Comparison of official non-compliances and internal non-conformities in a pig slaughterhouse

In the European Union, primary responsibility for food safety rests with the food business operator (FBO). In a slaughterhouse, food safety evaluation depends on the maintenance of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Good Hygiene Practices (GHP), as well as on product and process controls. For these reasons, FBOs must implement a self-checking system (SCS)), to ensure safe meat for consumers, secure animal welfare, prevent transmissible animal diseases, and verify proper implementation of SCS. Previous studies have shown similarities and overlap in official controls and Food Safety Management System (FSMS). The aims of the present study were to compare the non-compliances assigned by the CA during official controls carried out in a high-throughput abattoir (with a daily output of about 3,000 heavy pigs) located in Lombardy region with the non-conformities registered by the FBO in the SCS during a ten-year period (2012-2021), and to examine potential overlapping of SCS and official controls. Overall, 451 non-compliances/non-conformities (NCs) were recorded, and the majority (52.3%) were registered by the FBO. Among all the NCs detected by the FBO and the CA, the majority were assigned to Housekeeping and Hygiene (26.5%), Personal hygiene (13.7%), Maintenance (12.3%), Control of operations (12.1%), and Training (5.6%). Significant differences were observed in the type of NCs recorded among FBO and CA (p < 0.01 Chi-Square Test for independence). For the FBO, the control of the personnel is certainly important, being carried out through the verification of Personal hygiene. The CA was focused, instead, on the Control of Operations. Significant differences were observed in the distribution of NCs in the working areas (hot deboning room, slaughtering room, cold deboning room, cold rooms and changing rooms) based on the origin of the NCs (FBO, CA) (p < 0.01 Chi-Square Test for independence). In the slaughter area, cold rooms, lairage, and quality area (food safety and quality manual, documentation and record-keeping), NCs were assigned mainly by the CA. On the contrary, in the hot and cold deboning rooms, as well as in the changing rooms, the majority of NCs were assigned by the FBO. These differences underline the different point of views between CA and FBO and their purpose. It is important to investigate the comparability of official inspection and self-checking control. Discrepancies in the type of NCs between FBO and CA can be due to different reasons, such as the inherent conflict of interest for the FBOs when assigning NCs to their own company, the likelihood that some NCs are addressed without leaving any documented evidence, the ability of the auditors to recognize them, their sensitivity on specific topics or even their training background. In the present study, the types of remarks varied among the two groups with different areas of focus. Although there could be an overlap between CA and FBO controls in slaughterhouse, it can be concluded that they have different objectives and are both crucial. Due to this overlapping, proposals to reduce the frequency of official inspections should not be considered unless similarity in NCs by FBO and CA is reached over the time.