Insights

Analysis, guides and standards timelines for exporting manufacturers: GFSI, ISO, HACCP, training, ESG and audits.

Audits and inspectionsNovember 5, 2026Preparing for an Outsourced Internal Audit: The Site’s MethodAn internal audit assigned to an external auditor is prepared in four stages: written scoping, documents sent in advance, interviews and a floor walk organised during production, then handling of findings until effectiveness is proven. The site is not staging a show: it is giving the auditor the means to see the real work.
Audits and inspectionsNovember 5, 2026Outsourced Internal Audit Cost vs In-House Internal AuditorsThe cost of an internal audit programme depends less on who the auditor is than on the audit volume your standards, sites and risks impose. With in-house auditors, you pay mainly in time and training; with an external auditor, in billed days. The right calculation compares both, hidden costs and independence included.
Audits and inspectionsNovember 5, 2026Combined QHSE and Food Safety Internal Audit: A Three-Plant CaseA Moroccan food group with three sites was running four internal audit programmes: one for its QHSE system and one per food safety scheme. Workshops were audited several times a year, some requirements never. The answer: one combined programme per site, partly assigned to an external auditor, with the internal team working alongside in pairs.
Audits and inspectionsNovember 5, 2026Food Outsourcing Requirements 2026–2027: What Is ChangingIn 2026–2027, the outsourcing clauses of BRCGS, IFS and FSSC 22000 are not rewritten, but what surrounds them changes. FSSC 22000 Version 7, published in May 2026, extends control of printed labels and laboratory testing; the 2026 BRCGS position statements leave clause 3.5.4 untouched; the April 2026 IFS doctrine clarifies the audit report.
Audits and inspectionsNovember 5, 2026Co-Packer Audit: How to Prepare and Conduct It, Step by StepA co-packer audit is prepared in five stages: a written objective and contract, a questionnaire sent to the site, a remote document review, an on-site day timed to the production of your product, then a full report followed through to closure of every finding. Here is the method step by step, and the checklist so nothing is missed.
Audits and inspectionsNovember 5, 2026Second-Party Food Audit: Auditing Co-Packers and SubcontractorsA second-party food audit is a brand owner auditing the co-packer or subcontractor that makes its product. BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9, IFS Food Version 8 and FSSC 22000 Version 7 all require control of outsourced processes: a certificate that covers the activity entrusted, or an audit by a competent auditor, under a written contract.
Audits and inspectionsNovember 5, 2026Subcontractor Audit Cost: What Drives a Co-Packer Audit ProgrammeThe cost of a subcontractor audit programme depends on five choices: how many co-packers and products to audit, at what level of risk, what role the certificate plays, on site or remote, and which auditor. The day rate comes after. And a report that your certification body or your customer rejects gets paid for twice.
Audits and inspectionsNovember 5, 2026Prepare for a Supplier Audit: Factory Checklist for a Buyer’s VisitPreparing for a supplier audit means preparing the proof that the buyer’s specification is applied on the line that makes its product. Get the objective and checklist in writing, gather documents a month ahead, run the product on the day, test traceability on a real batch and answer findings with root causes.
Audits and inspectionsNovember 5, 2026Supplier Audit in Morocco: How EU and UK Buyers Qualify SuppliersA supplier audit is a second-party audit: a buyer, or an auditor acting for that buyer, checks that a site can deliver safe, compliant product on time. EU and UK buyers sourcing from Morocco and Africa usually combine it with a GFSI certificate, because the audit covers what the certificate does not.
Audits and inspectionsNovember 5, 2026Supplier Audit Programme Cost: What Drives Budget and DurationThe cost of a supplier audit programme depends less on the day rate than on four choices made by the buyer: how many suppliers to audit, how often according to their risk, on site or remotely, and with what follow-up. Without those answers no serious estimate is possible; with them, the budget is built supplier by supplier.
Audits and inspectionsNovember 5, 2026Supplier Qualification in Morocco: An EU Importer Case StudyTypical case: an EU-based importer approves two Moroccan fish canneries and a cherry tomato packhouse. Three valid certificates, three gaps revealed by the audits and the document review: incomplete histamine control upstream, failed line clearance between two brands, and a GLOBALG.A.P. edition that did not meet the end customer’s requirement.