The practice of evaluating food safety systems has become a vital part of doing business in the food and beverage industry. While governmental inspections have been a regular occurrence for over a century, third-party and customer second-party audits have become increasingly common in the past three decades. Only recently have options emerged for these types of audits to be performed remotely.

Traditionally, virtual auditing has taken a backseat to onsite evaluations, and remote governmental inspections were almost nonexistent. This drastically changed in 2020, when social distancing mandates and employee protection measures, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, barred visitors (including auditors and inspectors) from manufacturing facilities. This scenario became the catalyst for the widespread use of remote alternatives, and third-party auditing companies, customers, and governmental regulators quickly took up this challenge and found ways to continue within these limitations. Plato famously wrote, "Our need will be the real creator," which evolved into the proverb, "Necessity is the mother of invention." The urgent need for alternatives to in-person audits has escalated innovation in the processes and tools used to bridge the gap between virtual and onsite evaluations.