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Most food-safety certificates on the market are the result of an audit the factory knew about months in advance. Ours is not. Since 2020 we have been on the BRCGS unannounced programme, which means the auditors can turn up on any working day in a four-month window. Here is how the last one went.

07:40 — the gate

Two auditors, one car, no phone call. The security guard follows the procedure on his clipboard: check IDs, call the quality office, do not let anyone touch a phone to warn the line. I met them in reception at 07:52. The plant was running mango.

Day one — the floor

Before any documents, they walk. Raw-material intake, the cutting line, the tunnel, packing, the cold store, the loading dock, the changing rooms, the chemical store, the waste area. They open cupboards, swab a knife handle, read the last three entries in the metal-detector log and ask the operator, not me, what she does when the detector rejects a pack.

An announced audit shows the factory you built for the auditor. An unannounced one shows the factory your customer actually gets.

Day two — the paper

HACCP plan, traceability challenge (one lot number, forward and backward, within four hours), supplier approvals, allergen management, pest-control records, calibration certificates, training files. The traceability test took us fifty-two minutes.

The result

• Grade AA, unannounced — the highest available.
• Two minor non-conformities, both closed within 28 days.
• Certificate valid for twelve months; next visit could be any day from March.

Why volunteer for this

Because our buyers ask us for proof, and a scheduled audit proves less. Because it keeps the whole team honest every day, not just in audit week. And because the day the auditors arrive unannounced and find nothing wrong is, quietly, the best day of the year for the quality department.