## 4 Discussion  
Rarely does a comparative assessment of the results of food safety audits in developing countries appear in the literature. The results presented in this study showed two stages of the implementation of ISO 22000 and FSVP requirements, both for the documentation and the food safety system in place at the company. An innovative ready-to-implement checklist was elaborated and used, which was a combination of the requirements of FSVP and ISO 22000: 2018 (Table 1). Such a combination has yet to be presented in the literature. Usually, the audit criteria or checklists of a single audited system are presented [42; 43; 44]. This approach helped us to provide an analysis of the company's readiness to export to developed countries. We assessed ten sections of the FSVP and ISO 22000: 2018 standards, beginning with regulatory compliances followed by requirements of the food safety plan, process and product control, sanitation, workers' hygiene practices, plant and grounds, food allergens, pest control, packaging and labelling, and employees and visitors. The initial assessment before certification of the company showed that the organization's functioning was far from the ISO 22000 and FSVP requirements. This was due to a lack of experts, trained employees, and proactive measures by senior management. Implementing food safety management reforms led to changes in management practices, staff education, and increased employee consciousness [3]. A high level of non-compliance was found in the  
Figure 5: Nest diagram showing differences in compliance between food safety sections before and after certification, 1 means compliance, 0 non-compliance, \(p<0.00\). food safety plan, including the HACCP plan. The lack of a food safety plan or a labelling and packaging system was not in line with mandatory Indian regulations [6; 45]. Many Indian food companies have implemented HACCP principles incorrectly, which was the main non-conformity reported by the official inspectorate in India [46]. This decreases food safety and makes exports very difficult or impossible. However, there are some food business operators in India that cover all HACCP principles like the extended dissemination of private standards in the Indian cashew industry where, previously, safety-related problems were noticed and overcome [20]. Food handling personnel are crucial for maintaining FSMS but may be hesitant to implement basic sanitary procedures due to time constraints. In this study, it was found that only personnel hygiene procedures of employees were found to be satisfactory both before and after the certification. All employees in the company were found to comply with good protective clothing (Q 5.1), its management (Q 5.2), hand washing signages (Q 5.3), proper usage of hairnets and/or beard nets (Q 5.4), and employee support facilities (Q 5.5). Non-compliance with personnel hygiene was noted in the works of [PERSON] et al., [PERSON] et al. and [PERSON] et al. [44; 47; 48]. In contrast, [PERSON] et al. and [PERSON] et al. reported only a few discrepancies in this area [42; 49]. Deviations from specific requirements are referred to as non-conformities. Many studies have pointed out the huge number of non-conformities in Indian food companies, e.g., lack of sufficient infrastructure and modern equipment [3], and detectable antimicrobial residues in the milk with most samples positive for neomycin and streptomycin [50]. For example, a major problem with the plant infrastructure was also reported in plants in Serbia [49]. In this study, the non-conformity concerned pests. Even though there were chances that pests and rodents could enter into the company's premises, adequate pest control activities based on risk assessment were not managed by the company, even after certification. Pests are a common problem among Indian food producers [51], and an in-place effective pest control system is required by ISO 22000: 2018, FSVP, and the FSSAI [5].