How to control External Documents for HACCP

The control of external documents is a requirement of the majority of food safety and quality standards including WQA, SQF and BRC.  External documents are defined as being any document that comes into your business from an external source or a document that has not been developed directly by your food business.

As a food safety auditor, I see many different methods for the control of external documents. However, from an evidence base (proof to support compliance), a food business cannot go wrong with having an external document register.

The register should list the following:

• The name of the external document
• The source of the external document
• The date of the publication of external document
• The location of the external document (where is it stored within your food business)

There is no need to mark the external document in any way if you have it listed on the document register.  To test your current system (mini internal audit), check that the following random documents are currently controlled.

• Certificate of Currency for your Liability Insurance
• Pest Control Bait Location Map
• Customer Requirements / Standard eg. BRC, SQF, WQA, Spotless, Cosco, McDonalds
• Chemical Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS’s)
• HACCP Training Certificates

I am sure that you can come up with many more but these will get you started.  Do you have another method that you use for external document control? Let us know.

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