Week 26 HACCP Research, Scope, Use, Users, Product Descriptions - We've Got SALSA Sussed
Week 26 HACCP Research, Scope, Use, Users, Product Descriptions
Hi Everyone!
HACCP Preparation is the key
to making sure your HACCP is a successful one. Research makes sure that the
HACCP does what it is there to do… Keep food safe!
Having the knowledge about the
raw materials you use is the first step.
Having the knowledge about
what has gone wrong with regards to food safety in the past is also important
and will help to show you the way and prevent you from making those mistakes in
your product.
This week we will focus on
information gathering, so we can make sure we consider everything we need to
when formulating the documentation and implementing our HACCP Plan.
Failing to prepare is
preparing to fail… That could have very serious
consequences!
What’s coming next…
Week
27 HACCP Process Flow Diagram
HACCP Team & Training - what do you need to show your
SALSA auditor?
Product Descriptions
Scope
Use & Users
Describe Your Product
You need to describe your product
so that you have full information about it documented in your HACCP Plan. My
suggestion is that you describe the following things and add this to the
Introduction of your HACCP Study:
·
Product - What the product is
·
Process - A summary of the processes your
product goes through
·
Ambient ingredients
·
Chilled ingredients
·
Frozen ingredients
·
Packaging – the type of food contact packaging
you are using, (lids and containers, bottles and jars, foil or film, tubs or
bags etc). The size of the packaging and the materials the packaging is made
of.
·
Storage & Dispatch Conditions – the actual
temperature it needs to be; chilled, frozen or ambient.
·
Shelf Life – what your expected shelf life is –
this will have to be validated.
·
Allergens – allergens contained in the raw
materials.
·
Preservation hurdles – such as pasteurisation or
sterilisation, pH or aw, chilled or frozen temperature control, cooked
Having a handy little table to
document all of your product information is a good idea to keep it all together
and organised. See the example below:
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Product |
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Process |
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Ambient
ingredients |
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Chilled
ingredients |
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Frozen
ingredients |
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Packaging
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Storage
Conditions |
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Dispatch
Conditions |
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Shelf
Life |
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Allergens |
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Preservation hurdles |
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Let’s run through each element of
your product description in more detail…
Product - What the product is
When describing your product, you
can split the descriptions up either per product, or per product category. For
example, if you make sandwiches and salads, you can categorise them under each
sandwich type and each salad type, or just as sandwiches and salads.
Process - A summary of the
processes your product goes through
Think about the process which your
product goes through when you make it, and summarise it. For example:
·
Cakes: Weighing, Mixing, Baking, Cooling,
Filling
·
Ready Meals: Weighing, Preparation, Cooking,
Blast Chilling, Meal Assembly
·
Cooked Meat: Butchery, Cooking, Blast Chilling,
Slicing
Obviously when we complete the Process
Flow Diagram (in next weeks blog), the process will be in much greater detail
than the above summary. When we go into more detail about our HACCP Process
Flow, the summaries we have documented can always tweaked, so that we know they
are accurate.
Ambient, Chilled, Frozen
ingredients
List all of your ingredients /
ingredient categories, by dividing them out into chilled, ambient and frozen
categories, so that you know what type of storage you need, (chillers, freezers
and dry stores). You can do this by going through your recipes, or your stock
control or stock ordering sheets to make sure you do not forget anything.
When you compile your lists, it’s
a really good idea to get the ingredient specifications from your suppliers. Ingredient
Specs are the documents the manufacturers have to provide for the ingredient
they are supplying to you. They contain a wealth of information about the
ingredient, which includes everything you need to prepare your HACCP!
If you have been reading all of my
blogs, you might be starting to think I am going on and on about
ingredient specs. That is because you really need them! They have a huge amount
of information on them about all of the risks they contain. They detail the
microbiological, allergenic, physical and chemical risks, if the ingredient contains
them. When you have all of this information, it will be easier to see what type
of risks we need to control throughout our HACCP Plan!
Allergens – allergens contained
in the raw materials
When listing your ingredients, you
need to take notice of the allergens that the ingredients contain. List them on
the product description table. You need to check the ingredient specifications
for this information (I told you that you needed them 😉).
Some products have allergens that you wouldn’t expect, so you have to
check. You cannot be expected to know all the allergens in a product unless you
are told.
Packaging
Detail the type of food contact
packaging you are using, (lids and containers, bottles and jars, foil or film,
tubs or bags etc). Also, the size of the packaging, and materials the packaging
is made of.
You will need to make sure you
have the evidence that the packaging is made of Food Safe Materials. You do
this by requesting the supplier provide you with a ‘Declaration of Compliance’
or ‘Migration Certificates’.
The Declaration of Compliance has
to state the packaging you receive from the supplier, complies with the
regulations: ‘1935/2004 Materials in Contact with Food’.
Migration certificates are tests
which the packaging goes through to prove it is safe, depending on the type of
product going into it – liquids, fats etc. And also that it is safe at
different temperatures – frozen, chilled etc. And it may go into an oven or
microwave, for products like ready meals, so you need to prove that is safe
too!
Storage & Dispatch
Conditions – Does your product need to be stored and distributed at chilled,
frozen or ambient temperature? What is the actual temperature the product needs
to be?
If your product a frozen product,
it should be transported at frozen temperatures.
Chilled products should be stored
and transported at chilled temps, and ambient at ambient.
You need to make sure you organise
the correct type of transport for your product. This can be costly, so it is
important to think of this upfront.
Shelf Life – what your
expected shelf life is – this will have to be validated.
The shelf life must be validated
to prove that your product is safe until the date you state on the label.
Please see SALSA Sussed Week 24 Shelf Life for how to do this.
Preservation Hurdles
Preservation Hurdles are the
procedures you carry to make the product safe. These hurdles could be one, or a
combination of the following; pasteurisation or sterilisation, pH, aw, cooking,
chilled or frozen temperature control.
Product Research
That is a great deal of
information gathered together so far, but that is not all of it. You need to
research your finished product.
If you research what has happened
to your type of product before with regards to Food Poisoning Outbreaks,
Product Recalls, and any Substitution or Adulteration Risks, you are bound to
learn a lot.
For example, if you wanted to make
a ready meal with rice and chicken, then research about them.
All you need to do is start with
Google, if you add ‘food poisoning from rice’, then up pops the dreaded
Bacillus Cereus:
‘Uncooked rice can contain
spores of Bacillus cereus, bacteria that can cause food poisoning. The spores
can survive when rice is cooked. If rice is left standing at room temperature,
the spores can grow into bacteria. These bacteria will multiply and may produce
toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea’.
Other sources of Bacillus are rice,
potatoes, peas, beans and spices.
If you Google, ‘food poisoning
from Chicken’…..
Up pops Salmonella and Campylobacter.
So now, you are starting to grow
your knowledge on the controls you will have to put in to ensure these risks
are eliminated, reduced to a safe level, or prevented.
For Chicken, you could also start
to become members of some professional entities such as:
The British Poultry Council
https://www.britishpoultry.org.uk/
The British Hen Welfare Trust
Red Tractor
https://assurance.redtractor.org.uk/standards
Go to the FSA website and set up alerts in relation to your products, so you can see what is going on in the industry, here is the latest alerts:
The more research at this stage,
means getting to know your products and your ingredients well, will only help
you in the long run.
Use & Users
You need to document what the
‘Use’ and who the ‘Users’ of your product will be.
Use….
Is it an ingredient?
Is it for further manufacture?
Is it ready to eat?
Is it ready to reheat?
Does it need cooking or baking, or
hot water adding?
Is it to be made by the consumer
like a baking kit?
All of these types of questions
need considering and documenting on your HACCP Plan.
Users….
You can state who the products are
aimed at, but realistically, you cannot control who the users will be. Other
than products like alcohol being for the over 18s. Or, Baby food not being
likely to be eaten by anyone other than the target consumer.
However, with most products, it is
very likely that old, young, pregnant, ill, immunocompromised or allergy
sufferers are likely to eat your product.
You need to state this on your
HACCP Plan.
A statement about allergens on the
HACCP Plan is very common – such as, ‘The product is not suitable for allergy
or intolerance sufferers for the allergens which are stated on the label’.
There is always more to learn
about your product, the ingredients and your process. In the food industry, you
never stop learning!
That’s it for now folks! Have a
good week….. Anyone started their Christmas Shopping? I am seriously trying to
get in the Christmassy mood, but struggling a bit this year though!
Be careful and stay safe!
Ruth
Ruthshawconsultingltd@gmail.com
07732
966 836
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