A Verifier's Guide to a Safe Food Pro Verification

So a Food Business you audit uses Safe Food Pro? Here's everything you need to know about how to hold the Verification. 

Whether you are doing a remote or onsite verification, we have some insights on how to navigate around the Safe Food Pro account. 

In this Article

Note: If at any time you feel the Food Business would benefit from more training, please don't hesitate to put them in contact with our team at support@safefoodpro.co.nz to book a meeting. 

What is Safe Food Pro?

Safe Food Pro is a cloud-based Food Safety App. It has been designed and built in New Zealand to meet the requirements of the Ministry of Primary Industry’s Food Act 2014, making food safe and suitable food for both New Zealand consumers and export markets. 

A business’ Food Control Plan is created by answering a set of Wizard questions similar to the MPI “Your template FCP - where do I fit” wizard. Safe Food Pro is always up to date; any amendments, clarifications, new template forms from MPI are automatically included in Safe Food Pro and users informed of the updates. 

Safe Food Pro tells users what to do and when to do it and then tells them who did what and when they did it. Safe Food Pro can also alert the user when important tasks haven’t been completed or when fridge temperatures are outside the recommended range. Each form when completed has to be signed with a digital PIN so the owner and verifier know who has completed the tasks. Safe Food Pro also has a powerful form builder and scheduler; users can create any process that they want their business to follow. This allows users with an evaluated Customised Food Control plan to create their own checklists and forms. 

How does a Food Business set up? 

When a Food Business signs up with Safe Food Pro they are required to run through our Safe Food Pro Food Rules Wizard, this is based on the MPI wizard and is what provides them with the Digital Food Control Plan. 

The Food Business will then be given relevant food safety Forms based on the answers they provided in the wizard. These forms are also based on MPI's Simply Safe and Suitable Requirements. Business owners are prompted to customise a couple of business-specific forms such as cleaning forms to ensure their account is set up to their business needs. 

During the set up the Food Business is required to set up: 

  • Suppliers for Incoming Goods records 
  • Equipment for Maintenace, Temperature Check & Calibration records 
  • Staff for Training & to provide access to the app to complete Food Safety Records
  • Business Details where they tailor their digital food control plan and provide relevant business information & documents e.g. business Floor Plan

Once the setup is complete the Food Business can start completing their Food Safety Forms on the Mobile App! 

Note: Safe Food Pro stores the Businesses Food Safety records for a minimum of the required 4 years, even if the Food Business closes or leaves Safe Food Pro. 

Navigating around Reports

When it comes to Verification you may find the Food Business sends you some records before the verification, this is their choice and can help send relevant summaries for you to read over before arriving at their venue. 

When you are looking through a Safe Food Pro account, this could be either on-site with the Operator, or if it is a remote verification then a login could be provided. 

Accessing Reports

When you get access to a Safe Food Pro account the first place you want to go to is Reports: 

  1. Click Reports on the left-hand Menu 
  2. Click Form Reports from the menu items at the top 
  3. Choose a date range in the top left corner e.g. CUSTOM date range of 3 months 
  4. This will show you a list of all forms that have been completed in that time period 

Filter & Search Reports

Now you have access to every completed form in this account, let's navigate through them: 

  1. Sort the Form Reports by most completed by clicking on the Completed header twice 
  2. This will give you the ability to see forms in the order of most completed to least completed 
  3. Click the green page icon on the right to open the specific report 

If you have a specific form you are looking for then use the Filter option: 

  1. Type in the name of the form in the Filter Forms section in the top right corner
  2. Click the green page icon next to the form to open the report 

Reading Reports

Now you have opened the report it will now show you a breakdown of: 

  1. Date the Form was completed 
  2. Questions displayed in the form with the answers below 
  3. Keep scrolling across to the right to see who the form was completed by (modified by) 
  4. Click the view icon on the far right to open the individual copy of that form 

If you see any Red Text or Blue Note icons, this indicates there was an exception. This indicates something out of the ordinary happened. 

Sending Post Verification Reports 

If the Operator is left with Corrective Actions based around improving Documentation & Record keeping, then the operator can send these documents to you straight from Safe Food Pro. 

This will be done using the method explained above, then exporting it to either a PDF or CSV copy to email straight to you at the required time. 

Where's the Template Food Control Plan?

All Safe Food Pro default accounts will have their Template Food Control Plan document stored in the Resources section. They can access this from either the Mobile App or the Admin Console (Computer Login). 

To find how they Tailored their Food Control Plan, then this can be found in the My Business section: 

  1. Go to My Business 
  2. Go to Food Plan Details 
  3. This page will display all of the tick boxes you usually see in the Template Food Control Plan, condensed into one easy-to-read document. This page here will show you how the Operator tailors their Food Control Plan. 

These questions & sections show on this page based on their answers to the Safe Food Pro Food Rules Wizard. If the operator looks like they have the wrong information, then they can simply update their records by clicking Edit Food Rules. This will take them back through their Food Rules wizard and will update the Food Plan Details as well as the Forms they have available to them in their digital Food Control Plan. 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Question: How long with the Food Businesses records be stored? 

    Answer: Safe Food Pro will store the Food Businesses records for a minimum of 4 years. If the Food Business leaves Safe Food Pro they can export the relevant documents needed, however, we will also still have them stored for the minimum requirement in case they are needed. 
  • Question: Will Safe Food Pro be up to date with the latest Food Safety Requirements? 

    Answer: Yes, the forms in Safe Food Pro will be updated if there are any required changes, these will be automatically updated in our client's accounts. If they are a Group License then we will notify the Group Admin of these changes to ensure we have permission to amend their records. 
  • Question: Where do we find the Business Owners copy of the Template Food Control Plan/Tailored Food Control Plan? 

    Answer: Each Safe Food Pro Customer will have a Template Food Control Plan document uploaded in the resources section for them to access from both the Mobile and Computer Login. There is also the Food Plan Details page (as explained above), that will show how they Tailored their Food Control Plan. 

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