How can I prepare for the audit trail portion of my inspection?

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Your inspector will probably focus on records from the past year, but records for five years should be accessible as well.

  • Growers should prepare a copy of your Organic Farm Input Report (OFIR) to show all inputs going back to the last inspection. If there are many redundant input applications, you may prepare a summary OFIR that lists each material applied.
  • Mixed operations (organic and non-organic) should separate organic records so they are more accessible and easy to understand.
  • Processors and handlers must be prepared to track final products back through processing stages to starting ingredients.


The inspector must understand the audit trail before s/he can test it.  Frequently, inspectors have asked a lot of questions to understand an audit trail. Be prepared to explain how your audit trail works.  Prepare a flow chart if your audit trail is complex.  Teach the inspector how your records work; this will make their job easier and faster.

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