BFQ CAPA Reviewer
Review your CAPA before submission.
Review your completed CAPA with our CAPA tool and avoid unnecessary time, cost and frustration.
Our BFQ CAPA Reviewer is based on extensive audit experience in the food sector and helps food businesses identify where a response to audit findings may still be insufficient before it reaches the auditor and technical reviewer.
Avoid unnecessary follow-up questions and revisions with the BFQ CAPA Reviewer.
The tool can also be used for internal audits.
16+ years of food-audit experience
500+ food audits
Why responses to audit findings may not be accepted by the auditor or reviewer
Examples of common weaknesses include:
- Insufficient objective evidence for the correction. For example, a blank form is submitted instead of a completed form, attachments are missing, or the evidence provided is incomplete.
- Insufficient investigation of the extent or scope of the problem. Consider whether the identified finding could also affect other processes, products, lines or locations. For example, the same issue found on line 2 may also exist on line 4.
- A superficial root-cause analysis. The explanation may stop at ‘the operator had only just started’, without asking what lies behind that first explanation. Is there a second, third or fourth layer that explains why the system allowed the issue to occur?
- Preventive actions that do not adequately address the deeper root cause that was identified.
- Effectiveness verification has not been clearly defined, including the timeframe and responsible person.
What an auditor looks for
The finding, evidence and actions need to tell one consistent story. Each step should connect to the next.
- Finding
- Immediate correction
- Objective evidence
- Extent / impact
- Root cause
- Corrective / preventive action
- Effectiveness verification
Auditor and technical review
The auditor reviews the CAPA response, after which a technical reviewer also assesses it as part of the four-eyes principle.
If the company’s response is insufficiently supported, additional information may be required. Where certification-scheme deadlines apply, the time available for revisions and clarification becomes increasingly important.
If a CAPA is insufficiently supported or is not submitted within the required timeframe, this may, depending on the certification scheme, affect certification status and could ultimately result in suspension of the certificate.
Standards context
BRCGS, IFS and FSSC 22000 each have their own certification processes. CAPA follow-up requirements and deadlines depend on the relevant scheme and audit outcome. Check the applicable requirements and the instructions from your certification body.
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Frequently asked questions
What does the BFQ CAPA Reviewer actually review?
BFQ reviews the submitted reasoning and identifies potential weaknesses before the response reaches the auditor.
Does BFQ write the CAPA for me?
BFQ does not write or complete the CAPA for the company.
Which food-safety standards can be used with the CAPA Reviewer?
BRCGS, IFS and FSSC 22000 each have their own certification processes. CAPA follow-up requirements and deadlines depend on the relevant scheme and audit outcome. Check the applicable requirements and the instructions from your certification body.
What information should I provide for a useful CAPA review?
The more complete the information, the more precisely the CAPA Reviewer can assess where potential weaknesses may lie. Where possible, include the original non-conformity or finding, the relevant standard or clause if known, the immediate correction, the extent investigated, the root cause, the corrective and preventive actions, and the objective evidence that is available or will be submitted.
The people responsible, target dates and how the effectiveness of the actions will be verified are also relevant. The CAPA Reviewer then assesses whether these elements connect logically and identifies where supporting information is missing, too general or potentially insufficiently convincing.
The quality of the review therefore depends directly on the quality and completeness of the information entered.
Can the CAPA Reviewer identify a weak root cause?
Yes. The CAPA Reviewer can flag when a root cause is likely to be too superficial, too general or insufficiently substantiated. This may be the case, for example, when the cause simply repeats the finding, is reduced to “operator error”, or does not explain why the system allowed the non-conformity to occur.
It also assesses whether the root cause connects logically with the selected actions. When the cause and the action do not align, there is a significant risk that only the symptom is addressed rather than the underlying weakness.
However, the CAPA Reviewer does not independently establish the actual root cause. The company remains responsible for investigating, analysing and substantiating the actual cause.
Does the CAPA Reviewer check objective evidence and extent?
Yes. The CAPA Reviewer assesses what objective evidence the company indicates it will provide to support the correction and actions. The actual evidence files are not uploaded to or reviewed within the CAPA Reviewer.
The company remains responsible for the quality and completeness of the evidence. For example, do not submit a blank form as evidence; provide a properly completed and relevant document that demonstrates the action has actually been implemented.
Also make sure that the evidence referred to in the CAPA is actually submitted to the auditor or certification body. Simply mentioning an evidence document in the CAPA is not sufficient if the document itself is not provided.
The CAPA Reviewer also assesses whether the extent of the issue has been investigated adequately. A finding may not be limited to one product or batch and could potentially affect other products, lines, periods, employees, suppliers or locations.
Can I use the CAPA Reviewer before sending my CAPA to the auditor?
BFQ reviews the submitted reasoning and identifies potential weaknesses before the response reaches the auditor.
Can I also use the CAPA Reviewer for non-GFSI standards and internal audits?
Yes. The CAPA Reviewer is designed so that it can also be used for internal audits and for other management and certification standards, including ISO 22000 and GMP+.
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