in low oxygen environments like sources. This bacterium causes a deadly toxin that can contaminate food unnoticed posing a severe risk of botulism if consumed. About botulism, untreated botulism can paralyze the muscles needed for breathing resulting in sudden death. It is and that would be one that is is serious and is something to pay attention to. Yeah. Just because, you know, what you’ll lose them. It’s one of those things. Oh, yeah. Anyway, the other word that I wanted to talk about was, doom and gloom.

President Trump eliminates two key food safety committees. The Trump administration has eliminated two USDA food safety advisory committees that have been in place for decades. The US Department of Agriculture notified committee members of a move on March 6. The committees are the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria of Foods, NACMCF, and the national advisory committee on meat, poultry, and inspection, NACMPI. It doesn’t just sort of says what they are and all that sort of stuff. So the NACMPI was established under Richard Nixon, advises secretary of agriculture on matters affecting federal and state inspection programs.

And the, NACMCF was established in ’88, by the secretary of agriculture after consulting the department of secretary of the department of health and human services. And the formation of the committee came during the Republican administration of president Ronald Reagan. I don’t know. I don’t know whether it’s gonna be a good thing, a bad thing, or not. There is, you know, from what I understand, is that it’s possible that it’s duplication. There’s different, sources, like, duplication. Same same as what we have about here in Australia. I mean, everything is duplicated. There’s health department at this at the local council level. There’s the state health department, and there’s the federal one. I mean, we’ve got triplication out here.

You know, it’s possibly possible that everything was duplicated out, in The US, and they’re going back to, the relevant things being managed by the states. I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with that one. But, you know, keep an eye on it for But, yeah, you know, it’s it’s the thing. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens, as time goes by. So but, anyway, that’s about it for this episode. Thank you for joining me. I look forward to having you join me on episode five. If you’ve got anything that you want me to pay attention to, anything you want me to talk about, feel free to send an email to notes@foodsafety.ist, or go to the contact form on the website and all that sort of stuff. So, anyway, until next time. Bye for now.