Sponsored by

Last Friday's Webinar Recording

Training Employees on Food Safety and Quality

Webinar recording and Presentation slides
Ensure that your entire team is on the same page when it involves Food Safety and Quality. Having a good training plan is essential to your overall operation. This webinar will review several food safety programs and make sure your QA technicians, maintenance crew, line workers, temporary workers, and hourly personnel are all working together when it comes to safety and training in your workplace.

Latest Topics from the Forums

Pesticide Declaration for RTE food products
Greetings, We are chocolate and sugar confectionery (Ready to eat product) manufacturer based in Malaysia and our product is export to Korea and US. Recently my customer in US request for pesticides compliance declaration. We do have COA/declaration of pesticide for ingredients, however we do not test for pesticide in our finished products.

My questions are, do I need to test for pesticide in order to come out with pesticide compliance declaration or I can just declare based all the ingredient comply to Malaysia & Codex regulated pesticides without testing for pesticides level in my product.

F.Y.I my company is small industry which have limitation for resources to conduct tests.

Thanks.

BRC audit NC - appeal rejected by body
Hi, One of my customers with whom I was successful in obtaining an BRC certificate, was unsuccessful in an appeal with the notified body for 2NC's with whom they were not ok with.
Since there were some strange issues during the audit and part of the audit had to be redone by another auditor, my customers want to evaluate if there are other steps they can take to challenge the appeal procedure. Are there any possibilities?

Cooking CCP limits
Hi everyone, We produce cooked products and the current cooking CCP limit is core temperature to be more than 75 degrees C;

We have validated the cooking process using temperature data loggers showing that the core temperature has been maintained above 75 degrees C for more than 3 minutes.

We have been advised that the CCP limit should be amended to allow for deviations in the temperature probes. We calibrate the thermometers weekly allowing +/-0.5 degree deviation from a calibrated master probe. Also there is some deviation of +/- 0.3 degrees of the master unit as well.

Shall we change the CCP limit to 76oC then to compensate for these two deviations or we can avoid it having in mind that the temperature is maintained for quite long period of time.

Many thanks in advance for all recommendations and opinions received.

Dry beans inspection devices
Hi dears, Anybody here from the canned beans industry. can you please suggest any lab device to inspect raw material beans? Parameters we are looking the below.

1) Moisture
2) Count
3) Size of beans
4) Discoloured
5) contrasting beans
6 Foreign objects
7 Split /cracked beans
8) Mouldy or fungal infected.

Appreciate all your support

Best regards
Mohammed Salim

Stabilised Aqueous Ozone
Good Morning All, I am after some information. I have been approach by one of the companies to try and use Stabilised Aqueous Ozone in our factory as it is “amazing” NEW thing which will “cut my cleaning time and cost”. I have learnt from experience not to trust sellers a lot.

Looking online it looks good but is here anyone who have used it before and can tell my there is a point of inviting them to my site or is it a waste of time?

Thanks for any input.

Aggie

Contractors Spray Painting Ceiling
Hi, I have been asked to carry out a risk assessment for this particular scenario. I am dealing with such scenario for the first time so I was wondering if you guys can advise on this please?

We have hired a contractor who are planning to spray paint the ceiling above the production lines and Senior Management has said that production should go ahead and lines shouldn't be stopped.

So contractors have come up with a plan to cover each production line by a thick sheet of polyethylene film suspended in the air right above it. Having said that we do have food grade packaging.

What factors would you take into consideration whilst doing a risk assessment and would you do it on a standard template?

I have already asked for these:

• MSDS
• SOP

Appreciate your time to read and reply to this.

Many Thanks

What test of Allergen for milk, soy, fish?
What test of Allergen for milk, soy, fish?

Honey Colour Analyzer
Hi, I have a Honey colour analyzer which works on Liquid honey, we cream our honey so i need to prepare the sample back to liquid. I have purchased a water bath so I'm looking for some recommendations for time and temperature I should use.

Thanks,
Tracey

Does anyone have experience of walnut in-shell bleaching?
Hello Everyone, I work at a Walnut Processing/Packing facility and we are currently installing a bleaching system. The system is used to clean/brighten the shell for in-shell walnuts.

I was wondering if anyone has any knowledge or experience with this process? I am not sure of the concentration of chlorine that should be used, how we should test it/document it, how often, and what other documentation or paperwork we may need for this type of system. I am assuming this needs to be in our FSM and we need documents to show we are regularly verifying the amounts of chlorine in the system.

I have researched online some but there isn't much information out there. I was hoping I could find someone here with some experience to help me out.

Thanks!

Comparison of allergen adhesion properties
Hi all, At my facility we process powders containing various allergens (dairy, gluten/gliadin, and soy primarily). We have a history of successfully removing all allergens going back several years. We have been told previously (not sure from what source) that milk allergens are the toughest to remove. What we would like to do is perform a risk assessment to determine whether validating of gliadin/gluten or soy would be necessary if it can be demonstrated that milk allergen is successfully removed by the same cleaning procedures. I feel this risk assessment would be more convincing if there were some study demonstrating that milk allergenic compounds have a higher potential for adhesion than others. Thus far my literature review has turned up bubkis. I was hoping that perhaps someone on this forum had some resources that might be helpful, or possibly some personal experiences, or perspectives that would give me some guidance. So how about it?

Thank you in advance!

Format and content of SSOPS for CIP
I am working on SSOPs for CIP's at my plant. What would be the best format and how detailed should it be? What parameters are the most important ones?
Please share any reference documents if you have.

Illness Reporting & GMP
Hi Everyone, I am so glad I found this forum. The questions regarding how to implement SQF/HACCP are never ending.

So let's start with my 2 biggest.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

L.Pacy

Possibility of Flowchart Grouping for RTE +RTC If Unprocessed?
Greetings all,1st time poster so bare with me...

I’m reviewing a HACCP plan for a fishy business (no pun intended) and i have a question about their process flows which nobody seems to be able to answer.

Part of their business is to BUY RTE and RTC packed Fish products such as shrimp in brine, king prawns and fresh sea fish products both frozen and fresh to which they store then sell on essentially UNPROCESSED.

As a PRP these are obviously clearly segregated from each other during storage and transit best as possible. and so, looking at potential risks i don’t see any reason why they can’t be grouped in one process flow /hazard analysis/ just because they are RTE / RTC??

Of course, if any processing occurs by the nature alone such as hot or cold smoking would require individual process flows / groups but where nothing other than storage, picking and re-distribution I’m sure i can get away with it?

What do you think?

I attach an example of a process flow I’m currently working on.

What is a critical limit and how to define it?
Hello everyone i appreciate the great work done here on this forum helping us think out of the box and keeping updated with latest food safety , quality, technology.

What is a critical limit and how to define it?

Batch identification, same batch of raw milk, two different flavours
Hello, We have a scenario where raw milk undergoes quality checks, separation, standardization, pasteurization and then is distributed to two different storage tanks - one for each flavor. This then goes for filling and packing. So in this case we have same product but 2 different flavors, coming from the same batch of raw milk. I would like to clarify if we can consider these products as a single batch? What would be the best way of identifying these products for future traceability?

Kindly assist. Thanks in advance.

Best regards,
Roshni

Guidelines on determining the frequency of finished product testing?
Other than annual testing for micro identified in our HACCP plans (which always comes out in favor of our HACCP), we do not test our products for micro (APC, Coliform, Yeast & Mold) and we received a minor for not having such procedure. Now we are preparing a procedure for testing but seem to hit a wall when it comes to frequency of testing. We are a small scale company and cannot afford to test every lot or do a skip lot test. If there any guidelines on determining the frequency of finished product testing? I would like to have document as a back up for the frequency we determine.

Risk Assessment Floor Loading for Distribution
Hi Everyone, my company is preparing for our SQF Certification next year in February and have come across an issue that I need some help on.

Does any other distribution center practice floor loading?
If they do are you GFSI certified?
If so, how were you able to risk assess this practice?

Thanks!
Weebus!

BRC Internal Auditor Course/ Training
Does anyone have leads on a internal auditor course specific to the BRC standard?

Risk Assessment of Food Additives
Hi all, need help with "Ingredient inherent" risk assessment of food ingredients (food additives e.g. accidents, vitamins, etc.), is there a ready to refer list on how to classify them or rate them, and I’m here talking about all ingredients listed in FCC if i have to rate them as Low risk, medium risk, high risk or on scale of 1-5 (1 being low risk and 5 being high risk).

Thanks all.

Fish Allergen
Dear Sirs, Currently, we design the label of milk product for US export. This product is fortified DHA from fish oil (tuna). For FDA regulation about allergen warning in label claim, would you please advise us how about this claim? and what document for references.

Thanks so much,
Sakura

Quality Manual query
Hi, I am new here. Just appointed to be the PL for BRC IoP5.
Company had certified with ISO 9001 before but we don’t want to integrate the systems.

My question is, for BRC Quality Manual, I need to start with 1.1 Senior Management Commitment?
I would like to maintain the numbering so that it will be easier for me during the audit.

Late FSMA Compliance and General Tips
Hello. I just graduated from university in May with my degree in food science and took a job in Indonesia. I have been given the task of bringing us to FSMA compliance. Any guidance on this subject would be much appreciated as I am still very green in the industry! Here is our current situation:

We are a 'small business' (Our compliance date was Aug 30th, wasn't it?)
We currently export five different RTE products to the US (Do only these need to be included in the food safety plan?)

I believe I need to send a letter of compliance to the FDA. To where does it need to be sent?

Once again, any and all help would be greatly appreciated with this daunting task!

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
I am currently working on our Approved Suppliers Program and have requested Letters of Guarantee or Certificates of Compliance from several of our suppliers. I ran across one of our suppliers that could only provide me with a specification sheet for our aprons that come into food contact (Fish) He stated that they did not carry Letters of Guarantee or Certificates of Compliance because the FDA does not require them.

Does anyone know if this accurate information ??

Please advise.

Thank you in advanced.

Elle

Government Regulatory Agency employee won't sign Visitor Policy.
Could anyone tell me why some U.S. Government regulatory agency Officers / Auditors / Investigators / employees will not sign a visitor policy? We have a company visitor policy with GMP's, Food Safety and Food Defense criteria that we show to ALL of our visitors that would enter our warehouse storage and production areas. We ask them ALL to review the policy and sign it to acknowledge that they will abide by the criteria. We have had two government regulatory employees in the past 18 months refuse to sign the policy. The first agent said his "Superior" would not allow him to do so but did not divulge the reason why. The second agent from a different governing agency just flat out refused to sign it but with no explanation as to why not. Both agreed to read the policy but would NOT sign...What gives? Any thoughts?

Cleaning and Sanitation Log
Hello, new to the forum and Our company and myself are new to SQF! I'm currently working on the log for our cleaning crew to implement daily/weekly/monthly inside and out of our facility, I've come across a lot of helpful templets BUT I wanted to know and my question that I'm stuck on is; Do I need to list the chemicals as well as the exact amount used for each area (oz, gallons, mil, etc.?? or can I just list what product we use to clean and be done with the log...

Thank you in advance!

Filling line for both liquid detergent and beverages
Hi All, Upper management is considering the idea of filling both liquid detergent (dishwashing liquid) and beverages in the same filling line and ensuring complete rinsing and validation of rising so as one will not contaminate the next.
I know HACCP requirements speaks to the use of approved chemicals in approved concentrations.

Can anyone weigh in on this, whether it is a good or bad idea for food safety or process flows based on gravity fill equipment (tribloc filler) and the difference between viscosity of beverages and liquid detergents?

SQF. Ed. 8 Guidance Documents
I have been checking the SQFI site weekly for the guidance docs hoping they would be there! Does anyone have any idea of when they might be released? Thanks:)

Sharing documents with customers?
Hi, I wanted to check how You handle sharing of audit reports and quality system documentation with customers? How much do you share with customers that request this?

For example, a customer who has not been buying from you for several years requests to receive audit reports and various internal documentation. There are no current contracts with this customer, no planned agreement and no quotations either.

Would you send more than current certificates?

Background:
Not many companies in our business segment are certified and we are therefore cautious of over-sharing documentation when we don't know if we'll get the contract with potential customer.

Please let me know what the rest of you think of this subject!

Process flow steps to include?
Good Morning, I am wondering how inclusive my process flows steps need to be. Should I include movement of the raw ingredients from one workstation to the next?

Step #4 Thawing overnight with circulated water (In tanks)

Step #5 Inspection and trimming

In between Step 4 and 5, The product is moved in tanks to the trimming line, then the tank is lifted and dumped onto the trimming line.

I feel it should be a step, but then would I follow suit with all movement between workstations?

Thanks for your help!

FSMA- Preventive Controls- Practical example of hazard analysis?
Dear all, I am struggling with the creation of the hazard analysis in compliance with FSMA /PCHF rule. Is there anyone, who can provide practical examples (PCQI Training)? I am aware with the basic required structures of the hazard analysis, but this would help to understand the implementation process much better!

Thanks!

CCP Nightmare
Hi all, having a bit of a stinker with some potential CCPs and am in the middle of re-writing our HACCP docs at the minute. I've heard contrasting view on CCPs- some saying that these should be kept to a minimum and only implemented at CRITICAL stages and others saying that once the product has been made (in this example fruit juice that has been machine squeezed) every step afterwards is critical as there are no further steps to prevent/eliminate hazards. So the filling of the bottle through a sieve, capping, labelling, palletising and cold storage is all critical. This just doesn't sound right to me, although following the 4-question decision tree it kind of makes sense for the sieving, capping, labelling and cold storage to be seen as CCPs.

Hope this makes sense and that somebody can clarify the situation. It just doesn't make sense to have so many CCPs I don't think.

Many thanks,
Andy

Air quality in Processing areas
Hi, we are into processing of pH controlled chutneys, gravies, pickles and sauces. What kind of air quality will be required for processing areas where the food is cooked.

Regards,
Mahabir Singh

Job description food safety agent (working on shift) in cocoa process
Hello everyone i appreciate the great work done here on this forum helping us think out of the box and keeping updated with latest food safety , quality, technology ....related issues! a great work indeed! I'm trying to put up a job description for food safety agents who will be working in a shift system in a cocoa processing industry. any idea of how the work could be organised?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Microbial limit for food industry
New to Food industry. What are the guidelines for Microbial limit for food industry and where can i find it for specific food category

Mandatory SQF Organization Question
Hi All, I recently had my level 2 certification (passed). We are a bakery company. My question is:

Is there a mandatory section that mentions how our books need to be organized? If there is not, where can I find that in the sqf code? I am looking for that specific paragraph that mentions our books do not have to be organized in a way, but how the company thinks is fine.

Any help is appreciated.

CCP's in Mineral Water Bottling
Hi, I have some questions. Please forgive me the bad spelling, I'm Spanish speaker, I am implementing ISO 22000 in a mineral water plant. It's a premium water, it doesn't have any solids in suspension so they don't want to use filtration. They policy is from the natural font to the final consumer without any treatment. This water is amazing, the micro results are spectacular. The only thing they have is an UV lamp, after studying the situation, i think that this equipment is only for prevention and i don't think that it is a CCP. It is only just in case the pipelines are dirty and can contaminate the water before bottling it.

But, if this lam is a CCP, what can we control and monitor? we adjusted the power at 40% (provider's recommendation) and the screen shows results of dosis in 9999 mj/cm˄2.

Another issue, we use glass bottles. So i think that maybe a torquemeter can be another CCP, bottle caps can be very loose or too strong that glass can crack and be a hazard for food safety. To loose can be contaminate easily before the shelf life of the product ends.

I'll be very grateful if someone help me,

Leticia Da Ponte

Work Trousers in Food production
HI all, it’s been a while, I've been busy. A customer has requested one of my clients to consider having work trousers which are captive to the site.

The current protective clothing is a knee length white coat, long sleeves with sleeve protectors if necessary, white knee-high wellington boots, hairnets, beard snoods yadda, yadda, yadda....

I am going to risk assess the necessity for trouser in this nifty little outfit.

Auditor quoted Hygiene and allergen control. i.e. nuts eaten at home wiped hands on trousers ...I'm thinking there's about an couple of centimetres of fabric visible between boot and coat, unless the product fell off the conveyors ( which means it would be binned), and miraculously rubbed off the visible fabric of the trouser the risk is low.

Any thoughts?

Customer is European, I'm wondering do all European food processors have full trouser/coat combo?

Traps for Rodents
Hello, I wanted to know if there is any standard concerning the ubication of rodent traps inside a beverage factory.

Many thanks.

Glass and Hard Plastic Program
Hello, I am currently developing my company’s glass and hard plastic program. We manufacture juice in PET bottles, so the product is always traveling in stainless steel pipes, hence the chance of contamination by foreign bodies is very little. The highest risk comes from when the product is in the preparation and buffer tanks (which have lids), and even then the risk of materials breaking and coming in to the product comes mostly from ceiling lamps.

Knowing this, should the program include just the lamps of every single glass and hard plastic present in the processing area?

Thank you very much

Water sampling in a winery
Afternoon IFSQN, I know it’s been mentioned before but for some reason i just can't get my head around it. I've read the previous forums info but it just won't compute in my small Welsh brain.

I'm testing potable water in a winery, its added to alcohol & goes through micron filters so haven't been too worried. Recently the results straight from tap in TVC 2 & 3 days are >1000 cfu/ml. (Before we do anything with it).

Should i be worried that they are >1000cfu/ml for TVC, purely in the context of water supply before we process it?

Do we see differences in results depending on where we are in the year?

What is a reasonable result and what are good/ok/bad limits?

We routinely test final products and they are all clean due to our processes.

Cheers
DW

Internal audit of quality manual
Hi, I am wondering if someone can help me. We employ a trained external auditor to carry out our internal audits and he is saying that no-one has been trained against parts of the quality manual.

My understanding is that the quality manual outlines the general policies as per the BRC standard and then a SOP is written for anything that requires specific training i.e. How to operate a piece of machinery. Therefore people are not trained against every aspect of the quality manual.

Can you please confirm if this is the case and therefore to audit a section of the quality manual is done so by checking through relevant paperwork rather than quizzing a member of staff.

Many thanks

Looking for a reference model for HACCP risk assessment
Hi. am struggling to complete the hazard analysis for HACCP. I need a reference model for me to complete the risk assessment part. need a matrix that I can refer to.
center. Best Regards!

Carver Shock Software removed from FDA website?
I was looking for CRAVER SHOCK software on FDA website but it is removed. I want to know if somebody can help me and provide me a link to download or share with me the tool.

FSMA - Food Grade Ethanol Production
Hi - I am happy I found this group! I have already found some answers I was looking for. I am preparing a Food Safety Plan to meet FSMA requirements. As we manufacture fuel and food grade ethanol there are very few food safety related hazards but regardless a plan must be in place. Is there anyone here with experience in this commodity? My experience is mainly in meat and ready to eat foods so I very much don't want to overshoot the requirements.

Is anyone aware of any generic models for this industry? Not for the co-products (distillers grains, etc) but for the ethanol?

Thanks in advance!

Leslie.

BRC for PetFood
Hello all, I currently serve as the SQF practitioner for a SQF level 2 pet food manufacturer and one of our suppliers wishes to get a GFSI bench marked food safety certification and was considering BRC over SQF.

I am not very familiar with BRC and had several questions regarding BRC certification for pet food operations.

Does BRC have a separate code or module for the petfood industry or is the standard the same as that used in a human food facility certified to the BRC standard?

What is a typical time line like for obtaining BRC certification? Preparation, Audit duration, etc.?

Any assistance/advice that could be offered would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

DNA Seq

Environmental Monitoring
Edition 8.0 of the SQF standard has added section 2.4.8 Environmental Monitoring. We currently do extensive testing of our water supply, and we will be performing a risk assessment, but I am sure it will reveal that we may have to test compressed air quality and some microbiological testing. This is off the top of my head prior to performing the risk assessment.

I didn't know if any other companies were needing to perform additional testing and maybe you could share testing companies you've used and been happy with. Do I need to add this to our HACCP Plan (I'm thinking that's a yes)? How did you approach your risk assessment to determine what needed to be tested to maintain food safety?

We are just looking for some advice. I appreciate it in advance.

Temperature Distribution & Heat Penetration
Dear all! I need your help! I need to perform a Temperature distribution and a Heat penetration test on a water spray retort. Do you have any report about TD & HP. I need to know how make this kind of report. I need this documentation to export in USA; do you have any TD & HP study? Thank you

About the IFSQN

The IFSQN forums are a thriving community with more than 50,000 members from all over the world. A wide variety of topics are discussed daily on the forums including food safety management systems standards such as BRC, SQF, IFS, ISO 22000, FSSC 22000 as well as HACCP, Food Defense and Security, Pest Control, Food Testing, Microbiology, QA/QC, Continuous Improvement and much more.

The forums are a place where members can network, share knowledge and ideas to make food safer around the world - why not join us today!

Advertising

Learn more about advertising with the IFSQN and to begin creating your own customized program, contact us today.