How can your organization ensure Food Safety?
How can your organization ensure Food Safety?
TOOLS FOR FOOD SAFETY
A HACCP plan is the basic principle for your company to start offering food safety. When you begin to implement HACCP requirements, you have the directive to prepare each process in your organization; it is where you can identify hazards and controls to ensure acceptable levels, and that your product is not harmful to health.
Although it is known that in many occasions not all contaminants are eradicated from food, it is possible to obtain a minimum level that will help you to have a better control and care.
There is the so-called Food Safety Pyramid that helps you to build other bases that are required to achieve a better implementation of HACCP prerequisites.
Below are some systems or tools that will help you to obtain an excellent control of the products or services provided by your organization, always having food safety as a common goal:
1. Product coding, education and training of your staff.
Product coding, education and training of your personnel can be taken as a basis, coding helps you define exactly what products you have in your organization.
The education of the personnel involved in all food production and handling is relevant to your processes, where food safety could be compromised.
The training of your personnel means that in order to implement HACCP plans, you have to educate, train the personnel and provide feedback on what they have learned, the purpose is to generate a culture and empathy necessary for the application and implementation of these requirements.
2. Good Handling Practices (GMP)
As a second block, GMPs are officially established standards that help you regulate food processing plants, in particular, in terms of manufacturing procedures, cleaning and disinfection, personal hygiene, handling, controls, records, storage that ensure food quality and safety.
3. Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs)
SSOPs are written sanitation practices and procedures that your food processing establishment must develop and implement to prevent direct contamination or adulteration of the food being produced.
4. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)
The objective of implementing a HACCP system is to identify hazards that may occur in the food chain related to consumer safety, establishing control processes to ensure the safety of your product.
As you can see, these tools facilitate the establishment of rules, processes and systems that will help your organization comply with the proper management to protect food products, food grade packaging products or services that enter the food supply chain.
WHAT ABOUT ISO 22000 AND THE FSSC 22000 SCHEME?
By working with HACCP plans, you generally move on to food safety certification. Achieving your ISO 22000 or FSSC (Food Safety System Certification) certification can be considered as one of the last steps to evolve your food safety procedures and care.
This will lead you to have a better support in the market when evaluating your internal processes when handling food and you will obtain different advantages over your competition. HACCP and food safety standards are the best step your organization can take.
After using the tools mentioned above, in your certification process, the Certification Body is in charge of reviewing each point of the standard you are certifying and verifies that they are one hundred percent compliant. Once your Certification Body performs the audits, it is in charge of issuing a certificate according to your scope as a legal entity, your data and the certified standard.
The certificate that is issued and delivered to you is valid for three years and during this cycle it is important that you carry out the surveillance exercises, which are usually every year. Once the cycle is completed, the renewal or certification process begins.
If you need more information to become certified in HACCP, ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000, contact QAlliance, we are available to help you in the compliance of food safety in your organization, remember that these certifications are important for you to continue providing a quality service.