Risk-based integrity audits in the food chain - A framework for complex systems

The current food control system seems to cause a reactive vicious cycle, which leads to more and stricter regulations and standards on every level. A new paradigm in risk-based auditing is needed that acknowledges the behaviour of complex systems to ensure trust along the food chain. The proposed framework for complex system risk-based auditing may enable a systematic analysis of audit triggers, audit goals and context characteristics suggesting multiple methods for risk analysis, as basis for the questions on when, how, what, and whom to audit.