Food safety audits remain essential for assurance, yet global stakeholders report recurring challenges: compliance‑driven mindsets and applications, auditor shortages, governance inconsistencies, audit fatigue, and limited digital readiness. Internal audits also remain underutilized despite their potential to strengthen organizational learning and risk management. These concerns highlighted the need for clearer, data‑driven insight. To address this, a global mixed‑methods study was conducted in 2025, combining quantitative responses from 162 food safety auditors and quality and food safety professionals with qualitative interviews from a selected number of participants. The findings reveal an industry at a turning point: audits are valued but constrained by workload pressures, transparency gaps, and inconsistent governance. At the same time, opportunities are emerging through stronger auditor capability frameworks, more harmonized schemes and risk‑based approaches, and greater and wiser use of digital tools to enhance efficiency and insight. This session will present key findings and outline a forward‑looking vision for a more transparent, efficient, and value‑driven food safety audit ecosystem. PS: The report and its findings have generated considerable interest so far. Several key stakeholders, including scheme owners, global manufacturing companies, UNIDO, and Dubai Municipality, have approached us and already benefited from dedicated sessions to discuss the insights.