The Great Auditor Crunch—And What's Being Done About It

The role of the food safety auditor is evolving. The pandemic-fueled labor crisis has worsened an acute shortage of certified, experienced auditors and those entering the profession. According to recent estimates, there is roughly one food safety auditor for every 35–40 food manufacturing facilities in the U.S. The loss of even one auditor can send ripples throughout local and regional food manufacturing chains.   

It Can Be Tough Out There

Auditors are expected to be highly skilled, have years of experience under their belts, and travel frequently—particularly pre-COVID-19—while spending long hours on a number of simultaneous audits, usually as independent contractors. Ongoing training requirements sometimes pull auditors out of the field, which can exacerbate the existing auditor shortage. This is a problem because food audits aren't only essential for ensuring food safety, but also for helping guarantee food security—particularly in the midst of a supply chain crisis like the one we're experiencing now.

Efforts to attract and retain food safety auditors—such as the Global Food Safety Initiative's (GFSI's) introduction of benchmarking requirements for food safety auditor professional recognition bodies in November of last year—are designed to raise the profile of auditors and verify their competence. Such certification efforts are hoped to highlight the essential role of food auditors and increase take-up of the profession. But the trepidations that prospective auditors may have about the job—the long days and nights of travel, the difficulty of the work, and the enormous amount of multitasking required—are being countered by another, less obvious force: technology.

Tech to the Rescue

Advances in many different kinds of technology are bringing much-needed aid to the auditor profession. One highly visible change prompted by the pandemic is the use of digital inspection tools to supplement in-person audits or to conduct entirely remote audits. These tools have been successfully employed over the past two years by auditors across many industries—not just food.  

Prior to a third-party audit, internal audits are important for regularly assessing that safety protocols are being followed. Here, too, new digital technologies are helping FSQ team leaders optimize their inspections. New software tools that can be used on PCs, tablets, and smartphones help organize auditing documents, checklists, and reports and also streamline the digitization of records, making burdensome pen-and-paper audit records a thing of the past. By digitizing records, it is also easier to analyze audit data for trends and pinpoint areas for improvement. This aids the internal and third-party auditors, as well as the business as a whole.  

Another way to improve auditors' jobs and make the entire food system more efficient is for companies to use tracking technology to trace their food from suppliers all the way through to retail. A number of large buyers already demand that suppliers employ such tracking technologies. An example is Walmart, which required all its suppliers of leafy greens to use blockchain tracing technology starting in 2019. Having this kind of data readily available increases transparency and can help streamline the auditing process.

In line with these trends, food businesses will increasingly rely on emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, to drive their data analytics and supply chain performance. Along with availability of more data comes the ability to assess food manufacturing sites based on individual risk and location, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach for audits and inspections. This could serve to reduce the number of routine, third-party audits, which would lessen the strain on the food auditor community.

The Need for Auditors Continues

This increased dependence on technology doesn't mean that new auditors will find themselves out of a job—quite the opposite. Third-party audits will still be required for both domestic and foreign food, and onsite audits will continue to be necessary in many cases—e.g., when a foodborne illness outbreak requires close inspection of a facility. Technology adoption will move at different speeds in different locations and industry segments, which will keep auditors learning and (hopefully) invested in the evolution of their careers.  

While GFSI and other organizations work to enhance the attractiveness and opportunity of the auditing profession, there is a need for more pathways to get there. Many in the food safety community have pointed to the lack of both entry-level positions and defined career trajectories as deterrents for would-be auditors. Better opportunities and higher career visibility, combined with increased assistance from technology, will attract smart candidates. These candidates will, in time, develop the experience necessary to become highly skilled, tech-savvy auditors. As more of these auditors remain in the workforce, they will be visiting your facility via video or onsite, year after year, to help ensure that your operation is running as safely as you need it to.