Bizarre as this may sound, I think this goes above and beyond most HACCP plans simply because we're not great at recording in HACCP where things aren't an issue.
Personally this is in my quality manual but I see no reason not to put it into your HACCP plan if you want (although the 'quality' issue might stick with some people including me.)
This was mentioned in the BRC briefing I went to. As far as I understood it, the point of this wasn't necessarily to change the checks you did at intake but to justify your overall SQA controls including intake checks, SAQs, audit frequency etc. The point David Brackston made was flour is a pretty low risk ingredient but to a bakery, flour is vital so the 'quality' aspect is about what influence that ingredient has on the quality of your product. I remember working in ready meals where we had issue after issue with fresh herbs. These were being put on top of a ready meal and so were very visible to the consumer. Our supplier didn't understand this and it was only when I explained how we were using them that the quality improved. For another customer using them in a sauce, the appearance wouldn't have been a big deal.
As I said though, this is as much to justify a lack of checks than to give yourself more to do and I'm certainly not always great at recording that in HACCP especially at such a detailed level, i.e. I don't need to go and audit the salt supplier because...
Actually I was wrong, I've just checked my procedure and I've done it by supplier. The auditor was fine with it though.
I've taken off the business critical stuff from my form and attached it now.
RM Supplier Base Risk Assesment Matrix v7.xls 37.5KB
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GMO, couldn't agree more with your comment that:-
we're not great at recording in HACCP where things [i]aren't[/i] an issue.
At the risk of making for extensive documentation which I have seen with some clients,if you've assessed a hazard / risk combination and reached the conclusion ( in your opinion ) that the overall risk rating (severity of effect / likelihood of occurrence) is "Low" get the thought process and conclusion down on paper.
At least this demonstrates that you have considered all potential risks / hazards and the logic behind your decision that the overall risk rating is "Low".
Get it down on paper!