As we move forward with SWAP and packer on-farm audits for animal welfare and drug residue safety, many producers are now facing 3rd party audits. In the case of SWAP, these audits are randomly chosen sites where an independent auditor visits the site to verify the objectivity of the original SWAP assessor. For packer audits, these audits are being done on grower sites to verify adherence to packer welfare and residue guidelines.

The idea of a 3rd party audit can be intimidating. If a grower/producer is found out of compliance there is the risk of loss of market access.

Veterinary clinics, management companies and others have come forward with a variety of tools to help producers maintain the records and establish the SOP’s increasingly necessary for market access.

One of the best listings I’ve seen of the general information required by many auditors was in the July newsletter from the Swine Vet Center in St Peter, MN. Written by Dr Gil Patterson, this listing of records, policies, certifications and reference materials does a very good job of helping producers and growers recognize their responsibilities as we become an audited and verified production industry.

The listing is available at www.swinevetcenter.com. Click on download of this month’s newsletter to access the listing.