I'm in the same boat as you are. Writing SOPs for FDA DSHEA compliance with a dietary supplement/functional foods firm that is, ahem, a little behind in their documentation - but may actually be in better shape than most in this newly regulated industry. I will soon find out at the Supply Side West convention in Vegas.
I am extracting my SOP guidance directly from the FDA Final Rule in the CFR, and also from a GMP compliance webinar that was put on by AIBMR and is still posted on the Natural Products Insider website.
One of the explicit "requirements" of an SOP is that it be written in plain language to make it more useful for training of ALL staff, not just the manicured and brainy types. From what I have seen, almost all companies fail miserably in the creation of "common language" SOPs. The tone is generally pseudo-intellectual, legalistic, and dense. Very dense. it is stunning how many SOPs I have seen that cannot actually be understood, that leave out steps, that don't define their terms, that call the same thing by different names, and that seem to revel in obfuscation.
My theory is that the people writing SOPs have little insight into the important business function of a well-crafted SOP. But they do have a lot of experience sitting in front of computers. These SOPs are the specifications by which an organization functions, the standards it holds itself to.
Fewer elitist compliance wonks and more blue-collar geniuses - that would be really cool!
Geez - I guess I had a rant that needed to be released. Thanks for listening.
Jeff