Egg Shell Production & Biosecurity: Safeguarding the Food Chain

Kristie Grzywinski: Hello and welcome to today's SQF 365 webinar, eggshell production and biosecurity safeguarding the food chain with Validus Where Food Comes From. My name is Kristie Grzywinski and I'm a technical director here at SQFI. It is my pleasure to introduce our speakers to you. Go ahead and put those Oh, what? Before I begin, let me go ahead and do the antitrust statement here. conversations regarding price fixing, boycotting, other trade restrictions are to be avoided even in the chat. So if you see that the conversation is going in that direction just flag us down and we will address that. So thank you to your for your attention to that matter. and let me go ahead and introduce our speakers. today we have Matt Jones who is the vice president of operations at Validus Verification Services. And along with him today we have Ariana Sherman, senior program manager with Validus Verification Services. And before we begin, I'd like to encourage you to put your questions in the chat located below the slide.

Our speakers will try to address the questions as they go along, but we will have a dedicated question and answer period at the end of their presentation. So with that, I will hand it over to Matt.

Matt Jones: Thank you Kristie. before we get started, I'd like to greatly appreciate everybody's time today to be on today's webinar. also I'd like to reach out and thank SQFI for this opportunity. a little background on what we do and kind of the importance of not only egg production but any kind of agricultural sites that would be visited by any third party auditor and that product that's going into the food chain. So that's kind of the focus on today. but kind of our agenda for today, our discussion items is Kristie already did our wonderful introductions kind of outline a few definitions. We're we're in such an acronym world. We talk a lot about acronyms and when we're in that world, everything makes sense to us, but sometimes it's good to step out of that world and ask what does that mean? Right? So we'll we'll cover a little bit of that from a definition standpoint. the difference between an online and an offline facility.

Again, makes sense to us since we're in that world, but provide some photos and some background on what that looks like. Look at it from an SQF standpoint, access control and facilities management, how we look at that from a safe quality food standpoint and within the code that's there. also addressing it from an animal health standpoint. Why is what we do so important? not only to the plants but also to the farms that are involved and how we protect everybody involved that way. the effects of the food safety and quality. So we'll talk a little bit from a food defense, food safety standpoint, business continuity plan. and then the effects, right? What does a what does an effective biosecurity plan look like? and how do we as auditors play a role in that? And then at the very end, we'll have questions and answers. how we typically like to do things is as you have questions, if you could just put them into the chat, Ariana and Kristie are monitoring that they'll flag me down.

I'd much prefer to address them as we come about them then wait to the end, but we can do it both ways. I always like to address them as they come about so that we get them out and address them on that slide that we're talking about. So with that excited to be here and ready to undertake and get started with today's webinar. A little bit about us. so the division that Ariana and I work in is the Validust division. We're part of a larger entity called Where Food Comes From. Our Where Food Comes From company is located in caser rock Colorado and we've been doing this for about 30 years from a verification and audit standpoint. So the Validust division we do the auditing aspect and the SQF audits. We have a division that primarily does beef. We also have a division that does organic. We have a division that does seafood and aquaculture. And then we have a division that does consulting and vineyards, grapes, almonds, things of that nature. So multiple all divisions.

We make up one big family that way from the Where Food Comes From entity. but excited to be here. Ariana's been with the Validus division 11 years now. Myself, I've been here since 2003\. So we've got a little experience and background that way. we currently we're not we're not huge when it comes to volume numbers. We have eight SQF auditors located throughout the United States. And from an SQF standpoint, we specialize in eggs, milk, meat, feed, and pet food. There are the categories we primarily audit to. So all ways that we track it back to the farm that way. and again, thank you for the opportunity and that gives you a little background on who we are and what we do from that standpoint. So, what does it all mean? What do all these definitions mean? So, what we thought we'd do is kind of give you a synopsis of a breakdown. so it's it's easy enough to break down and Google what certain words mean, but I always like to put it in a living context that way. So biosecurity, what does that mean?

So really what biosecurity is, it's protocols, procedures, measures that a company puts in place to protect themselves. everything is looked at as a potential vector that could come into the operation and could present challenges a risk from that standpoint. Right? So it's really what steps do we have to reduce that risk. This is elevated in the work that we do u because a lot of the times the audits that we do from an SQF standpoint, there's a farm associated with it, right? So there could be a dairy if this was a milk or a cheese plant eggs with shell eggs, liquid eggs from that standpoint. So what measures do the does the facility have in place to reduce those risks? we know overall nothing will eliminate the risk. They'll always be a threat from a biosecurity standpoint, from a disease standpoint. So, it's really looking at it, what preventative measures are out there to protect ourselves and not only for the facilities that we're auditing, but also us as auditors, right?

When we're traveling around and going from facility to facility, it's important for us to protect ourselves as well. So, that kind of gives you a large overarching identity, if you will, or a little definition from a biosecurity standpoint. And then a little more on the types of egg farms that are out there. So several times we hear inline offline breaker facilities. What does this mean? How does this what's a true definition and breakdown? So an inline facility means that the plant and the farm are all in the same location. This is important.

This is a key definition to know as a third-party auditor because that also means that the farm and the plant are on the same physical property and there may be additional challenges that arise as a third party auditor especially one that you may not think about because you're focused on going to the plant from a food safety from a food quality aspect but now there's the farm on facility what does that mean to me as an auditor and what do I do to protect myself or prevent again any kind of threat from a disease standpoint. And what are those biosecurity procedures in place? An offline facility, what that means is that's that's a facility where the eggs are gathered at the farm and then they're sent to a different location, right? a lot of times these offline facilities may be in the middle of a town, maybe outside of town, right? It's very common with other facilities that we audit to. But this is where all these eggs are gathered and they're brought to one centralized location.

So that kind of gives you a highlevel background between those two. the third one that we have here is a breaking plant. Now with an inline and an offline facility, those could be shell eggs, meaning that those th those eggs remain in their shell. they remain intact all the way throughout the process. A breaker on top of that look takes that shell egg and removes the shell, right? And places that liquid product into a silo that then gets tankered out could be further processor or could be tankered out to another facility for further processing. So, how does that affect from a safe quality food standpoint? How does that affect you as the auditor? It's all important to understand these definitions and understand the types of audits and types of facilities that we're auditing to. so this gives you the verbal description. I'm more of an observation, more of a picture type of person. That's the best way that I learn.

So the next slide here kind of gives you a an overarching some photos of what these definitions look like from a break breakdown standpoint. So on the left or on my left is the inline plant. So as you can imagine behind the orange curtains there, these are where the hens are at, right? The hens are on the backside there. They lay the eggs. The eggs are in a nest or in a cage depending on the type of facility that are there. There's a belt that gathers the eggs and bring them to a larger belt and that larger belt then hauls the eggs or carries the eggs into the plant. this is important to know as an SQF auditor because there's a couple different things to know where the farm starts and ends and where the plant starts and ends, right? And that's an important piece. And then more importantly, who's in control of the belt?

Who runs the belts? is it the farm's responsibility to run those belts, to send them off to the plant, or is it the plant's responsibility to start up those belts and send them into the plant when they're ready to run those lines? The other interesting thing to keep of note on an inline plant is from a food fraud standpoint, right? to circling back and keeping it into our SQF. What types of eggs are we running that day? Is it is it all cage? Is it all cage-free? Is there a combination? Do different belts run to different barns that have different criteria for those eggs, right? And different niches for those eggs. So, all of this should be outlined hopefully before you arrive and gathering that information as you're preparing for your SQF audits. That way the offline plants are a little more what I would say typical of a production facility.

Eggs come in they go throughout the process the egg wash the segregation process and typically from an offline plant can either be a shell egg facility or a liquid egg facility right a breaker from that standpoint. So but two different methods of how those eggs arrive at the facility. So one that egg is being carried on a belt that then goes directly into the plant. Another one the farm collects them, gathers them, puts them on what there is called the flats, the colored u pieces of plastic that the egg sits on. Those flats are placed on a pallet. That pallet's placed in a truck. That truck then hauls the eggs to the plant to the offline location to be further processed. no right or wrong. one side's better than the other. Both are this is typical egg production. These are the options that you have. in the next slide that we have here is a photo of the breaker itself. So as you can see with the shell egg ones, those eggs remain in their in their shell all the way through the breaker facility.

Now we're running the eggs through the machine that's going to break the eggs and either keep it whole as a yolk product or segregate the whole the yolk from the whites. and that's common as well. So it really depends on the client, the consumer that they have and where that product is going from a bulk standpoint. So these are our two main options that we see from shell eggs. either that egg's going to remain in its shell all the way through processing or it's going to be broke and placed into a silo and then either further process or go directly to a consumer or the breakers are more common that we see from a restaurant standpoint. large hotels, things of that nature that are going to use the liquid egg and more of your omelets and things of that nature from a large quantity standpoint. so from a pulling everything back and drawing it into an SQF standpoint, so we look at primarily that access control and facility management standpoint. So from a next slide standpoint what is the purpose of that biosecurity?

So I stated a little bit before there's a risk involved with egg production and doing third party audits from an egg standpoint. the biggest thing is what is identified as a vector. So, a vector is anything that can carry a disease, carry and these are things that we can't see, right? Even though we think we're clean, there's the potential of carrying things on us, in us, as we arrive to the facility that way. So, really, and that's the definition of a vector, probably the best, example of that. I saw an article one day where they took a snowball and what they did was they added food coloring to the snowball and then stuck the snowball onto the upper wheelhouse of a of a truck and then they had that truck drive site to site to sight. And really the purpose of the experiment was to see would that snowball hold on and be able to travel wherever that truck traveled to and the potential of that disease that was in that food coloring. Would it would it pertain and would it hold off all the way through? And amazingly it did. Right?

So what that goes to show is everything can be a potential vector, a carrier if you will. when we're going out and do thirdparty audits. So for examples, people we are obvious thirdparty vectors that can carry things. animals themselves. And when we put animals on this slide, we're not really thinking of the animals on the farm. We're thinking of wildlife, right? Birds, things that can travel from site to site, and we'll get into that a little deeper here in a minute, vehicles that I talked about already. But then us as auditors, not only ourselves, but then the equipment that we bring in whether that be our computer, our clipboard, our pens, things of that nature, and then obviously our clothing. So we've seen a lot of changes in the industry the last 5 years when it comes to biosecurity. originally we as thirdparty auditors doing SQF audits we might be able to travel to site to site. that has changed over at least the 5 to 10 year period. Now you see more of downtime that's required.

So downtime is the amount of time that you spend outside of that industry away from like species that way away from other farms that way. So ensuring that those protocols are being followed probably the most important step for us in the purpose of this biosecurity and for any third party auditor for that purpose is understanding and finding out before the audit takes place exactly what the protocol is for that farm for that plant that we're we're arrive at. what is the protocols that they have and understand that these protocols may change. it's very typical for biosecurity protocols to change based on the time of year. Example, right now we're in the fall, birds are starting to migrate again. We will see elevated biosecurity requirements. it's not uncommon for us to see 72 hours downtime away from other egg facilities, away from other types of farms that you may visit or plants from that standpoint. away from things that occur throughout life, fairs, circuses, things of that nature.

And they're also very interested in finding out, do you have any of these species that you're auditing to? Do you have any chickens at home? Right? These are all questions that need to be asked, addressed before you get on the site because it adds to the level of risk otherwise. And really the purpose of our presentation today and drawing everything from an SQF standpoint, how do we reduce that risk and especially from a potential spread of anything from point A to point B? Nope. Next slide there. so arrival. I wish I could say this was a photo that was made up, right? Or one that we pulled off the internet. And unfortunately, it's not, right? So, as auditors, it is important for us when we arrive to, like I said before, not only know the down times, but also arrive and clean vehicles inside and out. this was an example of an auditor that parked in a location the night before, didn't cross their minds that maybe I need to wash that vehicle before I go on to the plant.

Plant sees the auditor pull up in the vehicle. obviously wherever they're parked was a favorite spot of some wild birds that were hanging out in a tree above them, right? So, meeting those expectations that are set in place. making sure that not only are we arriving in clean clothing and have taken the showers and everything before, but also arriving in clean vehicles because we, as I stated before, we know this is a way that disease can get spread from site to site that way. and along with that, it's also important to know exactly where am I supposed to park? usually there's a location for visitors to park. There could be a different location for auditors to park. And the reason for that is because the client may not know where we're coming from. And that don't don't be shocked or alarmed that's a question that is asked of you. It is quite common for facilities to ask what was the previous location that you've been at. not from a confidentiality standpoint. We want to avoid any concerns that way.

But was the previous facility that we had that we were at causing any kind of potential biosecurity issues at the site that we're arriving at? Right. also the important thing to remember as well is the attire. Sometimes these facilities especially it's common in the shell egg and liquid egg industry is they will provide you either smocks, biosecurity clothing, boot covers, hair nets, beard nets. These are very common things that they will provide to you. But as auditors, it's important and our responsibilities to be prepared. So, will the farm will the plant be providing that or do I need to make sure that I have it before I arrive?

And where do I put on my bio security guard from that standpoint? there's also or should be I shouldn't always assume there should always be a signin log and where we've been at or what that downtime is. some of the neat things that we've seen now in within the industry is they've moved the sign and log to an iPad which will ask you a litany of questions primarily from a biosecurity standpoint before they will even allow you into the plant that way. And then a lot of plants that we audit have what is called a line of separation. So they'll call the outside of that line the dirty area and that's where you can wear your normal clothing and shoes. But once you cross that line of separation, it's expected that you wear the boot covers or the smocks or the biosecurity coveralls that they provide to you. Next slide there.

Since I stated before, I am a very visual learner, this might seem a little over the top, this photo here, but this isn't really uncommon of what we see in the egg industry from an expectation standpoint and how that all relates to us as SQF auditors. So, the disposable boots and coveralls that I talked about before, the importance of the hair nets and beard nets. some facilities will require us to wear disposable gloves. it is important if the if their protocol has it that we carry small amounts or the handy wipes of the Clorox and Lysol wipes. More importantly from that standpoint, it's to wipe down our equipment before we go to the next audit. Right? And not only are these procedures, these protocols set up for this facility that we're at, but it's also to protect us before we go and do our next SQF audit from that standpoint. And then there have been occasional safety vests. I know the feed audits that we do or the pet food industry, there's a lot of moving parts, semis, things of that nature. The safety vests are pretty common.

So, the important thing on this is ensuring that either the farm or the plant is going to provide this equipment to us once we arrive or I need to bring that to the audit as they prepare to do their SQF audit. Once we're at the plant, we're going to follow those GMPs, those good manufacturing practices that the facility has in place. ideally, and most commonly, it's going to be those handwashing stations. we see a lot of handwashing stations. We see a lot of hand sanitizer facilities that they'll have both systems put up. Again, we talk about understanding those requirements of what the expectations are, where we put on our PPE equipment. From that standpoint, it has been it's not uncommon anymore that especially in the shell industry, there may have a shower in, shower out facility where they will provide you the smocks and the footwear to wear once you arrive, right?

That's a pretty common thing that we see from a from an audit, especially if the hens are located on site, the chickens are located on the same site as the production facility itself. but also as we're auditing, things to keep in mind, especially from a GMP standpoint, it's not just us as thirdparty auditors. There are other visitors, approved vendors that come on to these operations. and what protocols are they their expectations and what are they being followed and expected to follow. for example, folks that come in and calibrate scales. We know for a fact that they have their own equipment that they bring in the little the weights that are already pre-measured and ready to go and placed on the scales to ensure that the scales are u meeting expectation meeting the certifications that way. that is something that is from the outside being brought in.

So when I have to do that what goes what protocols what things do I have to follow from that steps from an auditor it's the same way it's our clipboard it's our it's our backpack it's our laptop that we're taking in right these are essentials for any third party auditor that we take with us every day right we're we're hooked at the hip with this equipment here so it's important how do I get that equipment into the facility in order to fill out my SQF audit in order to maneuver through the SQF process that way. Next slide there. Another key area that's that plays a big role from an SQF standpoint is pest and rodent control management standpoint. Usually what we see is this is handled in two different vectors or two different sources. One would be internally. So they've decided to take over pest control themselves or we see it from a third party standpoint. two ways of approach it.

The internal people as everybody knows from an SQF have to have the licenses and the certifications needed to do pest control management that way. from a third party standpoint it's it's will be important for them to follow those same procedures. And what I mean by that is these are individuals, these are companies that are hired professionally to do pest control. And in order to do that, you'll be traveling to several different locations and several different species and farms. From that standpoint, so what extra steps do our pest control management teams go through in order to make sure that biosecurity is met? it's it's very apparent to me as one that does thirdparty audits, this is very challenging for this industry. unless you have dedicated people that are specific maybe just for this company and maybe they do pest control for non-aggricultural related facilities, right? So what are their procedures and how do how do they do go about that?

But as we all know we can't consult but it is important for our clients to keep this in mind from a risk assessment right what are the risks how do they pertain to us as an SQF company what are the potential vectors that I talked about before obvious pest control not only the rodents themselves but the company as well that come in into play that way the other thing is domestic right we all know that we have several clients that would love to use cats as part of their pest control. We get told that a lot how cats are really good at pest control. but we also know they're really good at being vectors and carrying things from site to site. So what is their protocol for that? and some things are out of their control as well especially from a farming community and agricultural related. what's the vicinity of other like companies or even non-like companies from where your plant is located.

So things we can control, things we can't control, but at least from a risk assessment standpoint, we've acknowledged it, we looked at it, we've measured it from what our risk is from that from even others that are located around us. Oh, next slide there. per no perfect go right into disease monitoring. so without naming names but naming names probably the biggest risk right now within the egg industry is high-path avian influenza avian influenza. This is the one that it is a very deadly disease in the egg laying industry. Right? the first line there. Diseases as we know cause emotional, biological and financial stress on our clients, on all clients, anybody within the agricultural world. AI was first introduced to us. We as a third party entity in 2015. That's the first time I've heard of this acronym. And it's very detrimental in the egg industry because it by the time it's identified, it has spread through the chicken house and it basically kills every bird in the house, right? So, it's it's a very deadly disease out there.

There's others out there, maybe not as deadly, but still the egg industry has to fight with or face egg drop syndrome, Newcastle disease, corrosa, corisa, excuse me. so when you have diseases like this several things that come into play there obviously a loss in production you don't have whatever you're selling in this example eggs to sell or the egg quality decreases because the hens are sick they're not feeling well and you're seeing that in your overall quality of product that's coming out. it is important in this industry and all agriculture when you see something like this occur that it's very important that you follow up and follow your animal health plans that you have. Work with your local state and federal veterinarians to make sure that we're not spreading the disease.

I think this year alone within the egg industry, this spring was one of the more deadly springs that we've had. it's it's fascinating to us that the wild birds tend to be a carrier of it, but it doesn't seem to affect them quite as much or kill them to the volume it does of the of the laying hens, the turkeys and the broilers. So, it's it's interesting about that, but it's important for especially the inline facilities where you have hens and the plants on location when this occurs that you're reporting to the authorities that way and letting everybody know that facility has broke with this disease because from a monitoring standpoint, how's that affect from an SQF standpoint? You may not have any product to sell, right? You may have gone from eggs every day coming in on that belt that we showed before to now no eggs coming in. And how does that affect what you do on a daily basis? It's also important by notification of the state and federal veterinarian standpoint.

You may be in these surveillance zones and it's important to report that because we're trying to contain this disease and not allow it to continue to spread. especially these diseases that get spread airborne and it's very difficult to contain it that way. Next slide there. Oh, there we go. So, and not to go over the top on eggs, but it the high-path avian influenza in particular does go to show that now we've got a disease that has morphed into other industries and other SQF clients from that standpoint. So, March of last year, high-path avian influenza morphed into primarily just being in the poultry industry to now affecting dairy cattle, right? it's the first time we've come across a species or a disease that has gone across multiple species, two different species. So now if you're doing SQF audits of a milk plant, of a cheese plant, what steps do they have regarding that product? Right?

So one of the more important things that we learned through this process is first high-path avian influenza AI makes dairy cattle sick but it doesn't kill them the way it does in the bird industry. The other thing is we've learned that high-path avian influenza can be carried into the mammary glands and into the milk. So from an SQF standpoint what's our kill step? What do we have to protect that final product? and we've found out through this process that pasteurization will break down those live bodies that there are in the high-path avian influenza. So this is the first time in the years that Sorry about that. In the years that I have been associated with SQF and in the years that we've done third party audits, this is one of those rare times where we've had a disease that crosses species. that heightens a lot of things.

It also makes it aware for other species, other food chains to be aware of their supply as well. whether that's pork, whether that's beef, we all need to be aware of this because as those supply chains get restricted or are the companies that we're auditing following their protocols that they have for approved supply vendors and things of that nature, right? So, next slide, please. So, it's important have a plan. we talk about this from an SQF standpoint all the time. These are living breathing documents and that and they have to be flexible. They have to make sure that they fluctuate with the marketplace with whatever's occurring at that facility. So, that's your food safety plan, right? Have how often are we looking at that? How often have we updated that? Maybe it's more than just a one time a year looking at our plan. Maybe we need to look at it more often. Are there things that we need to really focus on like our approved vendor?

What happens if we break with a high-path avian influenza and we lose every bird, we probably have a contract with a supplier, with a vendor where we're selling our shell eggs, where we're selling our liquid egg product to. Now, we have no eggs to sell, right? We can't just go out and start buying eggs on the open market. We're an SQF certified company. I'm speaking on behalf of the egg industry. We can't just buy eggs on the open market. We have to make sure that they're also SQF certified. If and we have to make sure that we have a copy of that certificate, right? We have to make sure that they've also gone through our approved vendor supplier program that we have. Have we vetted those before we start buying eggs for it? So, really important to fully understand your food safety plan from that standpoint. Food defense, we put that up there because food defense is the threat, right? You have to be aware of especially with high-path avian influenza and other diseases like that are that are airborne.

What is the threat to your operation especially the inline facilities of negligence? Somebody purposely trying to do something to harm or infect those birds. What steps do we have in place? We hear about it all the time of disgruntled employees or somebody of that nature did something to potentially damage the facility or make the birds sick that way. Have we addressed it? Have we thought about it from a food defense standpoint? And then from a business continuity standpoint, as I said before, making sure we have those backup plans. We've had that discussion because once a disease outbreak hits or a breach in our biosecurity, a break in our biosecurity, now we've now we've got a problem. And to wait until we have the problem to have the conversation is too late. We have to have our plans in place.

We have to already have our contact information of who we're going to reach out to from a food defense, food safety standpoint because in the throws of a crisis, it is too late. people now is that is not the time to build the plan and have the plan in place. So really the goal and the thought process of us is as we talk about biosecurity and the importance and how it all ties together whether it's a shell egg facility inline offline facility dairy cows whatever it is that's providing that food product to that facility to that SQF plant they have to have these plans in place not only from an SQF standpoint it just makes good business sense to have this in place to ensure that we're going to have a safe quality product to pro be able to provide the to the consumer.

Because again, if we're not testing our plans, if we're not challenging our defense plans, if we're not challenging our emergency action plans, the day of is too late. and unfortunately in the world that we work in, every week, every couple weeks right now, we're being notified of clients that have broke with a high-path avian influenza, avian influenza, and it's so detrimental to their business, right? You go from eggs every day to no eggs every day. And I've been in facilities that are gearing back up. they may have 8 to 10 houses u on the facility and they have one in full production, right? So, they're doing the best that they can to keep eggs flowing and keeping employees fully employed. The other thing to keep in mind is there may be large amounts of downtime for these facilities where they don't have eggs coming in and they don't have the ability to bring eggs from the outside world in because these inline facilities just they don't have the equipment for it. The offline facilities do, but the inlines don't.

So that is what we have seen a lot of our clients spend time to do the deep clean of the facilities to really go through all the maintenance because once you get birds back in there you want to hit peak production again and making sure us as SQF auditors we can attest to the downtime and the records that might have blanks in them because they were shut down for a period of time. Next slide there. So last slide that I have for the for the group today and again I greatly appreciate the opportunity. benefits I always like to end the conversation and the presentation with positives, right? too many times we get tied up in the negatives and a breach in our biosecurity can be really detrimental and really costly to a client especially when they have both the animal and the plant on that property on that piece of property that we're auditing. But the real benefits to all biosecurity from that standpoint is these are steps that are in place to protect the animal. It's also there to protect the employees that go to work there every day.

We're also protecting the supply, right? We protect the animal and the animals health. Now, we're going to protect that food supply as it goes through. And with a good biosecurity program, hopefully we avoid some of those economic losses, some of those risks or at least reduce the risk. There's nothing that will eliminate a risk from a biosecurity standpoint, but we're looking to reduce that risk that way. So, some interesting things that I've been a part of and got the opportunity to listen to is it spurs the conversation what can we do? Are there vaccines and things of that nature that we can provide to the birds, to the dairy cows, to the animals that are providing us the products that we need? Right? And it takes a collaborative effort from Washington DC all the way back to the farms where they're originating from. But with really strong plans, we can build a long-term success. And the these are all practices that we find normal in our world.

But I really wanted to again take the opportunity to thank everybody to talk about the importance of this because it is such a timely this presentation while could be given year round really carries a lot of weight in the spring and the fall. I think there's one more slide. There we go. Questions.

Kristie Grzywinski: Fantastic. Matt, thank you so much. What great information for someone who is not I have no experience in the egg industry. This was just really and I'm taking I think you saw I was taking notes as we went along with the laser focus on your approved supplier program and vetting those vendors. It's so interesting. as you were wrapping up, you were kind of talking about it. I'm like, you have one thing, manufacturers have one thing that they have to process and there's nothing else. You can't run another line for a while. It's just it really puts the focus on your systems, your vendor approval, your supplier approval, GMPs. And I just kept writing down. I'm like, "Okay, so what are the important systems that they should be focused on?" And I just now have a whole list. It went from one column to a whole page. Thank you for this information. If anyone has any questions, go ahead and put it in the chat. We do have some time for questions. and we have Ariana here. I thought Matt, I'll give you a moment to catch your breath.

I'm going to put Ariana on the hook. So, we may have a mix between auditors and certified sites here or sites that are looking into SQF certification. Arian, I'll put you on the hook. and you're you're okay. You're I was going to say you're muted. So, what is how I what is the scheduling? Okay. I have a million questions in my head. to schedule an auditor. What do you have to think about when you're scheduling that auditor? So I mean our auditors are qualified by industry sector and I think that's such a great thing except for this where you think oh it's so nice they can go plant to plant to plant but what are some of the things that are considered by the certification body in scheduling these auditors.

Ariana Sherman: Thank you Kristie. Yeah so one of the things that we have to keep in mind is what that auditor where that auditor's been. So, where are they currently located? Maybe where their home base is at. And knowing that if they're here in the Midwest, maybe there's a more high likely that they've been around areas with avian influenza or any kind of disease. So, just knowing where they've been. That's why the rental car is so important for us is that, they're not taking anything from their own location hopefully to that site. we're having everything cleaned as much as possible. especially during those unannounced audit time periods, when we cannot notify the site that when we're coming, that auditor needs to make sure that they reaching out right before their window opens up, notifying them who they are, where they're coming from, confirming their biosecurity, especially in that seasonal time. As Matt said, some of our audits begin in the dead of winter and so maybe it's not as high of risk.

So the downtime might be less for them or in the spring and fall when migration is really going on knowing that those sites are probably going to require more downtime. The downtime can be from either other egg processing plants they've been to or it might be from if they've had livestock if they come from an area that's got a lot of cattle in it. there's always that concern of the disease going from the dairy cattle to the poultry farm. So, we want to make sure our auditors know that they have to follow up with that site regardless of unannounced or announced. Not giving away the date when they'll be there, but confirming what their biosecurity is, making sure the site knows that if something were to change last minute who they reach out to, so they can reach out to Validus. They can reach out to the auditor and we'll notify our auditor if something has changed regarding that. Confirming with the site if they need to bring their own PPE.

So, do they need to bring their own coveralls, their own smok, boot covers? or will the site provide those? And more often than not, the site does provide those. That's what we've seen. That's the general practice. also knowing the auditor if they are going from company owned back-to-back company owned sites. So we have a lot of clients that might be more than one site can be done in a week. Are those company owned sites? Do they allow for you to go from one plant to the next plant if they're just down the road from each other or does the auditor need to coordinate their schedule enough that they're going from either an egg plant to a pet food plant and is there downtime between that? And it's not just from eggs to eggs. I recommend all auditors confirm because if you're going to site that does rendering, what kind of rendered product are they bringing on to the facility and could that have any impact to it?

So I just we really push for the auditors to know biosecurity downtime and where their PPE is coming from and just always build in that downtime almost automatically. our typical requirement for downtime is about 72 hours away from either same product type or different ones. We usually just standardize 72 hours down. So maybe building that already into your schedule so you automatically have that downtime built in before going to another facility.

Kristie Grzywinski: Fantastic. Thanks so much, Ariana. What would you add to that, Matt? What as a auditor, how do you plan for that downtime and what do you take into consideration as you go from site to site in regards to biosecurity?

Matt Jones: Yeah, that was Ariana did a great job. That's it's it's a lot of preparation for any auditor from that standpoint. and in awareness because there are so many things that we may not think about one thing that we stress with auditors a lot of times, sometimes these plants are located in small towns. and a lot of times the gathering place where everybody in town is at the gas station, right? Maybe the local doughnut in the morning and a cup of coffee where everybody congregates and just something simple like that as we stop in to maybe grab a snack ourselves before we get to the facility could cause for us to have just breached everything that we just worked for to make sure that we had that downtime.

So just things of that nature that we start to plant the seed to have the auditors really be aware of their surroundings and things of that nature and what do we do with the PPE once we're done the biosecurity coveralls do we leave it at the facility do we take it with us so just some logistics aspects to talk to the facility but I think Ariana really hit it well especially with the unannounced the scheduled ones we and we have several weeks we can get things planned up. The unannounced ones adds a whole another challenge so that we're not tipping our hands when we're coming but yet still know what those protocols are. Yeah, that was that was going to be my follow-up question and I suppose that comes from being prepared. So the site knows their audit window and maybe that's the scheduler the office planning ahead and saying okay so what are your GMP requirements for this auditor without like you said without tipping your hand to letting that you're coming. So maybe it's done.

Is it done like say at the time you schedule not schedule the audit but send out that email to say your audit window is coming up. Is that how you handle it?

Matt Jones: That's typically when Ariana will assign it and in my example me being the auditor she'll give me the audit window and then I can reach out and say I'm scheduled to do your unannounced. I obviously I can't give you the dates, but I want to verify what's your procedure and at least give them my contact information in case things change because this is we do have to be flexible because of time of year and things that occur. So, if something were to occur and they need to reach out to us and maybe it's an elongated timeline that they need we have to be flexible that way.

Kristie Grzywinski: How do you handle either for announced or unannounced if there is no product to process? what then?

Ariana Sherman: So normally if we have a site that whether inline or offline who cannot be running product if they've been hit with a disease concern those facilities need to be operational for us to be doing audits. Yeah. and so more often than not what we've done and what SQF has been kind enough to provide us is that extension. So if a site does come down with high-path avian influenza or a disease outbreak and needs to be given some additional time before coming an audit, that's what the extension process is for. And so they do reach out. We do a risk assessment to confirm, some things with the site about what's still going on. cuz some facilities can potentially get eggs from maybe a sister farm or something of that nature, purchase eggs on the open market and still run some, but maybe they're not fully operational.

So determining what days they would be running, what days they're not, and if they're not absolutely running, getting that extension so that they can do the things they need to do in connection with the farm that they are connected to make sure that they have those items in place for when they can be up and running or when they know they'll be up and running and then all the things they can do while they're not running. So covering all that sanitation, that's a big piece.

We have seen a lot of facilities take a negative and turn into positive and go through and do maintenance on all their equipment, doing all their internal audits from a paperwork side, getting a lot of that things caught up on that end. but really that sanitation process and getting your whole plant clean because not only does, and Matt can correct me if I'm wrong, but the farm has processes to go through for depopulation if they're hit, but the plant also makes sure that they're doing all their swabs and testing and things like that to make sure their plants operational in time and meeting any requirements that USDA might have as well.

Kristie Grzywinski: That is interesting. Again, I have like a million thoughts, a million questions on that. So yeah, if it's a processing a bakery processing snack food, something like that, you can have them run a similar product and still come on site but sometimes the auditor might not even be you pro a site might not even want the auditor there if it's if it's an inline facility and you don't want that risk of contamination. So I was thinking, oh, they can come in, review the documentation, and then when you're operational again, but maybe you just don't even want the auditor there. So, okay. so we had a question. Oh, about an audit window. Ariana, you want to do a calculation? yeah. So, let's see. We had not audit research. What would be the audit window for unannounced? You're Oh, this one I can answer. your recertification audit window is always the same. that 30-day either side of your audit date. So your recertification audit date never changes. Your audit window does not change. Yeah.

Depends on your initial audit date and then it's 30 days on either side of that. That one I knew. Sorry I didn't have to put you on the spot for that one. Okay. That's a nice easy one. Any other questions? Any other questions? And the nice part is if coup if you go to the next slide we have their contact information and so you're going to hear from no you're not but SQF Unites I will definitely be talking to you just because I find this so fascinating and someone with a background in microbiology have a million questions to ask about. so here's their contact information. If you do have a follow-up question you would like to ask them, please take a quick little screenshot. You will get a copy of this recording, by tomorrow. and I want to thank, Matt and Ariana again for your time and your expertise. This was a wonderful webinar. Everyone have a very good day. Thank you.