Improving the confectionery industry supply chain through second party audits

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate benefits and constraints of improving suppliers’ quality and food safety systems through second party audits. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative quality and food safety audit tool was developed to perform second party audits within the confectionery industry supply chain. Nine flourmills and four food packaging producers were included in the audit program. Initial audits were performed at the beginning of the program, with follow-up audits performed after one year. Findings – Level of implementation of food safety and quality requirements were presented as scores. Flourmills improved their scores from 38.6 to 64.4 percent during the period of two years. In contrast, at the end of the second year, food packaging producers showed a lower level of improvement from 34.0 to 45.6 percent. This research confirmed that certification status does not imply high performance of a quality/food safety system. Companies experienced problems in identifying processes, setting performance indicators and objectives and implementing problem solving tools. Quality control has been identified as a dimension where most companies do not document their control methods and have no method in place to verify consistency in their results. Control of risks in terms of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point implementation was identified as the main food safety constraint. Research limitations/implications – Limitations of the research stem from the use of results from one part of the confectionery supply chain, from auditing a limited number of companies and from excluding the technological level of the audited companies. Practical implications – This study provides a valuable insight for quality and/or food safety assurance managers on benefits of using second party audits as a supply chain developing tool. Originality/value – The findings of this study are worthy, as second party audits are identified as slow but effective tools in directing suppliers toward improvements.