Week 35 Traceability Testing - We’ve got SALSA sussed..!
We’ve got SALSA sussed..!
Week 35 Traceability Testing
Traceability Test
Every year, at the very least, you
must carry out a Traceability Test. This is to make sure your Traceability
System works and has been completed correctly in all areas from start to finish.
I am going to run through the best
way, and the most effective way to complete this.
Auditors need to see all
documentation which is evidence to support your Traceability Test.
Don’t confuse your Traceability
Test with your Mock Recall Test (this is something slightly different). However,
you can use your Trace Test within your Recall Test, to prevent you from repeating
your Traceability Test.
A Recall Test is where you are
testing your team, to check they all know what their role in a Recall situation.
So you need to get them all together to carry out their role. We will be going
into Mock Recall Tests in more detail when we get to Managing Incidents,
Recalls & Withdrawals next week.
Let’s check out how to tackle
this one!
What’s coming next…
Week 36 Managing Incidents,
Recalls & Withdrawals
Traceability Test - what do you need to show your
SALSA auditor?
Traceability Summary Sheet
Backwards trace
Forward Trace
Mass Balance
A Traceability Test needs to start
at a Production Record for a batch of Product you have made. From there, go
Backwards to ‘Goods In’ and Forwards to ‘Customer’.
Traceability Summary Sheet
Having a ‘Traceability Test
Summary Sheet’ to document everything on when you carry out your Trace Test is a
really good idea. And this helps you to explain it to an auditor.
Keep a photocopy of all supporting
documentation you use to carry out the Traceability Test. Keep all
documentation together with your Summary Sheet in a Traceability Test ‘Pack’.
On the Summary Sheet, you should
list:
Production Traceability Information
(this would be the first section of the example document below)
·
The batch number of product you are tracing.
·
The quantity made.
·
Best before / use by date of the product.
·
Production Record that the information is on.
Highlight the batch number which is being traced so it is easy to follow.
Raw Material Traceability - Backwards
Trace (this would be documented in the Investigation section of the example
document below)
·
List raw materials in the product.
·
The batch numbers.
·
Photocopy the relevant Goods In Records.
Highlight the raw materials or delivery on it and attach it with your trace
pack.
·
Photocopy the relevant Delivery Notes. Highlight
the raw materials and batch codes on them. Mark off the delivery note has been
found copied and attached.
·
You can even find the raw material specification
and attach that too.
Product Traceability – Forwards
Trace (this would be documented in the Customers Affected section of the
example document below)
·
Quantify the number of products leaving the
building, and the number of product still in stock
·
The total quantity should total the whole amount
produced from the ‘Quantity Made’ from the production records. If not, consider
if any have been put to waste or used for retention samples etc.
·
List all customers affected and the quantity
they received.
·
Print or copy their Customer Order Record /
Invoice / Delivery Note
·
Highlight on their orders the relevant products and
batches they received. If you do not document the batches on their orders, then
you must evidence it in some other way such as the Dispatch Record.
·
Copy your Dispatch Record and highlight the
relevant batches leaving the building.
·
Tally the quantities to make sure they match
what you have previously calculated from the Production and Stock Count
Traceability Test Results
Once you have completed your
Traceability Test, then write the results in the final section of the Summary.
For example, if there was a
document you couldn’t find, list it, and put in a plan so that this doesn’t
happen again. If a delivery note was missing, ensure staff are diligent and
request from the supplier every time. If the raw material delivery was not
written on the Goods In Record, then have a retrain of the team dealing with Goods
In to ensure they understand the importance of recording everything correctly.
Or, if you couldn’t quantify the
total amount, then introduce a system which helps you with this. Perhaps it
could be that you do not record waste, or retention samples, or giveaways? If
it is logged somewhere, you can always quantify everything.
Whatever didn’t work for you on
the Trace Test, if you Correct it, and Prevent it, it will not only benefit you
in the future, but you will have better control and it will be a beneficial
exercise! Traceability is a very important one to get right in cases where something
goes wrong, you will have it covered.
Mass Balance
Mass Balance is an exercise where
you take one batch of Raw Material and trace it into every Finished Product is
goes into.
It is an exercise you might have
to do if you produce something which has Free Range, or Organic ingredients,
which you claim on your Finished Product label. You will have to prove you have
only used the correct raw material in the Finished Product, especially if you
also use Non-Free Range and Non-Organic ingredients in your facility too, as
these could be used by accident deeming the product not-legally compliant.
Record your findings on a Summary
Sheet:
1.
You would start with the Raw Material Batch
Number. Copy and highlight the Delivery Note & Goods In Record.
2.
Then find all of the Production Records for the
products that the Raw Material has been used in. Photocopy them all.
3.
Add up the Weight of the Raw Material from each
of the Production Records (checking you have the right batch numbers).
Highlight the raw materials and batch numbers on the photocopied Production Records.
4.
Ensure the total Weights used on the Production
Record equals the Total Weight of the Batch of Raw Material in question.
You might have slight wastage of
some ingredients, so you do need to take this into consideration. Wastage could
occur from spillages, sieving, ingredient sampling or testing wastage, wastage
due to shelf life expiry. Document all of these things on your Summary. If you
don’t record them, then what you could do is to start to record them, so it
helps when you do your next Mass Balance!
As always, I am more than happy to
answer any food safety related questions, whether they are SALSA related or
not. Get in touch!
Be careful and stay safe!
Ruth
Ruthshawconsultingltd@gmail.com
07732
966 836
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