Main Content
Wes Kline, Meredith Melendez and Jennifer Matthews
Anyone who has not scheduled their USDA audit needs to be aware of the documentation needed to
be sent to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture prior to the audit. They will want to see a copy
of your food safety plan, proof of your food safety training, any current water tests, training records
of all personnel, ten days of supporting records (for example – cleaning and sanitizing equipment,
monitoring for wildlife, approved supplier list, etc.), mock recall and a self-audit. Why do they want
the records prior to the audit? It saves time on their end plus it will save the grower money by them
spending less time on the farm.
The audits can be scheduled in two ways either call the NJDA office at 856-839-3388 or go to fvinspection@ag.nj.gov. Use the latest request form so if you have an old form contact them for the new
one. The request should be at least two weeks prior to the audit.
Need for multiple audits.
Crops may be grouped together on the initial request to be included in the audit. The audit needs to
be scheduled so the auditor can see the distinct types of harvest activities. For an asparagus and
tomatoes example, if the asparagus is being harvested during the initial audit while the tomatoes are
growing but won’t be ready for harvest until a later date, the initial audit can cover both commodities,
but an unannounced audit would be used by the auditor to observe the harvest of the tomatoes. Also,
the auditor will want to see all crops listed on the audit request form.
It is an option for the auditee to ask for commodities to be split on different audits. To certify two audits
that occur at separate times for different commodities the auditee would need to let the auditor know
the intention for two audits in the season. There would be a separate audit done, a certificate for each
audit and a website posting for each audit. The certification dates would be separate for each audit
done. The basic hourly rate for audits is $163.00/hr.