Step 4: Draw up the flow chart

The aim of this stage is to provide the most precise and relevant description of the production process, from the arrival of the raw materials to the finished product, as described in the definition of the scope of the study and in stage 2. The aim is to carry out a genuine process "audit". This description must go far beyond the necessary, but insufficient, production diagram. In fact, it must be accompanied by information, usually technical, providing precise details of :

• premises and flows ;

• the nature of the operations, their function and their chronology ;

• operation characteristics including, but not limited to, time and temperature parameters;

• the characteristics of the equipment used (food safety certificate, hygienic or non-hygienic...