Supplier Audit Checklist

What a supplier audit is

A supplier audit is the point at which you stop relying on a certificate and go and see for yourself. It is a structured visit to a supplier's facility to judge whether the operation actually meets the criteria you have set and whether the supplier is suitable to keep supplying you. The Supplier Audit Checklist exists to give that visit a consistent shape: a header that records the visit and the people involved, a set of blocks that walk through the facility in a logical order, and a simple scale of Compliant, Partially Compliant, Non-Compliant, and Not Applicable that lets you write down what you found without inventing a language for it.

Why it matters

You are the last person in the chain before the product reaches a customer, so the audit is your evidence that the supplier is under control. A written, repeatable audit also lets you compare one supplier with another, follow a problem back through the supply chain, and show a regulator or a customer that you did the checking. Just as importantly, it forces the less visible parts of a supplier's operation — traceability, corrective actions, calibration, record keeping — into the open, where they can be fixed before they become a recall.

What a good supplier audit covers

The 34 items in this checklist fall into six blocks, and together they cover the ground a supplier audit needs to touch. - **Audit header.** Conducted on, prepared by, and location capture who ran the audit, where, and when. - **Management responsibility.** Leadership commitment and evaluation gives you a view of whether the supplier's own management is driving food safety or leaving it to the quality team. - **Core principles.** Infrastructure quality, sanitation protocols, pest control measures, chemical control procedures, personal practices, training and instruction, and handling, storage, and delivery cover the everyday physical conditions of the site. - **Food safety and GMP systems.** Supplier approval, material control, traceability and crisis management, calibrated measurement and test equipment, food safety practices, maintenance procedures, GMP testing, microbiological testing, environmental monitoring, food allergens and chemical sensitivities, foreign material control, good laboratory practices, and process control. - **Manufacturing quality systems.** Document control and record keeping, continuous assurance, corrective and preventive actions, continuous improvement, and labeling approval. - **Regulatory considerations.** Regulatory compliance, followed by a signature and the real start and end times of the inspection.

How to carry out the audit

1. **Fix the plan before you travel.** Agree a date with the supplier, name the people you will meet, and set out the blocks you mean to cover so the visit is not a tour. 2. **Open with the header.** Record conducted on, prepared by, and location, then move into leadership commitment and evaluation to understand how the site is managed before you walk the floor. 3. **Walk the core principles.** Look at infrastructure quality, sanitation, pest control, chemical control, personal practices, training, and handling, storage, and delivery. Check each against what you can see and what the people doing the work tell you. 4. **Work through the food safety and GMP systems.** Ask to see supplier approval records, material control, traceability and crisis management, calibration records, maintenance procedures, GMP and microbiological testing, environmental monitoring, allergen and chemical controls, foreign material controls, laboratory practices, and process control. 5. **Test the manufacturing quality systems.** Review document control and record keeping, continuous assurance, corrective and preventive actions, and continuous improvement. Where you find a deviation, check that a corrective action was raised and closed. 6. **Close on regulatory considerations.** Confirm regulatory compliance and labeling approval against the documents the supplier holds. 7. **Rate every item.** Use Compliant, Partially Compliant, Non-Compliant, or Not Applicable, and write the finding in plain terms when you choose Partially or Non-Compliant. 8. **Sign and timestamp.** Finish with the signature, then record the real start and end times of the inspection so the audit sits on a definite date.

How to rate each item

The checklist uses four ratings throughout: Compliant, Partially Compliant, Non-Compliant, and Not Applicable. Use Compliant when the supplier meets the criterion as written. Use Partially Compliant when the practice exists but is not fully implemented or not fully evidenced. Use Non-Compliant when the criterion is not met. Use Not Applicable only when the item genuinely does not apply to that supplier's operation. Where you choose anything other than Compliant, record what you saw and what the supplier needs to do.

Where this checklist fits

A supplier audit is one part of supplier approval, not a replacement for it. Use the checklist when you carry out the audit itself, and use the traceability and crisis management, supplier approval, and material control items to check that the supplier's own controls reach back down its supply chain. Repeat the audit at a frequency that matches the risk of what the supplier provides, and revisit the corrective and preventive actions from the previous visit before you start the next one.

Frequently asked questions