Food Safety Talk Newsletter

Issue 201, June 16, 2015

Hello and welcome to the latest news from the International Food Safety & Quality Network. Today's newsletter includes our regular updates on the latest Food Safety Fridays webinars and all of the hot topics from the IFSQN discussion forums.

Best Wishes,
Michelle Timperley
The International Food Safety & Quality Network

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All New Discussion Topics

Determining shelf life of chocolate brownies
15 ‎June ‎2015
I am carrying out organoleptic testing on chocolate brownies and am at P+25. The taste, texture, aroma and mouthfeel remain excellent. Some are topped with jam or marmalade which is baked with the brownie. Should I do micro testing as well?

Caliper Calibration
15 ‎June ‎2015
We use calipers to measure composite can height and width. This is not a CCP. Could I calibrate them myself with gage blocks and that would suffice for audit purposes? It is an internal quality check that we conduct.
Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Any outbreak associated with consumption expired canned food?
15 ‎June ‎2015
Dear All, Historically, from your past and current data , do you know any outbreak associated with consumption expired canned food , or canned food stored in unsatisfactory conditions (Defect Canned Food )? If you know a real cases please share it here.

Regards,
Hygienic

3.6 Raw Material Specifications
15 ‎June ‎2015
Hi All, I am a little bit stuck here. We deal in cold pressed canola oil. Recently in compliance to BRC V.6 on raw material specifications we carried out MRL tests on canola seeds that we press. One of the sample did not pass fully as it had higher traces of Lufenuron (0.04 against a recommended level of 0.02 under EU MRL levels. Codex MRL is silent on Lufenuron. Our oil for sale both internationally (to a single client) and locally. However, the local requirements are based on Codex standards. Upon carrying out the Finished product tests, the oil did comply to the required standards(local standards) and client standards. I am a little bit worried by the fact that the raw material(canola seed) did not pass the MRL tests but the end product did pass the specifications.

On to my question?
1. Does BRC recommend a certain standard when undertaking an MRL test or is it upon the company to decide on the what they feel is the recommended level?
2. Does the fact that the finished product is safe for consumption make the MRL test results null and void?

Thanks in advance.
Audit in a weeks time.

Regards,
Waciru.

Pest Control Programme for Refined Sugar
15 ‎June ‎2015
Hi all, Kindly I need your support for an effective pest control programme for food industry ( Refined sugar).I also want to know if there are a specific programmes based on industry field or general?

Thanks and waiting your feedback.

Follow-up of food mitigation and adulteration
14 ‎June ‎2015
Good evening, As requested by GFSI standards, I started to help my clients with food defense systems, which manage the security and the food fraud aspects. As for food safety, we need to be warned if anything new is detected. But if I found database about "old" cases, I'm still looking for a "warning system", by mail, RSS or whatever. Those systems are already in place for recalls, which I am compiling in my webtools, but i found nothing about food fraud.

Does anybody knows any system like this?

Thank four your help

Yogurt Shelf life and UHT
13 ‎June ‎2015
Dear All, I need your help, Can you please confirm, Is there UHT yogurt plain or flavoured available in the market.

What is effect of UHT to Yogurt?

What is Shelf for yogurt under ambient temperature?

Thanks

Why did I take this job? LOL HELP
12 ‎June ‎2015
Ok, so my Vet in Charge just informed me that there will be an onsite audit (not paperwork) on the 24th of this month AND the IVT team will be dispatched to my geographical location for the month of July. THANK GOODNESS I already booked the last week of July off!!!

I did not need this going into the weekend!!!

What distance should food or conveyor be off the floor?
12 ‎June ‎2015
Is anyone aware of a regulation or industry standard for the distance food and/or equipment carrying food (i.e. conveyor belt) should be off the floor?

Cleaning/Sanitation Schedule for Ceiling?
12 ‎June ‎2015
Good morning all! I recently started a position with a company that makes gluten-free protein bars and bites . In our production area is storage of raw ingredients, production (mixing of ingredients and putting into extrusion machine to form bars and bites) and packaging (of individual bars, of bars into sleeves and sleeves into master cases and of bites into bags and bags into master cases).

I have a background in operations and internal auditing for ISO/API/A2LA but no food safety experience so I'm hoping you all can help me out here. We are finishing up our written HACCP program and also plan to pursue SQF Level 2 certification and we are stuck on the frequency we should be cleaning/sanitizing our ceilings.

I know that if we document a specific time frame, we open ourselves up to an auditor/inspector asking for the proof we've done it on the specified schedule. I found an FDA guideline for RF RTE foods that the ceilings should be cleaned once a month but neither our food nor our ingredients are refrigerated or frozen; our final product is simply RTE.

Does anyone know if we are required to specify a time frame for said cleaning/sanitation? I've been told that our internal preference would be to put it as "on an as-needed basis" but I can see an auditor/inspector then asking who decides when it's needed and by what parameters.

I appreciate any suggestions/guidance from the users out here!

Thank you!!
~Emily~

CCP and Product Release
12 ‎June ‎2015
Hello Dear All Sir/ Madam, My name is Boedi, just the beginner for learn of food safety , I need help for all of you. Our products are acidified food (in glass jar, vaskette, dan tin can), my questions are:

a. among my discussion with my friend the capping (for glass jar), sealing (for vaskette) and seaming (for tin can) are CCP? do they right? because based my risk assessment that process are just OPRP and what does hazard on that process?

b. after production process, we put some products for incubation test (37 "C (14 days) and ,55 "C (7 days)), can we release only in 7 days or must be wait until 14 days too?

Thank you in advance.

Kindly regards,
Boedi

Approved Supplier Program- Is it necessary?
12 ‎June ‎2015
Hello All, I have a question, we are a small packaging company with a couple of large customers. We are subjected to annual audit. This is my first year with the company and this is not the first time they have been audited by this customer. They never had an approved supplier program due to the fact they do not supply any material in packaging the product, it is all customer supplied. The only think we do supply is the pallet the shrink films that we wrap the pallet with. No packaging material we purchase is 1st or 2nd packaging. Do we still need to have a approved supplier program?

Thank you in advance.....

SQF Sector/Module Selection Sugar
12 ‎June ‎2015
Hello Everyone, I am in need of assurance/proper selection in Food Sector Category Selection for SQF. The company receives granulated sugar and processes it into liquid sugar. This would fall under food sector category "19" (Please correct me if you think otherwise). The location also receives and ships granulated sugar without converting it into liquid sugar (they distribute). Does the company also have to consider food sector "26" to cover module 12-GDP for transport and distribution of food products.

When you read Appendix 1: in the food sector category "26" within the Column EXAMPLE OF PRODUCTS. It states "Includes all transportation, storage and delivery of all foods sold through retail and foodservice facilities that are low and high-risk foods and recouping or repacking of outer (secondary) packaging, but not repacking of exposed product or any processing operations."

I do not know how to interpret that for this situation... any comments.

What are the requirements for Sensory Evaluations w.r.t SQF?
12 ‎June ‎2015
Hi everyone, I have following questions to ask:

Please provide your suggestions.

Your help is much appreciated.

Thanks
Regards

Vyas

What training is required for the crisis management team?
11 ‎June ‎2015
Hi, I've been reading posts and have been really useful so I'm posting today for the first time. I have my first SQF (Level 2) facility audit in 2 weeks and still lots of things to get done. I'm working on the Business Continuity Plan and I'm struggling with the training needed for the Crisis Management Team. Does it need to be an official training? has to be done by someone with specific qualifications? do you know if there is any online training for that?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Are paper labels considered low risk?
11 ‎June ‎2015
Are paper labels (sheet fed inks, coated 1 side 60# paper) considered low risk as a packaging material,... and therefore it is not necessary to provide GFSI certificates to provide to vendors? Must be 3.5.1.2 in the BRC standard.
Or as a subcontractor (providing the packaging material) is a printer required to be GFSI certified? (3.5.4.2 in the BRC standard).

Thanks.

Should QA Manager report to Operations or the CEO?
11 ‎June ‎2015
Hi, I've read too many options and right now I'm confused. I'm the QA Manager in my company and I'm currently reporting to the CEO. We don't have a Director of Operations but I know they are looking to have this position filled soon. Who should I report? CEO or operations?

Thanks for your help.

Internal audit recognition vs SQF
10 ‎June ‎2015
Hi everyone, Our company has for many years been performing Food Safety, quality and security audits through the corporate QA department. In other words, our 25 certified site do not perform any internal audit - these are covered by corporate QA and done once per year as per ISO 19011 auditing principles.

Recently, it has come to our attention, that SQF would no longer recognized corporate audits as "internal audits" in order to have each certified facility responsible of their own internal audits.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Denis B

Hot Water As A Sanitizer?
10 ‎June ‎2015
Hoping this forum can settle a pretty "heated" debate (pun intended!). In our discussion about Cleaning/Sanitizing as we pursue SQF Level 2 Certification, someone mentioned that they thought that the use of just Hot Water -- as long as it's hot enough and it reaches a certain temperature first -- was more than sufficient to use in the place of a standard Sanitizer solution instead.

Is this true? And, if so, what is the temperature that the Hot Water would need to be at in order to qualify and in order to fulfill the role of a "Sanitizer" in our process?

As always, thanks in advance for your time and help!

All The Best,
JKRed

HACCP Awareness Training
10 ‎June ‎2015
Hi everyone, I hope you can help. I am looking for a HACCP awareness training document? I have been told that all food handlers require HACCP awareness, obviously CCP and Team members require more training but its the HACCP Awareness I need. am I correct in thinking that this is just a brief overview to staff? is this what they require? how often would it be recommended that this training is given?

I apologise if this has been a topic before but I couldn't find anything with regards to HACCP awareness.

Many thanks in advance
W

High solid epoxy vs polyurethane flooring....wet processing
10 ‎June ‎2015
Good Morning.... Hope this communication finds everyone well. We are in the planning stages of various facility renovation projects, floors are one of the main areas of the renovation project. We have several contractor's quotes, some quotes are for epoxy and some are for polyutherane. When asked each contractor can sing the praises of whichever type of flooring that they have quoted. I have done web searches and read articles all of which present the pros / cons for each type, however, I would like to find specific specifications for each type of flooring material versus the subjective "high resistance" or "long-lasting" terminology that I am finding. Can anyone direct me to where I might locate this information? I would also be interested in any experiences or advice the IFSQN members could offer. We are a fruit/vegetable processor and processing in a wet environment.

Thanks in advance for the help...

Kelly

Caviar Product description
10 ‎June ‎2015
Hello, can anybody help me – I’m looking for datails to create Product description of Caviar - trout / lumpfish / salmon. Maybe someone has any file to share?

Thank You!!

After Fire clearance
09 ‎June ‎2015
Hi, I have had a major fire and have been investigated by a multitude of people

• Fire
• Police
• Insurance
• Health Department

The questions are who give the final clearance for smoke and water damage after a fire? Who has the final say on what stock should be thrown out due to smoke and water damage.

Insurers have their line in the sand Local government (health) another and the export people are yet to be involved? Any help appreciated product is dried fruit

Harey

Nutritional Info for Bay Leaves
09 ‎June ‎2015
Hi all, I've been trying to find some nutritional data for Bay Leaves. The only database I can find that has a publicly available nutritional value is the USDA site (all others seem to reference this info), however in New Zealand there is a category that we need to state which is not listed on the USDA database.
Basically, under the Carbohydrate category, I need a figure for sugars. This is to work out a finished product nutritional panel (that bay leaves are an ingredient of).
Has anyone done testing themselves, or know of a database that I could get this information from?

Thanks

Is it ok that no processing taking place during a BRC & SQF audit?
09 ‎June ‎2015
Hi there; My company is having an audit this coming week for both SQF and BRC standards and I'm wondering if the days the auditors are coming for audit happen to have no processing, would you think they will carry on the audit or we should be postponing it?

Anticipating your views on this.

Thanks

U.S.A - egg shortage - temporary storage modification
09 ‎June ‎2015
Hey All, Hopefully fellow international members aren't also feeling the pinch for egg products. Working for a bakery that utilizes large amounts and seeing the price triple has been a bad beginning to what looks to be a good summer. Since supply is very low for frozen "pasteurized" liquid whole eggs are non-existent. We are looking at possibly turning to refrigerated "pasteurized" liquid whole eggs since that is what is available and even then it is hard to come by. The lower shelf life is not ideal but it is better than having to do immediate R&D work to start reducing dependence (my new future cost savings plan). I have setup a temperature monitoring plan for the change of ingredient (33-38F, 1-4C), have specifications and supporting documents on ingredients since we already have the supplier on our approved list. I am also creating/adding a handling procedure for refrigerated eggs since we were covered by our thawing procedure on frozen. Lastly, produce is being listed as R&D trial run first with sensory and chemical/physical analysis testing prior to heavy use.

Are there other recommended practices? I am considering to require samples pulled at receipt for micro analysis, but the company does send COA's with micro results so I my just hold off for now.

How are all you other U.S. bakeries etc handling your egg shortage? Hopefully the supply will start to correct itself.

Egg producers in the Netherlands might be looking to gain more access to U.S. market

Cleaning Station Suggestions?
09 ‎June ‎2015
We're pursuing SQF Level 2 Certification (I'm still a newbie to all of this) and I've been trying to isolate different parts of our facility that could use some improvement (if not those areas that need definite change) and simply start there when it comes to any "improvements" and such. Take a look at one of our current "Cleaning Stations" that we have around the facility right now (4 total on the Production Floor)...Thoughts? Personally, I don't like this "look-and-feel" or the "functionality" of the set-up at all.

Any criticisms, observations, suggestions and/or thoughts? What does your facility do in this regard? Should I add/remove any of those cleaning tools? Should I just clean and organize them better and add more colored tape on the handles to correspond to the Cleaning Station it belongs to? Or is it just better to research Suppliers/Vendors that have these items in solid colors perhaps to help make it even easier to identify/store and to eliminate the use of any colored tape in the facility?

Again, not the most "critical" issue for sure, but one that I'd like to address nonetheless. Of course, I know that this community of Food Safety/SQF expert professionals will have some good things to share.

Thanks in advance for your time and help!

All The Best,
JKRed

Is whole milk more pricey than partially skimmed & skimmed
09 ‎June ‎2015
Hi, I wanted to know if someone can better explain to me why whole milk, milk whose fat is not reduced, costs slightly more than the partially skimmed and skimmed versions.

I know the dairy industry needs milk's cream to produce butter.

Thanks!

Break and Clean process?
09 ‎June ‎2015
Can anyone explain to me what the break and clean process is? Samples?

Do you have a checklist for a security assessment?
09 ‎June ‎2015
Dear all, is there any check list available with anybody to assess the security arrangement of the company.

Thanks and regards
Rani

How to assess the security arrangements according to BRC 4.2?
09 ‎June ‎2015
Dear all, how to assess the security arrangement according to BRC global standards for food safety clause 4.2.

Thanks and regards
rani s r

BRC 3.2 Documentation Control
09 ‎June ‎2015
Hi All, I know this is (supposed to be) a simple topic, and I've read other threads on this topic, but can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for.

We have already been through 2 BRC audits (obtained A rating), and the auditor has never brought this up, but I'd rather be safe than sorry on this point.

The BRC interpretation guideline (not the code itself - version 7) states:

Where controlled documents are all contained on an electronic system, it is usual for printed versions to be marked uncontrolled. Each copy must be authorised (e.g. with a signature or stamp) to show it is for use, and each must be given a version number so that out-of-date documents can be identified and removed.

Here is an outline of our documentation control policy:

Currently, we do not sign or stamp each form that is printed, and we do not mark printed copies "uncontrolled".

My question is: since all forms are to be the current version, and forms are only to be in locations listed on the register, must all printed copies of documents (SOP's, policies, check sheets, etc.) to be signed or stamped and marked "uncontrolled"? Or if I state in our procedure that all printed copies are uncontrolled is that sufficient? I just don't want to receive a non-conformance on a future audit, but I also don't want to cause unneeded work.

Also, does that mean daily check sheets are to be marked "uncontrolled"?

We are a small company, with management directly involved in production, and a lot of management commitment, so the current policy has been followed very well.

Thanks in advance for your help with this.

WowQC

Where to start with a HACCP Plan?
09 ‎June ‎2015
Good day friends may you help me ,I want to start implementing the HACCP in our company. Don’t know where to start from. We produce pasta.ready to eat italian and indian dishes. I want HACCP plan just a template. Thank you

Allergen Legislation References
09 ‎June ‎2015
Hello, I was just updating our allergen procedure, to comply with BRC which says we must consider allergens identified in the legislation in the country of sale. I've looked up the allergens defined in the legislation for the countries we sell to, but I can't find anything for Turkey...Is anyone is familiar with the legislation for Turkey (the country, not food!).

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