HACCP Mentor

Your customers purchase from you with the expectation that they will not get sick, injured or killed. So because of this basic expectation, you can’t market food safety. Find out more along with retention samples, potable water verification and testing your contingency plan in Episode 43 of HACCP Mentor Review.

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Welcome to Episode 34

Welcome to Episode 34 of HACCP Mentor Review. I am Amanda Evans and in this episode we have a look at how to market food safety, testing your water system, retention samples and activating your contingency plan. Don’t forget if you have any questions, just leave a comment below this episode.

Contingency Plan Activated for a food company

I watched with interest this week on the news in Australia of a food transport truck that overturned losing its full load of eggs. When I audit, I often see food businesses using this type of incident or scenario as the basis for testing their contingency plan. Some of the areas that are very rarely documented in the reporting of these mock tests are contacting the family members of the driver, the driver rehabilitation and interacting with the media. When you go to undertake your test, make sure you have full reporting to support a thorough test of your food business systems. Reporting includes the scenario, timelines, forms completed, decisions made, improvements recommended, system changes made and interaction with both internal and external stakeholders.

SQF Internal Audit Tool

One of the most effective things that you can do to ensure a successful audit outcome is to undertake and effective internal audit against the standard that you are getting audited against. SQF has made this process a little bit easier with the recent release of internal audit checklists for Edition 7.1. You can either purchase for the entire code or just for Module 2 and Module 11. There is a cost involved but at $50US it would take you longer to develop yourself. Check it out here.

The purpose of retention samples

Retention samples are samples taken from food production and retained for a particular time frame. The time frame may differ depending on the type of food product but as a general rule of thumb, samples should be retained for the shelf life of the product plus say and extra 10%. Retention samples can be then assessed for food safety and quality parameters to support the stated shelf-life. Retention samples should be stored as per the food products storage requirements.

How do you market food safety?

Your customers purchase from you with the expectation that they will not get sick, injured or killed. So because of this basic expectation, you can’t market food safety. You may be thinking, “we use a certification trade mark as part of our food business marketing”. What this type of promotion is saying to your customers is that you are using a benchmarked set of strategies to achieve food safety that are independently reviewed. When you look at the different clauses of your certification standard (e.g. SQF, BRC, ISO22000) see if you can tie that requirement or strategy back to the basic food law and customer expectation. Look for the food safety links rather than quality in doing this activity. For example, BRC 7.1.1 and SQF 2.9.1.1 talks about the requirements for all staff to be appropriately trained prior to commencing...

Find out what the size of a foreign matter choking hazard in food is by checking out HACCP Mentor Review Episode 33.

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Welcome

Welcome to HACCP Mentor Review Episode 33. I am now back on board after taking a few weeks off travelling up to China and Hong Kong and then some much needed relaxation in Noosa (otherwise known as the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia). In this episode we cover some observations from China, what size of foreign matter would be considered a choking hazard, women in auditing and production signage. Let’s get into it!

My Crazy China

China was definitely an eye-opener with the day to day operations providing a great insight into how others live and work. I was fortunate enough to stay with friends in a relatively small district located within the Guangdong Province. The Huiyang district can be found after about a two hour drive north east of Hong Kong after crossing the Hong Kong – China border.  

During the visit, I got to try much of the local cuisine, visit the local supermarkets and also visit an ISO9001 certified manufacturing site. The excellent drinking weather (very hot and very humid) also provided a great opportunity to consume Chinese beer. There is so much I could report but for now I will just tell you of a few of my observations (you can also check the video to see some photos):

* The most unusual food that I saw being sold in the supermarket was ‘starfish’.

* The worst food quality issue was the inability to butcher any meat to resemble a decent quality cut.

* The worst food safety practice was the cracking of eggs into a bowl on the street pavement.

* The best food I ate was frois gras (duck liver) with dragon fruit.

* The most frightening experience was driving on the roads. I don’t know how many times I saw my life flash before my eyes.

All-in-all the trip was a fantastic experience into another culture and I thank our Australian hosts Michele and Will for showing us the sights. I would also like to especially thank Chinese Martin for interpreting, driving us everywhere and answering my never ending array of questions. As I said at the beginning, it was all an eye opener but more importantly the trip reminded me of how lucky I am to live in Australia.

 

Women in Auditing

An article that I wrote on ‘Women in Auditing” has been published by RABQSA International. If you haven’t heard of RABQSA they design, develop, and deliver personnel and training certification. For me to be able to audit within Australia, I have to registered and certified by RABQSA as a food auditor.

Check out the article by clicking the link here

Size of a foreign matter choking hazard

I recently had a question regarding what size of foreign matter would be considered a choking hazard. When undertaking a hazard analysis on a consumer choking after ingesting foreign matter that is present in your food product, it is useful to define the size, type and source of the contaminate rather than just group as “foreign matter contamination”. These foreign matter contaminates could include objects made of metal, wood and plastic.

You would also need to ascertain and assess if your identified size would form a choking risk if consumed by different age groups including children and the elderly.

To get an idea of what size would constitute a choking hazard, you can refer to the government department in your country of manufacture that deals with choking hazards for children. Although this is not specifically food related, there is normally legislation set around what size object is considered to be a choking hazard in reference to toys and ...

Find out what the size of a foreign matter choking hazard in food is by checking out HACCP Mentor Review Episode 33.

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Welcome

Welcome to HACCP Mentor Review Episode 33. I am now back on board after taking a few weeks off travelling up to China and Hong Kong and then some much needed relaxation in Noosa (otherwise known as the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia). In this episode we cover some observations from China, what size of foreign matter would be considered a choking hazard, women in auditing and production signage. Let’s get into it!

My Crazy China

China was definitely an eye-opener with the day to day operations providing a great insight into how others live and work. I was fortunate enough to stay with friends in a relatively small district located within the Guangdong Province. The Huiyang district can be found after about a two hour drive north east of Hong Kong after crossing the Hong Kong – China border.  

During the visit, I got to try much of the local cuisine, visit the local supermarkets and also visit an ISO9001 certified manufacturing site. The excellent drinking weather (very hot and very humid) also provided a great opportunity to consume Chinese beer. There is so much I could report but for now I will just tell you of a few of my observations (you can also check the video to see some photos):

* The most unusual food that I saw being sold in the supermarket was ‘starfish’.

* The worst food quality issue was the inability to butcher any meat to resemble a decent quality cut.

* The worst food safety practice was the cracking of eggs into a bowl on the street pavement.

* The best food I ate was frois gras (duck liver) with dragon fruit.

* The most frightening experience was driving on the roads. I don’t know how many times I saw my life flash before my eyes.

All-in-all the trip was a fantastic experience into another culture and I thank our Australian hosts Michele and Will for showing us the sights. I would also like to especially thank Chinese Martin for interpreting, driving us everywhere and answering my never ending array of questions. As I said at the beginning, it was all an eye opener but more importantly the trip reminded me of how lucky I am to live in Australia.

 

Women in Auditing

An article that I wrote on ‘Women in Auditing” has been published by RABQSA International. If you haven’t heard of RABQSA they design, develop, and deliver personnel and training certification. For me to be able to audit within Australia, I have to registered and certified by RABQSA as a food auditor.

Check out the article by clicking the link here

Size of a foreign matter choking hazard

I recently had a question regarding what size of foreign matter would be considered a choking hazard. When undertaking a hazard analysis on a consumer choking after ingesting foreign matter that is present in your food product, it is useful to define the size, type and source of the contaminate rather than just group as “foreign matter contamination”. These foreign matter contaminates could include objects made of metal, wood and plastic.

You would also need to ascertain and assess if your identified size would form a choking risk if consumed by different age groups including children and the elderly.

To get an idea of what size would constitute a choking hazard, you can refer to the government department in your country of manufacture that deals with choking hazards for children. Although this is not specifically food related, there is normally legislation set around what size object is considered to be a choking hazard in reference to toys and ...

Find out how to identify work in progress, use code traceability systems and be charitable all in Episode 32 of HACCP Mentor Review.

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Featured topics

00:25 – How do you identify work in progress?

01:03 – Hazard Spotlight – Salmonella

01:48 – Charity Giveaways

02:45 – Security of visitors

03:02 – Code Traceability

Get your HACCP system organised

Need help closing out your CARs from an audit?

Welcome

Welcome to HACCP Mentor Review, I am Amanda Evans. In the hazard spotlight this episode is Salmonella where we look at some food poisoning outbreaks and some interesting stats from 2012. In episode 32 you can also find out how to identify work in progress, use code traceability systems and be charitable.

How do you identify work in progress?  

Work in progress can be defined as any ingredient or food products that are either not in the state of receival (eg. still in original packaging) or not a finished product. It really is food that still has a process to go through including for example mixing, cooling, cooking, packing. All food product should be identifiable regardless of what stage it is at in the process. Common identification methods include labelling, the use of colour codes, batch sheets and photographic control sheets.

Hazard Spotlight – Salmonella

This episode the hazard in the spotlight is Salmonella. Hazard spotlight is aimed at getting you to think about hazards and control measures in your product, process and premises that you may not have considered before.

I did a little research this week and found out that amount of laboratory notified cases of Salmonella in 2012 for the USA was over 49,000 reports. Cases reported in the UK were around 9,000 and in Australia more than 11,000. Salmonella can come from many sources including your raw materials and food handlers. Check out common Salmonella prevention strategies.

Charity Giveaways

There is a growing trend of food businesses participating in charitable food donations by giving away food that would otherwise have been discarded. There are a lot of great charities that distribute these donations to people who need it most and usually have a structured pick-up system.

In the food manufacturing sector this is generally for food that did not meet a retailers strict cosmetic requirements. For restaurants and takeaways, excess daily production is the main type of food given away.

 

If your food business participates in such a program, this is just a gentle reminder that even through it is a ‘donation’, the food that you supply is still required to comply with relevant food safety legislation including any food labelling requirements. Also check if there is any specific requirements set from your customers or retailer certification standards.

Action of the Week

This episodes action item is to check that visitor records are being completed. Knowing who is in your food premises at all times forms the basis of good security management. This also includes any contractors who may be working on-site.

Code Traceability

When I start talking about the importance of food safety and compliance, a common reply by the food business is “But we have never killed anyone or made anyone sick”. In this episode of HACCP Mentor Review join us as we delve into this statement along with cover defining recall and product withdrawals, the value of networking and the new segment called hazard spotlight.

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Welcome

Welcome to Episode 31 of HACCP Mentor Review. Lots to get through this episode where we cover defining recall and product withdrawals, the value of networking, killing people with food and the new segment called hazard spotlight.

Food Product Recall V Withdrawal

The majority of food standards and food legislation require your food business to have a plan in place should you ever have to remove your product from the marketplace. A key requirement of this process is to understand the difference between a recall and a withdrawal.

Firstly, they both require the removal of your unsafe or illegal food product. When a food recall is initiated normally means that the contaminated or illegal product has been already sold to consumers. The public will then need to be informed on how to deal with the food. A food withdrawal is normally initiated when the food has not made it to customers. This usually only involves food suppliers and food retailers.

Please refer to the legislation in your country of operation to get further definitions.

The value of Networking

Last week I spent 4 days hanging out with my auditing colleagues at our six-monthly training and calibration session. I love getting together and catching up, but more importantly it gives us the opportunity to discuss issues as a group and to problem solve. There is so much value in having a regular get together with a lot of the communication occurring in session breaks and after we have wrapped up for the day. The auditing company that I audit for (BSI incorporating NCSI) are a clear leader in supporting their auditors regardless of if they are company employed or contractors like me. Let me know how you keep up-to-date with the latest information for your industry by leaving a comment below this episode.

New Commenting system

The commenting system has been upgraded on the haccpmentor website to make it easier for you to leave your feedback. You can now sign-in and comment using your facebook, twitter or google account in addition to using the disqus login. It is great to share your experiences, questions and feedback and I thank everyone who has been kind enough to participate so far.

Have you ever killed anyone?  

Now this may seem a little bizarre but sadly enough I hear a version of this on a regular basis as both a food auditor and as a food compliance consultant. When I start talking about the importance of food safety and compliance, a common reply by the food business is “But we have never killed anyone or made anyone sick”. Newsflash….this is not a defence for not complying with food law.

It is also not a defence for not undertaking key validation activities in your food business like establishing finished product shelf life based on fact. This way of thinking may have served the food business well in the past, but it is only a matter of time before something goes wrong (and it will go wrong).

Calibrating Test Masses

This week’s action item is to check that weights used to calibrate scales have been certified and calibrated. This is relevant if you undertake daily checks of your scales using test masses or weights. You need to ensure that the scales that you weigh finished product on are operating correctly but before you do this, you need to make sure that the test masses are correct.

Hazard Spotlight

I have been getting lots of emails requesting different inf...

Nobody likes getting hair in their food product, but to what extent do you go to with your preventative measures? Should you use hair nets? In episode 30 of HACCP Mentor Review we check out this issue along with some other food safety and HACCP compliance tips.

 

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Welcome

Welcome to HACCP Mentor Review where each week I share my knowledge and insights around food safety and HACCP compliance. I am Amanda Evans and in this episode we find out how long records should be kept, discuss controlling hair contamination and we check out the requirements for selecting external test laboratories.

Record Retention

I often get asked how long you should keep your food safety program records. It really does depend on the record in question and also any over-riding legislation on record retention that is applicable to your country of manufacture. As a general rule, CCP, QCP and pre-requisite program records should be kept for the shelf life of your product plus 1 year. You will also need to consider the frequency of your external audit and also the requirements of your certification standard.

Selecting your Testing Laboratory

An external laboratory may be contracted to undertake various quality, chemical and microbiological tests for your business. There are lots of different laboratory’s to choose from but how do you know which one to select? Firstly you need to make sure that they can perform the analysis that you actually need on the type of food that you want to get tested. Also check that the laboratory is certified or accredited to undertake the tests that you require. To find out their accreditation status just ask the lab to provide a copy of their certificate and applicable testing scopes.

HACCP Plan Organisation

Just a quick reminder if you are looking for an electronic HACCP Plan organisation system to head over to www.haccpmanual.com where you can instantly download the HACCP computer folders. This is the same system that I use for all of my food business clients.

SQF Information Day

For those of you who are located in Australia and have SQF certification, I recommend you register to attend the upcoming SQF Information days that are being held in either Sydney or Melbourne. I will be presenting a session on the “Basics of a Facility Audit” at the Sydney information day on Tuesday 10th September 2013. Get in and register as places are filling up fast and don’t forget to come and say G’day.

Should you wear hair nets?  

Nobody likes getting hair in their food product, but to what extent do you go to with your preventative measures? The most common control is for food handlers to wear hair nets and beard nets but what about for people who are bald? Do you make it a condition that they have to wear hair nets? When implementing the wearing of beard nets, what is the allowable length of the beard or facial growth before someone has to wear a beard net? What about hair on the arms?

These questions can cause a fair amount of conflict in food business. I have audited companies that will stipulate that after the beard is a certain length, a beard net is to be worn. This sounds great in theory, but do they really go around and measure the length? Somehow I doubt it. Save yourself the stress and just make a blanket rule – all head hair is to be covered and if the person is not clean shaven, a beard net should be worn as well. Let me know your thoughts on this but leaving a c...

Finding foreign matter in your food is not a pleasant experience. A quick way to identify potential sources of foreign matter within your food production area is to undertake a foreign matter object audit.

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Welcome

In this episode of HACCP Mentor review we find out how to do a foreign matter object audit, review what quality hazards are, check out the latest food poisoning outbreaks and find out the best place to get food nutritional data.

Quality Hazards in your food business

Although quality hazards do not come under the banner of traditional HACCP, it is still a requirement by the majority of customer standards that quality hazards be identified. So what is a quality hazard? A food quality hazard can be defined as being an outcome that does not meet the requirements of the customer. A food quality hazard is not something that will generally hurt, harm or injury the consumer. Examples of food quality hazards include shape, size, colour, texture, taste, count and weight.

Raw food Nutritional Information

If you are looking for nutritional information on raw ingredients there are a lot of great websites that you can refer to. The majority of these websites are hosted and controlled by government departments. You can find a list of some below:

* USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference

* Nutrition Panel Calculator, Australia

* Canadian Nutrient File

* South Africa Food Composition Database

* BGU Israeli Food Nutrient Database

* China Food Nutrition

* Malaysian Foods Composition Database

Food Poisoning Outbreaks in Review

The CDC continues it’s reporting of laboratory confirmed cases of Cyclospora infection. 514 cases of Cyclospora infection have now been notified from 17 states across the USA.

A food poisoning outbreak likely caused by E. coli 0157:H7 has been reported from a Mexican restaurant located in Phoenix in the USA. At this stage there has been 52 people notified as ill with 18 of those hospitalised.

In other food poisoning news, certain clams harvested in Connecticut in the USA have been recalled as they may contain vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria. Both the Connecticut Department of agriculture and the Canadian food inspection agency have issued this recall.

This comes off the back of a recent shellfish poisoning outbreak in south-east England where approximately 70 people reported symptoms consistent with diarrhetic shellfish poisoning.

Action item

This episodes action item is to go around and check that all chemical storage cupboards are locked. The reason for this is to reduce the potential for chemical contamination either unintentional or intentional.

How to do a foreign matter object audit  

Finding foreign matter in your food is not a pleasant experience. In some situations the presence of foreign matter can cause extreme harm or injury to the consumer. A quick way to identify potential sources of foreign matter within your food production area is to undertake a foreign matter object audit. This involves walking around your food production area with a bag in hand and picking up any foreign matter that you come across.

So what is the best method to screen food handlers for Food-borne illness like hepatitis A, Staph, E.Coli and Salmonella? This episode of HACCP Mentor Review covers this along with scale calibration, export risks and food product traceability.

 

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Transcript

Welcome

Welcome to HACCP Mentor Review Episode 28. I am Amanda Evans and in this episode we cover internal calibration test methods for bench scales, screening food handlers for disease, product traceability and export risks.

Calibrating Bench scales

When you perform internal calibration of your digital bench scales, you should be using two different methods to test. This includes the four edge method and Centre method. To complete the four edge method, place your calibrated weights in each of the four corners of the scale plate.

For the bench scale to be reading correctly, the display weight should be equal to sum of the calibrated weights used. To complete the centre method, place your calibrated weight in the middle or the centre of the scale plate. Again, for the bench scale to be reading correctly, the display weight should be the same as your calibrated weight that you used. If you find any issues whilst undertaking this test, you need to apply the applicable corrective action.

Food Poisoning Outbreak

The recent cyclospora outbreak from the USA has finally been linked to a source. The source of the outbreak has been identified as salad mix. The salad mix was supplied out of a farm in Mexico. To date, there have been over 400 cases confirmed.

How fast can you trace your food product

It is a requirement of the majority of GFSI standards to be able to trace your product both forwards to the customer and backwards to the raw material provider. If you were ever in a situation where you had to recall your food product, or trace your product, you want to be able to do this as quickly as possible. Check your certification standard to see if there has been a time limit defined. The BRC standard states that full traceability should be achievable within four hours.

Export risks

Fonterra in New Zealand has issued a recall notice regarding several batches of its whey protein which has been possibly contaminated with clostridium botulinum. It is interesting to note that 90% of China’s imported milk comes from New Zealand with Fonterra being the biggest single supplier.

The Ministry of Primary industries in New Zealand has reported that some market closures have occurred due to this food recall. Chinese authorities have suspended imports of Fonterra produced whey powder and Dairy Base powder, and increased inspection and supervision at the border for New Zealand dairy products. Russia appears to have a temporary ban on all New Zealand dairy exports.

This is a great example of making sure that you have covered all risks associated with your export countries or trading partners including potential market closure. Your food business contingency plan should document your risk assessment and action to be taken if your business is ever faced with a similar market closure issue.

Action of the week

This episodes action item go and check that all work in progress has been suitably identified. You should be able to identify what the product is and also what the shelf life of all work in progress.

Help with audit CARs available

If you need help with identifying what you need to do to close out audit CARs check out www.haccpmanual.com. This is a new project of mine to help food businesses get through the audit process with as little pain as possible.

Screening employees for disease  

Food handler health is in the media again with a recent notification of hepatitis A of a pizza shop worker in the state of Utah, USA.

How do you select your approved suppliers? This episode of HACCP Mentor Review covers this questions along with hazards associated with product rework and getting the right product in the the right packaging.

 

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Transcript

Welcome to Episode 27 of HACCP Mentor Review. This is another jampacked episode where we look at how to select your approved suppliers, considering rework in your HACCP plan and getting the right product in the right packaging. We also talk about a rare parasite causing some issues at the moment and I unveil a project that I have been working on.

Right product right packaging

There has been many food recalls undertaken due to finished product being packed into the incorrect packaging. Some people may say that this is a no-brainer, but it is amazing how many food companies have actually got this wrong at some point in time. To make sure this does not happen in your workplace there are a few things that you can do.

The most obvious is to make sure that the correct packaging is actually on the production line and a pre-startup check has been undertaken. This check should verify the right packaging and the right product is in place. Getting someone to actually write out the product name, the packaging name and the packaging batch code is a better verification method rather than ticking a box on a form to say that the check has been done. To make this verification stronger, always get somebody else to double check.

Launch of www.haccpmanual.com

I’ve finally found some time to finish a project that I have been working on for a while. HACCP manual is a service to help you develop, review and organise your Food safety and quality manual. You can check it out at www.haccpmanual.com and if you have any feedback I would truly appreciate it so just send me an email.

Food poisoning outbreak

A food poisoning outbreak continues this episode from a rare parasite called Cyclospora. As of July 26, 2013, 353 cases have been reported to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Investigations into the USA based outbreak have not implicated any food source as yet. Previous outbreak investigations reported by the CDC have linked this parasite to various types of fresh produce.

How do you select your approved suppliers  

One of the requirements of a certified food safety and quality system is to have in place procedures for the selection of a new food supplier and the ongoing approval of any existing suppliers to your food business. So let’s run through some of the different criteria that you can use to approve a supplier and to monitor their ongoing performance.

* Third-party certification to a recognised HACCP standard eg SQF, BRC, ISO22000 Onsite audits

* Completion of Supplier questionnaire forms

* Receival checks for quality and food safety parameters

* Conformance certificates or certificates of analysis

* Risk assessment of the suppliers product or service

I would suggest using a combination of these methods in association with a risk assessment. Whichever method or methods that you choose, just make sure that you retain all documentation to be able to show the external auditor during your certification audit. If you would like to share your method of approving suppliers, please leave a comment on our website below this episode.

Have you considered rework in your HACCP Plan?

Rework can be considered as being unincorporated food product that will be used at another time or used in another process or food product.

What is the difference between HACCP Validation and HACCP Verification? In this episode we tackle what seems to be one of the most confusing terminology in the food industry.

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Welcome

Welcome to Episode 26 of HACCP Mentor Review. This is a jam packed episode where we tackle what seems to be the most confusing terminology in the food industry along with cleaning equipment identification, who needs to be trained on a food production site and a very a nasty food poisoning outbreak. We also pay tribute to a very special organisation.

How to identify cleaning equipment

The best way to identify cleaning equipment is through a colour-coded system. This allows particular cleaning equipment to be used in a particular area. It helps to prevent any cross contamination if you have high risk and low risk or high care and low risk areas. Dedicated colour coded cleaning equipment is also great when you are trying to prevent any allergen cross contact during cleaning.

Who needs to be trained on our food production site?

The purpose of training is to ensure that all staff have the appropriate skill and knowledge to complete their food handling duties. The level of training required will depend on the Individual food handler duties and the level of food safety, quality and compliance risk the food handler poses to the business. As a minimum, all staff who are employed by the business and all contractors (including maintenance) should have induction training which includes good hygiene practices and food safety. This topic leads very well into this episodes action item.

Action of the Week

This episodes action to check that all contractors have been inducted in food safety. This means that people who do not work on your food production site have had some introductory training in food safety as it relates to your particular business. Contractors can include maintenance, cleaning, pest control and waste removal personnel.

Food Poisoning Outbreak

The food poisoning outbreak in the spotlight this episode comes from India where 23 children were killed after eating a free meal provided by a local school in the state of Bihar. The police investigation has reported detecting high levels of a chemical commonly found in pesticides, in the cooking oil.

Verification and Validation – What is the difference?

A recent comment on the HACCP Mentor website from Constantino asked what the difference is between HACCP verification and HACCP validation and calibration. In a nut shell, I find the easiest way to explain this is by the following:

Validation – is what we do, going to work. Is it going to achieve the outcome that we desire and require? An example of this would be, we say that we are going to cook a food to a particular temperature because we want to make sure that there is no harmful bacteria remain. To validate the temperature chosen, we could refer to legislation, scientific journals or other data that supports the cooking temperature we have selected will kill the harmful bacteria.

Verification is best defined as being the things we do to see if we are actually doing what we say we are going to do. So in the above example, with the temperature to kill the harmful bacteria, we would check or verify that the food was actually reaching that temperature. This would be done through testing the temperature of the food.

Now for calibration – we want to make sure that the equipment that we use in the verification process is reading and operating correctly. We would do this through the process of calibration. So again, for this example, the thermometer that we use to check the temperature would need to be regularly calibrated to make sure that we are always getting the most accurate result.

If I have managed to confuse you even more, try remember it like this:

Validation = science

Verification = checking