Guidelines on the audit process for sites

supplying Tesco.
Author: Sarah Ogston-Gray

Applicable to: Product:

Country:

Date Issued: 25th March 09

Food,
Formulated Non Food
Group

Date Revised: 20 Apr 11 Revision Due: 20 Apr 13

Version: 2.0

Legal and Technical Document Matrix No: 348

Tesco Stores Ltd. All Rights Reserved. This document is supplied by Tesco for use of the immediate recipient

CONTENTS
Page
Background

1.

Aim

2.

Scope

3.

New Suppliers / Sites

4.

Existing Suppliers / Sites

5.

Who will Conduct the Audits

6.

Audit Preparation

7.

Structure of a Tesco Audit

8.

Definitions

9.

Audit Classifications for PIU Maintenance Audit Only

10.

Immediate Actions for PIU Maintenance Audits Only

11.

Audit Report & Corrective Actions

12.

Audit Charges

13.

Auditor Consistency

Appendix 1:

Third Party Certification

Appendix 2:

Rules for Conflict of Interest

Page 1 of 7

Background
All manufacturing sites supplying Tesco brand, must ensure the supply of safe and legal
products and protect the Tesco Brand. Sites must therefore comply with the relevant Tesco
manufacturing standard and to ensure compliance, sites will be audited.
1.

Aim

To define for suppliers and manufacturing sites how the audit process will be undertaken
(including site grading and the reporting process).
2.

Scope

This guideline covers the audit process for the supply of Tesco brand products (including loose
product) and relates specifically to the auditing of Tesco Standards 347 and 396.
3.

New Suppliers / Sites

All new primary sites and will be audited against the relevant manufacturing standard prior to
supply. This audit will be known as an Approval Audit.
Tesco TM will organise the approval audit with the site/supplier. Information such as HACCP or
Risk Assessment may be requested prior to the audit.
The audit will typically take 2 days. Approval to supply will be given, based on the sites ability to
meet the criteria. The audit result will be either Approved or Not Approved
The site will not be allocated a Blue, Green, Amber or Red result (BRAG) at this stage.
4.

Existing Suppliers / Sites

All primary sites will be audited against the relevant manufacturing standard at a frequency
determined by risk assessment. This audit will be known as a maintenance audit.
There will be approximately a 9 months gap between an approval audit and the maintenance
audit.
The risk assessment will be completed by the Tesco TM with Trading Law & Technical. The
maximum time interval between audits will be 2 years; however it is likely that audits will be
more frequent dependant on the risk assessment. Sites will be allocated a BRAG rating (see
section 9) based on first maintenance audit.

Sites which obtain a RED rating (see section 10) will be audited again in approximately 6
months.

Sites which obtain an AMBER rating (see section 10) will be audited again in
approximately 12 months (to be determined by Tesco).

Sites which obtain a DOUBLE AMBER rating (see section 10) will be audited again in
approximately 6 months (to be determined by Tesco).

The audit frequency for sites which obtain a Green or Blue rating (see section 10) will be
annually, unless risk assessment determines a longer frequency.

The audit will generally take between 1.5 and 2 days dependant on the size of site, number of
employees and complexity of products produced.
Following the risk assessment, all sites will be audited on an ongoing scheduled basis and sites
should anticipate that this will be unannounced.
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Where impractical (determined by Tesco due to circumstances or site location), sites will be
contacted in advance of the impending audit to arrange a convenient date. It is Tescos
expectation that this date will be within a maximum 3 week window and it should be noted that
sites unable to agree a date within this window, may then revert to the unannounced audit
programme.
Audits may start at any time of any day and be targeted to specific product / seasonal issues.
Secondary sites may be audited dependant on Tesco risk assessment.
Additional types of audits may also be undertaken:

5.

A Tesco Product Specification Audit A detailed audit against the active specifications
held on the Technical Library.

A Tesco Hygiene Audit A specialist audit that can be requested by Tesco Technical
Managers (possibly from issues highlighted during the PIU Maintenance Audit) to help
resolve specific hygiene concerns.
Who Will Conduct the Audits

Approval Audit
The audit will be completed by the Tesco TM or an Approved Tesco Auditor.
Maintenance Audit
The audit will be completed by an approved Tesco auditor. In exceptional circumstances a
nominated expert may undertake the audit to minimise travel expenditure. The auditors will
carry Tesco photographic identification cards.
6.

Audit Preparation

Prior to the audit, the auditor will require access to the following information (on Tesco
Technical Library where possible):
Map of site location and where possible site plan

Risk Assessment or HACCP Plan

Any current third party certification and report (see Appendix 1)

Copies of previous Tesco audits and / or visit reports including corrective action plans.

Active specifications for all active products

Factory operating/shift times (including scheduled cleaning times)

Pre-planned events e.g. BRC audit, Ethical audit, factory closure

Seasonality information (if the site only produces at specific times of the year)
Failure to make this information available will result in at least one non-conformance being
raised during the audit against section 2 of the standard.

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7.

Structure of a Tesco Audit

Generally there will be five main sections to audit, although additional sections may be added
depending on requirements of the Tesco TM.
a) Opening Meeting The objectives and structure of the day will be agreed. Where
audits are unannounced this opening meeting will be short and auditors will expect to be in
the factory within 30 minutes of arrival.
b) Site Audit - A full and detailed inspection of the site including all storage, production,
and laboratory and employee facilities will be completed. All processes and process
controls will be observed where possible and the compliance to procedures assessed.
It is Tescos expectation that where a site has an area / room in the factory not producing
for Tesco, that the Tesco representative will still walk this area to ensure there is no
impact on Tesco production.
c) Traceability Assessment The site must collate all of the records for one or more
products purchased from a Tesco store or retained sample chosen by the Auditor. The
records will be reviewed to ensure the site can demonstrate that the product has been
produced safely and in accordance with the Tesco Specification.
d) Document Audit General policies and procedures will be reviewed which relate to
production / site activities.
e) Closing Meeting Ideally all non-conformances highlighted during the audit process
will be raised, although additional detail / grouping of non conformances may occur in the
final report. The site status (provisional) will be given based on the evidence gathered
(see section 9). A draft report may be left with the site.
Digital cameras may be used to photograph evidence, on request these pictures can be
viewed prior to the auditor leaving the site. On site cameras may be used as long as
copies of the photographs are given to the auditor digitally when requested.
8.

Definitions

Any non-conformances found during an audit will be classed as:

Critical - Failure to meet a product safety standard or a legal standard; where this failure
puts the customer and or Tesco brand integrity at risk.

Major A deficiency which requires prompt attention to prevent a potential product safety
failure or legal issue from arising; where this failure may potentially put customers or the
Tesco brand integrity at risk.

Minor A deficiency which requires attention to improve Good Manufacturing Practice

standards, Due Diligence documentation (our ability to defend a legal challenge) or to
achieve compliance with Tesco standards.

The auditor may also make recommendations where it is considered that improvements can be
made to further enhance Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) or documentation.

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9.

Audit Classifications for Maintenance Audits only

The audit classifications are dependant on the number and type of non-conformances identified.
Blue (Satisfactory)
0-4 minor non-conformances only
Green (Satisfactory)
5 to 14 minor non-conformances only
Amber (Improvement Needed)
No Critical non-conformances
1-3 Major non-conformances
Less than 35 non conformances in total
Red (Not Satisfactory)
1 or more Critical non-conformances
4 or more Major non-conformances
35 or more non-conformances in total (where at least 1 non-conformance is a Major)
10.

Immediate Actions for Maintenance Audits

Sites should notify the Lead Tesco TM for the site that a maintenance audit is underway and
inform them of the rating on completion of the audit.
Intended corrective actions for the non-conformances identified must be discussed with the
Lead Tesco TM and acceptable timescales agreed.
In the event of a Double Amber or Red audit rating, there will be the following implications:
Double Amber
If the previous audit was also Amber, the site will be rated as Double Amber (Unsatisfactory)
and will be managed in the following way: (it is important that sites are seen to work with Tesco
to improve their operational standards).

New product development will be suspended until corrective actions have been
completed and verified.

Another audit will be conducted in approximately 6 months.

Representatives from the site will be encouraged to attend a Tesco training course
on the relevant manufacturing standard.

Page 5 of 7

Red Rating

A possible EPW or public recall of all affected stock, depending on the severity of
the issue.

No further Tesco production will be permitted until a risk assessment has been
completed by the Tesco TM and Trading Law & Technical. Specific corrective
actions will need to have been completed to resolve the key issues that caused the
Red rating e.g.
a) If foreign body detection procedures were found to have failed, production
cannot start again until the procedures have been corrected, retrained and the
status of the implicated product considered and managed;
b) Where corrective actions may take longer to rectify e.g. significant
GMP/hygiene issues, production may be halted for a number of days.

11.

In the example of issue b) above, the site may need to be visited by the Tesco TM
before production can recommence.

The site rating along with key issues will be reported to Tesco Group Technical &
Trading Law Director.

New product development will be suspended until corrective actions have been
completed and verified.

Another audit will be conducted in approximately 6 months.

Representatives from the site may be asked to attend a Tesco training course on
the relevant manufacturing standard.

Audit Report & Corrective Actions

The audit report will be added to the Tesco Technical Library (Where applicable).The report
should be available in 10 working days from the close of the audit and if sites have not been
received their report, they should contact the Tesco TM.
Corrective Actions will need to be completed and it is imperative that these are sufficiently
detailed. Refer to Guidelines for corrective actions and completion of the audit and visit reports
377.
The TM will have to review all corrective actions and where the information is not sufficiently
detailed they will not accept that this item has been dealt with.
Where TTL is not in place, audit report and corrective action will submit via e-mail, fax or post
mail within 10 working days.
12.

Audit Charges

For UK supplying sites the cost of the audits can be found on the Tesco Technical Rate Card for
Suppliers, which is published on Tesco Link & Tesco Technical Library.
For other Tesco suppliers please raise your query directly to the Tesco Technical Manager.
13.

Auditor Consistency

Tesco manufacturing audits must only be conducted by Tesco Approved Auditors. This may be
a Tesco employee or approved external auditor. Tesco have a robust training programme and
approval process for Tesco approved auditors. Tesco auditors may only audit in an area where
they are approved to do so i.e. they have the required competence.

Page 6 of 7

Tesco has an internal shadow audit programme and conducts regular auditor meetings to
ensure a consistent approach. If you have any feedback on any Tesco approved auditors
please contact the Tesco Technical Manager or email directly to piu.services@uk.tesco.com
(UK only).
14.

Conflict of interest

We have got agreements in place with our 2nd party audit companies relating to any potential
conflicts of interest.
There rules relate to completion of consultancy work and sites where auditors have previously
been employed.
If a supplier has any concerns relating to a potential conflict of interest please contact the Tesco
Technical Manager or email directly to piu.services@uk.tesco.com (UK only).

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