Non-Conformance and Corrective Action Report
v3.0
Purpose. Records a deviation from a critical limit, specification, work instruction or regulatory requirement and the corrective and preventive action taken.
1.When to raise a report
Raise a Non-Conformance Report when a critical control point limit is exceeded, when product fails a specification or an inspection, when a pre-operational hygiene item fails on re-inspection, when a customer complains about product quality or labelling, or when an audit finds a departure from the Approved Arrangement.
2.Product disposition
All product affected by the non-conformance must be identified, placed on hold and tagged before the report is completed. The Quality Assurance Manager or delegate will decide the disposition: release, rework, downgrade, divert to pet food or rendering, or destroy. The disposition and the quantity must be recorded on the report.
3.Root cause
Identify the root cause using the five whys method or a cause and effect diagram, and record it in plain language. A root cause is the reason the failure was possible, not a restatement of the failure itself.
4.Corrective and preventive action
Corrective action fixes the immediate problem. Preventive action stops it happening again and normally involves a change to a work instruction, training, equipment or monitoring frequency. Each action must have an owner and a due date.
5.Verification and close out
The Quality Assurance team will verify that each action has been completed and is effective before closing the report. Reports open for more than 30 days will be reviewed at the monthly quality meeting.