Non-conformances and corrective actions: fixing the cause, not the symptom

At a glance

• A non-conformance is anything that didn’t go the way your system says it should. Recording one is good news: it means the system noticed.

• Every problem needs a quick fix. Only some need a full investigation. Decide which by risk, not by habit.

• A corrective action deals with the cause. “Retrained the operator” is rarely the cause.

• An action isn’t finished when it’s done. It’s finished when someone has checked it worked.

• Product that might be wrong is kept apart until a named person decides what happens to it.

This guide is for quality leads, team leaders and managers at small food, drink and supplement sites. It covers what to do when something goes wrong, from a failed check to a customer complaint, without turning every slip into a project.

1. Three different jobs

People use “corrective action” for three things. Keeping them apart saves a lot of confusion.

• Correction: put it right now. Re-clean the line, re-weigh the batch, hold the pallet.

• Corrective action: find why it happened and change something so it doesn’t happen again.

• Preventive action: spotted a risk before it bit? Deal with it early.

Every problem gets a correction. Not every problem needs the second step.

2. When to investigate properly

A full investigation is worth it when:

• the safety, legality or authenticity of product was at risk

• the same thing keeps happening, or a type of problem is rising

• it came from an audit, a serious complaint, a recall or a failed test

A one-off, low-risk slip that was caught and corrected can simply be recorded. Count them, though. Ten small records in a month about the same scale are a trend, and a trend earns an investigation.

Turning every small record into a formal action is the fastest way to stop people reporting. The aim is that people tell you early.

3. Deal with the product first

If product might be affected:

1. Mark it so nobody can mistake it for good stock.

2. Move it or lock it so it can’t be picked or dispatched.

3. Work out how far it goes. Which lots, since when, what else was made on that line or with that material?

4. Decide what happens to it, by someone with the authority to decide: release as it is with a recorded reason, rework, downgrade, return, or destroy. If it carries a customer’s brand, they may need to agree.

5. Record the decision, who made it, and proof of destruction where that was the outcome.

4. Find the cause

Keep asking “why” until you reach something you can change. An example:

• The label was wrong. Why? The old reel was loaded.

• Why? Old and new reels were stored together.

• Why? Nobody was told the artwork had changed.

• Why? Artwork changes aren’t passed to stores.

The fourth answer is a cause you can fix. The first is only what happened.

Be wary of three answers that end investigations too early: “human error”, “retrain staff” and “one-off”. Sometimes they are true. More often something made the mistake easy: a confusing form, a missing tool, two similar things stored side by side, a check at the wrong point in the job.

5. Write an action that can be checked

A usable action has four parts:

• What will change, specifically

• Who owns it

• By when

• How you’ll know it worked

“Improve label control” can’t be checked. “Stores quarantines superseded reels on the day new artwork is approved; quality confirms at the next three changeovers” can.

6. Close it properly

Closing has two steps: was it done, and did it work? Look again after enough time for the problem to have come back. If it has, the cause wasn’t the cause.

Whoever checks should be someone able to judge it honestly. On a very small site that may be the same person who raised it. Where you can, a second pair of eyes is better.

7. Use what you learn

Once a quarter, sort the records by type, area, product and supplier. Look for what is rising. Take the top one or two to your management meeting with a proposal. This is where a pile of records becomes improvement.

Checklist

• One simple way for anyone to report a problem

• A rule for which problems get a full investigation

• Hold labels and a place where held product can’t be picked

• Named people who can decide what happens to held product

• Actions with what, who, when and how you’ll know

• A check that each action worked, with a date

• A regular look at trends

Common mistakes

• Stopping at the correction. The line was re-cleaned; nothing changed.

• “Retrain the operator” as the answer to everything.

• Actions with no owner or no date.

• Closing on the day the action is done, before anyone can tell if it worked.

• Held product with no decision, sitting for months.

• Every small slip made formal, so people stop reporting.

• Never looking at the records together.

Where this sits in the standards

BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9 covers corrective and preventive actions in 3.7, which it treats as a fundamental requirement, and control of non-conforming product in 3.8. Other standards ask for the same job in their own words.

Sources (checked 10 November 2026)

• BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety, Issue 9 (our own reading; no text reproduced). The standard itself is available from BRCGS: brcgs.com

• Food Standards Agency, Food incidents, product withdrawals and recalls (root cause analysis training and report form for businesses): https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/food-incidents-product-recalls-and-withdrawals

The worked example, the wording of actions and the lists are general guidance based on common practice.

QAaval helps quality teams keep these records on the shop floor.