Speak to any Quality or Food Safety Manager about document and record control and you will notice signs of acute stress start creeping in.

A slump of the shoulders, or a few little twitches and some nervous fidgeting with the stapler perhaps. I have yet to find a smile when we start speaking about document and record control. If you are still using a manual system, it is a tiresome paper war, and crafty gremlins always seem to be scampering about, interfering with your perfect system, and getting it perfect can seem to be an impossible goal.

Most auditors know that controlling documents and records is a weak point, and if they start digging around in your document and record control system, it can cause some anxiety – not a fun place to be in if you have a paper or manual food safety management system.