An internal audit is your site checking itself before the certification body does. A supplier audit is the same discipline pointed up the supply chain. ASC’s online course teaches both against the food safety management system standards South African sites are certified to, and gives you the templates to run them, in about 20 hours.
- Audit programme and plan
- Opening and closing meetings
- Evidence and interviews
- Grading findings
- Root cause and corrective action
- Supplier audits
Internal and Supplier Auditing Practices based on FSMS
Four modules and a case-study assignment that take you from what the standards require to an audit programme you can run and defend, with audit templates you keep.
Prices are in South African rand. The smaller figures under each price are indicative conversions at today’s exchange rate. You pay in rand and your bank sets the final rate.
Internal and Supplier Auditing Practices based on FSMS
For internal auditors, supplier auditors, QA and QC managers and food safety team members who plan, run and follow up audits of a food safety management system.
- What ISO 22000, FSSC 22000, BRCGS, IFS Food and GLOBALG.A.P. require
- The annual audit programme
- Audit plans and checklists
- Opening and closing meetings
- Evidence from records, observation and interviews
- Grading non-conformities
- Correction versus corrective action
- Root cause with the five whys
- Supplier audits and approval
- Checking that the fix worked
R3 650About 24 hours · templates included · certificate on completion
Courses that sit well alongside it
Food Safety Inspections and Audit Readiness for QCs and HACCP Teams
For the QCs and HACCP team members who do the monthly inspections and get the site ready for the auditor.
R1 699About 9 hours
View the course
Conducting a Root Cause Analysis
For the people who close the findings: fishbone, five whys, fault trees, 8D and corrective action that holds.
R2 350About 16 hours
View the course
ISO 9001:2026 Internal Auditor
For sites that also hold ISO 9001 and audit the quality management system clause by clause.
R4 670 R3 850About 14 hours · limited period price
Auditing bundle: both food safety auditing courses
Audit Readiness plus Internal and Supplier Auditing for R4 159 instead of R5 349, a saving of R1 190.
Training a team of internal auditors? ASC runs group enrolments for food manufacturers, packhouses and distributors. Get a group quote.
What each standard asks of your internal and supplier audits
Every certified food safety management system needs an internal audit programme and a way of approving and monitoring suppliers. The wording and the minimums differ by scheme, and auditors check the programme against the scheme you hold.
| Standard | Internal audits | Supplier control |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 22000:2018 | Clause 9.2: audits at planned intervals, based on the importance of the processes and previous results, by objective and impartial auditors, with results reported to management. | Clause 7.1.6: criteria to evaluate, select, monitor and re-evaluate external providers of processes, products and services. |
| FSSC 22000 | Built on ISO 22000, so clause 9.2 applies, and the programme must also cover the FSSC additional requirements. | ISO 22000 clause 7.1.6, plus the FSSC additional requirement on the management of services and purchased materials. |
| BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9 | Clause 3.4: a risk-based programme covering the whole system, spread over at least four dates in the year, by trained auditors independent of the area audited, plus a separate programme of documented site inspections. | Clause 3.5: risk-based approval and monitoring of raw material and packaging suppliers, through certification, supplier audit or, for low-risk suppliers only, a questionnaire. |
| IFS Food Version 8 | Section 5.1: internal audits covering all IFS requirements at least once a year, and site inspections. | Section 4.4: a documented process to approve and monitor suppliers, based on risk. |
| GLOBALG.A.P. IFA v6 | Option 1 producers complete a self-assessment against the checklist every year. Option 2 producer groups run an internal audit of the quality management system and an internal inspection of every member. | Controls on bought-in inputs such as planting material, fertilisers and plant protection products, and on subcontractors. |
Clause numbers refer to the current editions. Always check the version your certificate is issued against. For the audit method itself, ISO 19011 gives the guidelines most schemes lean on: read ISO 19011 and your food safety internal audits.
How to grade what you find
A finding has three parts: the requirement, the evidence and the gap between them. The grade decides how fast it must be fixed. The course practises grading on case-study evidence, because this is where new auditors are least consistent.
The requirement is not met
A significant failure, a requirement missing altogether, or a risk to food safety or legality. Correct it at once, find the root cause, and verify the corrective action before the finding is closed.
A lapse, not a breakdown
A partial or one-off failure that does not undermine the system. Agree a corrective action and a date, then check it at the follow-up or the next audit.
No requirement broken
A risk or an improvement worth recording. Action is at the site’s discretion, and the next audit checks whether it became a non-conformity.
Some schemes add a higher grade. BRCGS, for example, uses a critical grade for a serious food safety or legal failure. For the writing itself, read how to write a food safety audit finding that gets fixed.
Is your internal audit programme doing its job?
A programme can meet the letter of the standard and still find nothing. These are the patterns certification auditors notice first.
Signs it is not working
- Most audits report no findings.
- Auditors audit their own department.
- The checklist is the standard’s clauses with yes and no boxes.
- Audits bunch up in the month before the certification audit.
- Every finding is closed with “staff retrained”.
- High-risk suppliers are approved on a questionnaire alone.
- The certification body finds what internal audits missed.
- No one checks whether corrective actions worked.
What a working programme looks like
- Frequency set by risk and by previous results
- Every clause and every area covered across the year
- Trained auditors who are independent of the area
- Evidence from records, the floor and the people who do the work
- Findings written as requirement, evidence and gap
- Root cause found before the corrective action is chosen
- Effectiveness checked, not assumed
- Results taken to management review
Four modules and an assignment
Standards, requirements and the FSMS
Why internal audits matter for food safety performance and not only for the certificate, and how they fit into the management system.
Audit requirements by standard
What ISO 22000, FSSC 22000, BRCGS, IFS Food and GLOBALG.A.P. each require of internal and supplier audits, and how the requirements compare.
The audit process
The audit programme, audit plans, the opening meeting, conducting the audit, audit principles, the closing meeting and auditor competence, with templates and worked examples.
Report and follow-up
Correction, corrective and preventive action, problem solving, the five whys, corrective action requests, verifying effectiveness, and findings serious enough to threaten a certificate.
Case-study audit
Plan an audit, raise and grade findings and recommend corrective actions on a realistic case, then receive feedback on your submission.
Templates you keep
- Annual audit programme
- Audit plan
- Audit checklists you adapt to your standard
- Non-conformance report
- Audit report
- Versions you adapt for supplier audits
Who takes this course
- Internal auditors on the food safety team
- Supplier and procurement auditors
- QA and technical managers
- QC managers and supervisors
- HACCP and food safety team members
- Production managers who are audited
- Packhouse and farm quality staff
- Consultants who run client audit programmes
- Staff moving from QC into QA
This is an advanced course. It assumes you know the standard you will audit against. If you do not yet, start with FSSC 22000 implementation, BRCGS Issue 9 implementation or ISO 22000 implementation.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an internal audit and a supplier audit?
An internal audit is a first-party audit: the site checks its own food safety management system against the standard and its own procedures. A supplier audit is a second-party audit: the site checks a supplier it buys from. The method is the same; the scope, the criteria and what you can require afterwards are different.
Does this course make me a competent internal auditor?
It gives you the training part. The standards judge auditor competence on education, training and experience, so the course certificate is your evidence of training, and competence grows with the audits you carry out, ideally alongside an experienced auditor at first.
Is this a lead auditor course?
No. It is for first-party and second-party audits, the ones your own site runs. Certification body auditors need a registered lead auditor course and approval under the scheme they audit.
Which standards does it cover?
ISO 22000, FSSC 22000, BRCGS Food Safety, IFS Food and GLOBALG.A.P. Module 2 compares what each requires of internal audits and supplier control.
How often should internal audits be done?
It depends on the scheme and your risks. BRCGS Issue 9 asks for audits over at least four dates a year covering the whole system. IFS Food asks for all requirements to be audited at least once a year. ISO 22000 asks for planned intervals based on the importance of each process and previous results.
How long is the course and what does it cost?
About 20 hours, online and self-paced, for R3 650. A certificate is issued when you complete the course and its assessment.
Are the audit templates included?
Yes. You get templates for the audit programme, audit plan, checklists, non-conformance report and audit report, which you can adapt for internal and supplier audits.
How is it different from the Audit Readiness course?
Food Safety Inspections and Audit Readiness is for QCs and HACCP teams who do inspections and prepare the site for audits. Internal and Supplier Auditing is for the people who run the audit programme and audit suppliers. Taken together in the auditing bundle, they cost R4 159 instead of R5 349, a saving of R1 190.
Who provides the course?
ASC Food Safety Training, a SAATCA registered training provider, TC 065, and a FoodBev SETA accredited provider, 587/00337/1900.
Can I take the course outside South Africa?
Yes. It is online and in English, and the audit method applies to any site certified to these standards. The price is in rand, with indicative conversions shown on this page.
Read more on auditing
Run audits that find things before the auditor does
Online and self-paced, from an accredited training provider, with templates you keep and a certificate when you complete it.
- Enrol onlineR3 650, paid in rand.
- Study at your paceAbout 24 hours, on any device.
- Complete the assignmentA case-study audit, with feedback.
- Get certifiedDownload your certificate.
This page is educational and does not replace the requirements of your certification scheme or advice from your certification body. For help building an audit programme or auditing suppliers on site, visit ascfoodsafety.com. Browse all ASC courses.