Food Safety Audits: Horror Stories and Lessons Learned

Food Safety Audits: Horror Stories and Lessons Learned

Fireside Chat Format: Knowledge is power. Join this curated, deep-dive session with Jenn Lott, a leading FSQA subject matter expert on audits.

Broadcast: May 5, 2026, 2:00 PM–3:00 PM EDT

Hosted by: Food Safety Tech 

Sponsored by: SGS

Food safety audits often reveal far more than gaps in documentation. They uncover the everyday habits, decisions, and cultural weaknesses that can quietly put products, consumers, and brands at risk.

This webinar explores the real patterns behind audit “horror stories,” from records that do not match reality and ineffective corrective actions to allergen failures, pest activity, and weak food safety culture.

Through practical examples and discussion, attendees will gain insight into why these issues happen, what they signal about the system, and how organizations can move from audit preparation to true audit readiness.

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Recognize common warning signs that indicate deeper food safety and compliance failures.
• Understand the root causes behind frequent audit findings, including training gaps, weak supervision, poor record integrity, and ineffective corrective actions.
• Identify how issues such as allergens, pest activity, and staged audit-day behavior can point to broader preventive control weaknesses.
• Evaluate the role of leadership and food safety culture in preventing recurring nonconformances.

Agenda

• When Paperwork Looks Perfect, but the Floor Tells a Different Story
  Explore the disconnect between records and actual plant conditions.

• The “Everyone Knew” Problem
  Examine what employee interviews reveal about training effectiveness and real understanding.

• Pest Activity in a “Controlled” Area
  Understand why pest findings often signal larger housekeeping, maintenance, or preventive control failures.

• The Danger of Backdated or Guessed Records
  Learn why record integrity failures can be more serious than the original missed activity.

• Corrective Actions That Fix the Symptom, Not the Cause
  Identify how weak root cause analysis leads to repeated findings year after year.

• Allergen Failures: The Finding Everyone Fears
  Review cleaning, label control, rework, and changeover risks.

• Audits That Reveal a Weak Food Safety Culture
  Recognize the behaviors and attitudes that distinguish compliance from true commitment.

• When Audit Day Becomes a Performance Instead of Reality
  Discuss how staged readiness hides risk instead of reducing it.

• The Worst Response to a Major Nonconformance
  Understand why defensiveness and delay make serious findings worse.

• What the Biggest Audit Horror Stories Have in Common
  Examine the recurring pattern of small, ignored warning signs that grow into larger failures.

• Closing Discussion: One Piece of Advice to Avoid Becoming the Next Horror Story

Speaker:

Jennifer Lott

Technical Development Director, Certification and Tailored Solutions, SGS North America

Moderator:

Rick Biros

Content Director and Founder, Food Safety Tech

Secure your spot for this webinar. The webinar will be recorded, and all registrants will receive a link to the recording. Attendees of the live broadcast will be able to ask questions and receive a certificate of attendance.

For further information, please contact:

Dominic James
Marketing Assistant
t: +1-201-508-3000