Feed CAR

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All auditors shall possess the attributes described in clauses 4, 7.2.2 and 7.2.3.2.a in ISO 19011:2018.

Table A – Feed Auditor qualifications and competencies

Auditors evaluating feed requirements in ASC audits shall possess the following qualifications and competencies.

Qualification/CompetencyRequirement
1. Educationa) The individual shall have at least a post-high school diploma or equivalent (minimum course duration of two (2) years) obtained in a discipline related to the scope of certification; (e.g., feed manufacturing / Milling / Animal Nutrition); OR

b) In exceptional cases practical experience[8] can be regarded as equivalent. These cases shall be documented.
2. Work Experiencea) The individual shall have at least three (3) years of experience relevant in a feed / animal nutrition related discipline in a production / manufacturing environment. 

b) The individual shall have experience in conducting or auditing risk assessments. (E.g., food/feed safety, environmental risk assessments).
3. Languagea) Unless accompanied by an independent interpreter, the individual shall be a fluent speaker and reader of the language(s) used by managers, administrators and workers of the UoC being audited.

b) The individual shall communicate effectively through an interpreter.

c) The individual shall have knowledge of the technical language employed in the manufacturing / production of feed products.
4. Audit traininga) The individual shall have successfully completed a Lead Auditor training course based on ISO 19011 principles that has a minimum duration of thirty-seven (37) hours. The certificate shall specify the course content and duration. Successful completion shall be indicated on the certificate. The Lead Auditor training course shall cover: applicable standards on quality auditing, auditing techniques, focus of the audits (psycholoical aspects and communication) and reporting, it shall also include a practical case study, AND

b) The individual shall have undertaken and successfully completed an ASC approved auditor training course or courses in relation to specific standard and certification requirements, as required by the ASC, AND

c) The individual shall complete the ASC training for new requirements as specified by the ASC within the deadlines set by ASC.
5. Audit Experiencea) The individual shall initially have completed a minimum of ten (10) days of on-site audit experience in conducting audits (either for, animal feed, (e.g., GlobalG.A.P CFM, GMP+, BAP,) food safety or  environmental  third-party certification audits); OR The individual shall have actively participated in at least two (2) ASC feed audits as a trainee, AND

b) The individual shall have undertaken at least one (1) satisfactory ASC audit witnessed by the CAB’s  competent ASC feed auditor before final sign-off;

Link to Variance request QA0434_Feed_Feed CAR v1.0.1_Table A 5. b)

c) The individual shall be witnessed by the CAB’s competent feed auditor at least once every 3 years to maintain ASC auditor qualification.

Table B – Social auditor qualifications and competencies

Auditors evaluating social requirements in ASC audits shall possess the following qualifications and competencies.

Qualification/CompetencyRequirement
6. Social auditing qualificationThe individual shall have one or more of the following qualifications or equivalent in content and duration:

a) Has successfully completed a SAAS approved 5-day SA8000 basic auditor course, OR 

b) Has successfully completed the Verité five day “EICC Labour & Ethics Lead Auditor Course”, OR 

c) Is an APSCA-approved auditor with category Certified Social Compliance Auditor (CSCA)
7. Social auditing experiencea) The individual shall have participated as an active audit team member in at least five (5) third party audits for one or more of the following schemes, at least two (2) of which are audits in manufacturing facilities:

Link to Variance request QA0420_Feed_Feed CAR v1.0.1_Table B 7. a)

  • Amfori (Business Social Compliance Initiative – BSCI)
  • Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code (including SEDEX SMETA)
  • Fair Trade USA
  • Fairtrade International (FI)
  • Goodweave (Rugmark)
  • International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI) – Code of Business Practice
  • Social Accountability International (SAI) SA 8000
  • Worldwide Responsible Apparel Producers (WRAP) – Code of Conduct
  • ASC audits that include full assessment of social indicators.
b) The individual shall have undertaken at least one (1) satisfactory social audit under the supervision of the CAB’s competent social auditor for any of the schemes listed in requirement 7 (a) 

c) The individual shall be witnessed by the CAB’s competent social auditor for any of the schemes listed in requirement7 (a), at least once every 3 years to maintain the ASC social auditor qualification.
8. ASC Social Auditor Traininga) The individual shall have undertaken and successfully completed an ASC Social Auditor training course, or courses in relation to specific standards, as required by the ASC.
9. Competenciesa) The individual shall have knowledge of local labour and human rights legislation

b) The individual shall have familiarity with local customs

c) The individual shall speak and read the primary local language, unless an independent interpreter makes up part of the audit team

d) The individual shall be proficient in the language of the audit (at least at level B2 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL), if the language is not native to the social auditor

e) The individual shall be able to manage relationships with workers and managers.
10. Continuous professional developmenta) The individual shall conduct at least 3 social audits for any of the schemes in 7a per year

b) The individual shall take part in ASC annual social auditor calibration session

c) The individual shall attend update training or session on topics related to ASC social requirements.
11. Qualifications for ASC feed auditors evaluating social criteriaASC feed auditors evaluating ASC social criteria allowed by the “ASC social audit risk calculator” shall have the following qualifications:

a) The individual shall maintain their ASC feed auditor qualifications.

b) The individual shall have undertaken and successfully completed an ASC Social Auditor training course, or courses in relation to specific standards, as required by the ASC.

c) The individual shall have participated in at least two (2) ASC social audits under the supervision of an ASC social auditor to gain experience in employees interview techniques and employees file sampling.

d) The individual shall have undertaken at least one (1) satisfactory ASC social audit, witnessed by a competent ASC social auditor, before final sign-off.

e) The individual shall be witnessed by a competent ASC social auditor for the ASC program, at least once every 3 years to maintain the ASC social auditor qualification.

Table C – Lead Auditor qualifications and competencies

In addition to the requirements of tables A OR B lead auditors leading ASC audits shall possess the following qualifications and competencies.

Qualification/CompetencyRequirement
12. Audit Traininga) If the lead auditor is a social auditor, the individual shall have successfully completed a Lead Auditor training course based on ISO 19011 principles that have a minimum duration of thirty-seven (37) hours. The certificate shall specify the course content and duration. Successful completion shall be indicated on the certificate. The Lead Auditor training course shall cover: applicable standards on quality auditing, auditing techniques, focus of the audits (psychological aspects and communication) and reporting, and it shall also include a practical case study.
13. Auditor Competencya) The audit team leader should have acquired additional audit experience to demonstrate the competencies described below:
i. Plan the audit and assign audit tasks according to the specific competence of individual audit team members. 
ii. Develop and maintain a collaborative working relationship among the audit team members. –
iii. Manage the audit process, including: 
  • Making effective use of resources during the audit
  • Achieving audit objectives Directing the audit team members, technical experts and interpreters 
  • Coordination and collation of audit findings
  • Preventing and resolving conflicts and problems that can occur during the audit as necessary. 
iv. Represent the audit team in communications with the Client. 
v. Prepare the audit report in conjunction with the audit team.

General Requirements

C1. Audit reports shall be written in English and in the most common language spoken in the areas where the operation is located.

C1.1. The CAB may submit only a report in English for audit reports of UoCs located in countries evaluated as Very High in the latest report by the EF English Proficiency Index.

C2. Audit reports may contain confidential annexes for commercially sensitive information.

C2.1. The CAB shall agree the content of any commercially sensitive information with the applicant, which shall be submitted separately to the ASC and be accessible to the appointed accreditation body upon request, as stipulated in the certification contract.

C2.2. The public report shall contain a clear overview of the items which are in the confidential annexes.

C2.3. Except for the annexes that contain commercially sensitive information, all audit reports will be public including unannounced audit reports.

C3. The CAB is solely responsible for the content of all reports, including the content of any confidential annexes.

C4. The CAB shall submit to the ASC, audit reports or summaries of non-conformities for failed audits or audits that resulted in the suspension, cancellation or withdrawal of a certificate.

C4.1. The CAB shall submit the completed Desk Review Form (Annex G) together with the final audit report. The Desk Review Form will not be published.

C4.2. The CAB shall submit as a minimum, a summary of non-conformities in English of each failed audit within 28 days from the date of the closing meeting or last on-site date.

C4.3. The ASC shall keep these reports published for 12 months and make them available upon request after this period.

C5. The CAB shall include a record of changes if a published final report is updated or corrected.

C6. Audit reports shall contain accurate and reproducible results.

Reporting Deadlines* for certification and re-certification audit reports

C7. Within forty-two (42) days of the completion of the audit the CAB shall submit a draft report written in English and the national or most common language spoken in the area where the operation is located.

C8. Within seven (7) days the ASC should post the draft report to the ASC website.

C9. The CAB shall allow Stakeholders to comment on the report for twenty-one (21) days.

C10. Within twenty-eight (28) days of the close of comments, the CAB shall submit the final report to the ASC written in English and the national or most common language spoken in the area where the operation is located.

C11. Within seven (7) days the ASC should post the final report to the ASC website.

Reporting Deadlines* for surveillance audit reports

C12. Within twenty-eight (28) days of completing the audit, the CAB shall submit a summary of the non-conformities detected during the surveillance audit in English.

C13. Within ninety-eight (98) days of completing the audit, the CAB shall submit a final report written in English and the national or most common language spoken in the area where the operation is located.

C14. Within seven (7) days the ASC should post the final report to the ASC website.

*Refers to calendar days

D1. Language

D1.1. All CAB communication with the ASC shall be in English.

D2. Forms

D2.1. CABs shall use the ASC database to submit Client and CAB information relevant to the Certification Process.

D2.2. Requests for interpretation of the ASC Requirements and requests for variance to these normative requirements shall be made by CABs via the Variance Request & Interpretation Platform.

D3. Public Information

D3.1. The CAB is responsible for control of all confidential information submitted to the ASC on forms that specify public disclosure.

D4. Format

D4.1. Information shall be submitted in the formats specified by the ASC

E1. Scope

E1.1 In addition to the requirements in this document, this annex shall be used by CABs to audit Multi-site UoCs.

E2. Initial Audit

E2.1. The CAB shall conduct an initial audit of Multi-site Clients as follows

  1. All sites shall be in operation and where possible producing ASC product
  2. All sites meet the conditions specified in part B, Section 8 of this document ‘Audit Timing’ and associated pre-requisites. 
  3. Include on-site visits of ALL sites in the unit of certification.
  4. Employee interviews conducted according to Social Audit Risk Assessment Calculator (Annex H).
  5. Files and records shall be sampled at a rate to be established by the CAB taking into account that threats and risk level of the unit of certification are yet to be identified and assessed at the end of the initial audit.

E3. Sites

E3.1. Only sites that are in operation shall be included in the unit of certification of a Multi-site applicant.

E3.2. Sites that are certified under an existing ASC certificate may be added to the scope of a valid Multi-site certificate without a CAB audit if:

  1. The site has received a CAB audit within 12 months from the date of proposed inclusion in Multi-site certificate, and
  2. There are no open major or critical non-conformities.

E3.2.1. The CAB shall ensure that subsequent audits under the new certificate adhere to relevant CAR Requirements to ensure the certification cycle is maintained.

E3.3. Sites may be removed from the scope of an initial audit by the CAB at the request of the Client.

E3.3.1. Removed sites and reason(s) for removal shall be included in the audit report.

E3.3.2. Audit findings of sites removed after the initial on-site audit shall be documented in the audit report.

E3.3.3. Sites that are removed from the scope of an initial audit may only be added to the scope of the certificate at a surveillance, recert or scope extension audits fulfilling the requirements of section 8 (Audit Timing), section 10 (Stakeholder Engagement) and Annex C (Audit Report Requirements) applicable to initial audits.

E3.4. Sites may be removed from the scope of an existing certificate by the CAB

  1. due to a major non-conformity that is not closed out in due time, OR
  2. due to not complying with applicable local regulations as notified by the Client.

E3.5. The CAB shall follow the requirements in section 32 (Suspension, cancellation and withdrawal of certification) of this document when removing sites from a certificate.

E3.6. Reason(s) of site removal from a certificate shall be documented in the next audit report.

E3.7. Sites removed from a certificate may be added to the scope of the certificate once the CAB confirms that:

  1. all outstanding non-conformities are closed following an agreed timeframe between the Multi-site Client and the CAB and
  2. the site complies with applicable requirements.

E3.8. New applicant sites may be added to an existing Multi-site certificate only after a CAB initial on-site audit has been conducted and all open major or critical non-conformities are considered closed by the CAB.

E3.9. The CAB shall prepare a map of the location and boundaries of each site that are included in the unit of certification.

E3.9.1. The map of all sites within the unit of certification shall be included in the audit report.

E3.9.2. The location and name or ID of each site in the unit of certification shall be appended to the certificate.

E3.9.3. If the sites included in the scope of a certificate are different from the sites in a subsequent audit (due to removed or newly (re-)included sites), the CAB shall update the map of the unit of certification.

E3.9.4. The map shall:

  1. be included in the audit report
  2. include all sites within the unit of certification
  3. clearly indicate all sites that were removed from and newly added to the scope of the audit or certificate.

E3.10. The CAB shall update the certificate with an up-to-date list of all sites and their associated facilities (e.g., offsite storage) within the unit of certification and their locations each time a site is added or removed.

A separate excel file is available on the ASC website

The CAB shall use the excel file for Desk Review. This is located on the ASC website.  

The format of the file may be altered to suit the operating system used by the CAB; however, its content shall remain unchanged.

The CAB shall follow instructions in the ASC Social Audit Risk Assessment Calculator and outcomes for planning audits. The tool is excel-based and available on the ASC website.