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Exam Information
Official specifications published by ASQ
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Skills this practice test covers
- Apply the seven HACCP principles, from hazard analysis to recordkeeping.
- Separate control points from critical control points with a CCP decision tree.
- Assess prerequisite programs such as traceability and recall, allergen control and food defense.
- Plan and run a food safety audit, from pre-audit documents to the exit meeting.
- Classify objective evidence, observations and nonconformances in audit findings.
- Read control charts and apply sampling methods and basic quality tools.
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CFSQA exam content
7 domains · 33 topics · 134 questions
Food Safety and HACCP System20%27 questions
The largest domain sets the base for the rest. Candidates apply the basic HACCP and food safety terms, then judge the prerequisite programs and preventive controls that a HACCP plan rests on, such as traceability and recall, allergen control and food defense.
Skills tested
- Apply HACCP terms such as deviation, hazard condition, validation and verification.
- Explain food safety culture and how food quality differs from food safety.
- Assess traceability and recall, crisis management and environmental monitoring programs.
- Recognize food fraud and the facility design measures that guard against intentional adulteration.
- Evaluate supplier and allergen controls, including cross-contact prevention.
Questions by topic
- HACCP Terminology6
- Food Safety Terminology3
- Prerequisite Programs13
- Preventive Controls5
Food Safety and HACCP Management6.7%10 questions
Preliminary tasks come before the HACCP principles, and this domain covers them. Candidates assemble and train the HACCP team, describe the product and its intended use, draw and verify the flow diagram, set the system scope, and confirm management's commitment.
Skills tested
- Assemble a HACCP team and describe the product, its distribution and its intended use.
- Build a flow diagram and verify it against the actual operation.
- Define the system scope and how it relates to quality management, risk management and GFSI requirements.
Questions by topic
- Preliminary Tasks3
- System Scope3
- Management Responsibility4
HACCP Principles16.3%22 questions
This domain works through the seven HACCP principles in order. Candidates analyze hazards, identify CCPs, set critical limits, design monitoring, plan corrective actions, verify the system and keep records.
Skills tested
- Rate hazards by severity and likelihood with a risk matrix.
- Use a CCP decision tree to separate control points from critical control points.
- Base each critical limit on a suitable scientific source.
- Set monitoring type, frequency, responsibility and sampling methods for each CCP.
- Follow the corrective action steps, from finding the cause to deciding what happens to the product.
Questions by topic
- Principle 1 - Hazard Analysis3
- Principle 2 - Critical Control Points (CCPs)3
- Principle 3 - Critical Limits4
- Principle 4 - Monitoring3
- Principle 5 - Corrective Action3
- Principle 6 - Verification3
- Principle 7 - Recordkeeping and Documentation3
Implementation and Maintenance of Food Safety and HACCP System15.6%21 questions
A HACCP plan must work in practice and keep working, and this domain covers both. Candidates pilot the plan, validate its objectives, reassess it after complaints, recalls or deviations, and review its records.
Skills tested
- Plan a pilot and operational qualifications before full implementation.
- Reassess the system from complaints, recalls, deviations and corrective actions.
- Review monitoring, calibration, training and corrective action records.
Questions by topic
- Implementation and Assessment6
- Validation and Reassessment7
- Verification and Maintenance8
Auditing Fundamentals17%23 questions
Here the focus moves to auditing itself: what an audit is and the rules auditors work by. Candidates compare audit types and criteria, describe each participant's role, and apply ethics, due diligence and due care.
Skills tested
- Distinguish quality assurance from quality control.
- Compare product, process, system and compliance audits, and first-, second- and third-party audits.
- Identify audit criteria such as standards, contracts, specifications and regulations.
- Describe the roles of the lead auditor, audit team, client and auditee.
- Apply due diligence and due care, and spot conflicts of interest.
Questions by topic
- Basic Terms and Concepts3
- Purpose of Audits3
- Types of Audits3
- Audit Criteria3
- Audit Participants3
- Ethical, Legal, and Professional Issues8
Auditing Process and Auditor Competencies17%22 questions
This domain follows an audit from planning to closure and covers the skills an auditor needs. It also includes food sector regulations such as FSMA, and the main food safety auditing schemes.
Skills tested
- Plan an audit and analyze the pre-audit documents.
- Run opening and exit meetings and collect objective evidence.
- Write an audit report and verify corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
- Use interviewing and conflict resolution techniques during an audit.
- Compare auditing schemes such as SQF, FSSC 22000, BRC and IFS.
Questions by topic
- Audit Preparation and Planning5
- Audit Performance5
- Audit Reporting2
- Audit Follow-up and Closure4
- Auditing Schemes3
- Auditor Competencies2
- International Regulations and Inspections1
Quality Tools and Techniques7.4%9 questions
Auditors read charts and data, and this domain covers the quality tools they use. Candidates interpret the seven basic quality tools, descriptive statistics, sampling and SPC results, and know what Cp and Cpk mean without calculating them.
Skills tested
- Interpret Pareto charts, cause and effect diagrams, control charts and check sheets.
- Describe data with the mean, median, mode and standard deviation.
- Choose acceptance, random or stratified sampling, and explain consumer risk and producer risk.
- Tell attributes data from variables data.
Questions by topic
- Basic Quality Tools3
- Sampling Methods3
- Process Capability3
Requirements
- Required: five years of full-time, paid work in one or more areas of the CFSQA Body of Knowledge.
- Required: at least one of those years in a decision-making role, with authority to define, carry out or control projects or processes.
- A degree or a technical or trade school diploma can waive part of the five years.
About the CFSQA exam
CFSQA is ASQ's certification for auditors who check whether a food safety and HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) system works as intended. It covers the food safety system itself, the seven HACCP principles, and the audit from planning to closure. Candidates need five years of relevant work, including one year in a decision-making role. Passing earns the Certified Food Safety and Quality Auditor (CFSQA) certification.
The PlanetCert practice test gives Food Safety and HACCP System the most questions, matching its place as the largest domain. The explanations show why a step is or is not a critical control point, and how an auditor should classify a finding. Study Mode suits HACCP Principles, where each principle builds on the one before. Brainy AI Assistant can compare verification with validation, or walk a described process through a CCP decision tree.
How to earn the certification
- Earns
- Certified Food Safety and Quality Auditor (CFSQA)Professional
The certification lasts three years, and holders recertify with recertification units or by retaking the exam.
How to prepare for CFSQA
- 1
Assemble the open-book references
The exam is open book, so choose bound references early, such as The ASQ Certified Food Safety and Quality Auditor Handbook, and tab them by domain.
- 2
Walk one product through HACCP
Pick one product, such as a cooked meat line, and apply all seven principles. Write down each hazard, each CCP with its critical limit, the monitoring plan and the corrective action.
- 3
Trace a batch forward and back
Follow one batch from receiving to shipping, then trace back from a finished product. Record evidence as an auditor would, and classify each finding as an observation or a nonconformance.
- 4
Tabulate the rules and the schemes
List FSMA, the FSVP rule and the CFR parts the syllabus names, then the auditing schemes, such as SQF, BRC and FSSC 22000. Note what each one requires of a food business.
- 5
Build pace with timed runs
Take the CFSQA practice test in Timed Mode to build pace for a long open-book exam. Review each miss with Brainy AI Assistant, and note where the answer sits in the references.
Start a timed CFSQArun
ASQ's own preparation is the self-paced online course ASQ CFSQA Certification Preparation. ASQ also publishes The ASQ Certified Food Safety and Quality Auditor Handbook.
Who CFSQA is for
- Food safety and quality managers who run HACCP plans in food plants.
- Second-party and third-party auditors who audit food suppliers and processing sites.
- Plant quality and compliance staff who host customer and certification audits.
Typical job titles: Food safety auditor · Food safety manager · Quality assurance manager · HACCP coordinator · Supplier quality auditor
CFSQA glossary
18 terms from the exam objectives and the vendor's official material, each defined in a sentence.
- CCP decision trees
- A series of yes-or-no questions that helps a HACCP team decide whether a step is a critical control point.
- Consumer risk
- The chance that a sampling plan accepts a lot that should have been rejected.
- Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA)
- A process that removes the cause of a problem that was found and prevents similar problems from happening.
- Cpk (process capability index)
- A measure of how well a process stays within its specification limits, taking its centering into account.
- Critical control points (CCPs)
- Steps in a process where control is essential to prevent, remove or reduce a food safety hazard.
- Critical limits
- The maximum or minimum values, such as a cooking temperature, that a CCP must meet to keep food safe.
- Deviation
- A failure to meet a critical limit at a CCP, which calls for corrective action.
- Food defense
- Measures that protect food from intentional adulteration, such as tampering or bioterrorism.
- Food Fraud
- Deliberate deception for economic gain, such as substituting, diluting or mislabeling a food.
- Food safety culture
- The shared values and behaviors that decide how seriously people in an organization treat food safety each day.
- Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
- A US law that moves food safety rules toward preventing contamination instead of reacting to it.
- Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP)
- An FSMA rule under which US importers must verify that their foreign suppliers meet US food safety standards.
- Forward tracing
- An audit method that follows a process from its inputs toward its outputs, such as from raw material to finished product.
- Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)
- An industry body that benchmarks food safety certification schemes against common requirements.
- HACCP system validation
- Gathering evidence that the HACCP plan, when followed, actually controls the hazards it targets.
- Nonconformances
- Audit findings that show a requirement was not met, backed by objective evidence.
- Prerequisite Programs
- The basic programs that control operating conditions in a food plant, on which the HACCP plan is built.
- Verification
- Checks other than routine monitoring, such as record reviews and calibration, that show the HACCP plan is being followed.