Food Hygiene Inspection: Key Requirements for Large Food Production Sites Under GFSI Standards

Food Hygiene Inspection - Key Requirements

Introduction

For large-scale food production facilities, hygiene inspections are not just a regulatory requirement—they’re central to protecting global supply chains and maintaining consumer trust.

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarks (including BRCGS, SQF, FSSC 22000, and IFS) set the standard for what auditors expect to see in food production sites worldwide. Failing to meet these requirements can result in lost certifications, costly recalls, and damage to your brand reputation.

This guide highlights the key hygiene inspection requirements under GFSI standards—with a focus on large production facilities that must manage complex operations, multiple teams, and strict compliance documentation.

1. Facility Design and Hygiene Barriers

Under GFSI standards, facility layout must minimize contamination risks at scale. Inspectors will assess:

• Segregation of areas: raw vs. cooked, allergen vs. non-allergen zones.

• Controlled access: hygiene barriers like handwashing stations, boot washes, or airlocks between zones.

• Sanitary design of buildings: cleanable walls, smooth floors, proper drainage, and pest-proof structures.

For large facilities, ensuring staff and materials flow correctly is essential to prevent cross-contamination.

2. Equipment Sanitation and Preventive Maintenance

High-volume machinery must be maintained to strict hygiene standards. Auditors expect:

• CIP (Clean-in-Place) systems validated for effectiveness.

• Sanitization schedules documented and adhered to.

• Preventive maintenance programs to avoid breakdowns that could contaminate food.

GFSI emphasizes not just cleaning but also verification that equipment remains hygienic between production runs.

3. Staff Hygiene and Training Programs

With hundreds or even thousands of staff, personal hygiene becomes a systemic challenge. Inspectors check for:

• Adequate facilities for handwashing, gowning, and PPE.

• Strict compliance with protective clothing policies.

• Regular, documented training on hygiene protocols for all employees, contractors, and visitors.

Large facilities must demonstrate that hygiene is embedded in the company’s food safety culture—a key focus in the latest GFSI revisions.

4. Storage, Transportation, and Temperature Controls

Production sites with large inventories must demonstrate control over:

• Cold chain management: accurate, continuous monitoring of chilled and frozen storage.

• Segregation of raw materials, allergens, and finished goods.

• Transportation hygiene checks for inbound and outbound logistics.

Under GFSI, all of these controls must be documented and traceable.

5. Pest Control and Environmental Monitoring

Large facilities require robust systems to prevent pests and monitor environmental contamination. Inspections typically review:

• Professional pest control contracts with documented site maps and monitoring logs.

• Environmental monitoring programs (EMP) testing for pathogens (e.g., Listeria, Salmonella) in high-risk areas.

• Corrective actions taken when EMP results exceed acceptable limits.

• 
  

6. Documentation and Record Management

For GFSI, “If it’s not documented, it didn’t happen.” Inspectors expect:

• Cleaning and sanitation records.

• Calibration logs for monitoring equipment.

• Training and competency records.

• Corrective action reports linked to previous non-conformities.

At scale, managing this volume of paperwork across departments and sites is a significant challenge.

Streamlining GFSI Hygiene Inspections with Digital Tools

For large production facilities, managing GFSI requirements manually is inefficient and error-prone. That’s why leading food manufacturers are turning to digital inspection platforms.

Inspectle Food supports enterprise-scale compliance by offering:

• Customizable GFSI-aligned hygiene checklists.

• Real-time data capture with mobile devices across multiple teams.

• Automated, audit-ready reports in GFSI-compliant formats.

• Task management tools to assign and track corrective actions enterprise-wide.

• Cross-site analytics to benchmark performance and spot trends across facilities.

This transforms inspections from a burden into a centralized compliance and performance management system.

Conclusion

In large food production facilities, hygiene inspections are complex but critical. To meet GFSI standards, companies must demonstrate control over facility design, equipment sanitation, staff hygiene, storage practices, pest control, and documentation—all at scale.

By combining these requirements with digital platforms like Inspectle Food, businesses can reduce risk, improve efficiency, and stay audit-ready across global operations.

👉 See how Inspectle Food helps large food manufacturers meet GFSI hygiene inspection requirements and simplify compliance at scale.