13 replies to this topic

[Officer]

Hi,

 

I'm in the process of currently updating my companies HACCP plan.

 

The current layout seems to be killing a lot of forests and from my perspective could be consolidated quite easily.

We're a bakery/patisserie that produces a number of different product. 9 quiche, 7 pies and 8 shells; 4 baked and 4 unbaked, these don't include size variation from 1.5" through to 10" 

 

I've looked around and can't find any topics on the layout of the plan itself so here I am.

 

 

 

The three obvious layout plans I can see are as follows:

 

Each product (all 24) get their own Plan, HACCP Forms 1 - 10 - this is the current layout and there's a huge number of double ups as all quiche forms 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are the same with a small difference in the named ingredient such as Ham, Bacon, Asparagus etc... and the same goes for pies and shells 

 

My next options are:

 

Layout based on Form order as such; ALL Form 1's then ALL Form 2's then ALL form 3's .... this wold be consolidated from forms 3 on wards as they products are so similar in production process and hazards. Obviously this raises the issue of having to flick backward and forwards through for each product if you're wanting to follow Form 1 -> 10 for one product

 

to further improve on this I believe the best layout would be

 

All Forms 1 -> 10 for Quiche, then all Forms 1 -> 10 for Pies as another section, and lastly the shells Form 1->10 as the last section.

 

 

 

So I guess my question is, are there rules on the layout, if so how flexible are they and are they open to interpretation?

 

None of these really lower the required work other than one creating a lot more copy and pasting than the others...

 

Hopefully the question is clear, and if it makes a difference I'm based in Canada.

 

 

Thanks

 

[Madam A. D-tor]

Dear Officer,

 

I am not quite sure what you mean by form 1 to 10.

Perhaps you can post your table of content.

[Officer]

Sorry, please see below:

 

 

The FSEP-HACCP Plan forms are:

• Form 1: Product Description
• Form 2: List of Product Ingredients and Incoming Material
• Form 3: Process Flow Diagram
• Form 4: Plant Schematic
• Form 5: Biological Hazard Identification
• Form 6: Chemical Hazard Identification
• Form 7: Physical Hazard Identification
• Form 8: Decision Tree - CCP determination and other Control Measures (PP, PC)
• Form 9: Hazards Not Controlled by the establishment
• Form 10: Critical Control Point(s)
• Form 11: Process Control(s), when applicable

[Madam A. D-tor]

Dear Officer,

 

 

As far as I know there are no rules for HACCP layout. (of course everything need to be in there and it must be clear and understandable). 

 

in general your lay out is fine. The problem is that you seem to have a HACCP plan for each and every product. This makes it a hell to keep it all actual and up to date.

 

The best thing I can suggest you, is to work with product groups. Following your information your groups might be quiche baked, quiche unbaked, pie baked, pie unbaked, shell baked and shell unbaked. There might be more or less. Group your products based on processes, intended use, ingredients. Maybe it is relevant to have group quiche made with raw meat and quiche without raw meat.

 

I would make 1 HACCP manual for all identified product groups. Actually this is how you suggested it.

• Form 1: Product Description
• 1.1 product group 1
• 1.2 product group 2
• 1.3 product grou p3 etc
• Form 2: List of Product Ingredients and Incoming Material
• (make clear reference which ingredients belong to which product (group)
• Form 3: Process Flow Diagram
• 3.0 general flow (to provide general overview and provide overview of cohesion and relation ship between the processes)
• 3.1 reception/storage
• 3.2 production product group 1
• 3.3 production product group 2
• 3.4 production product group 3
• etc
• 3.xx storage, dispatch and transport
• (beside reception/ storage and dispatch and transport there might be more processes that are similar/comparable to all product groups. Might be preparation process (mixing dough, preparing ingredients) and packing process. Takes these general processes out of the specific flows for the product groups.
• Form 4: Plant Schematic
• Form 5: Biological Hazard Identification
• Form 6: Chemical Hazard Identification
• Form 7: Physical Hazard Identification
• Form 5, 6, 7 might be done in one. You than need to make clear if the hazard is biological, chemical or physical. Perform the hazard identification (and later the risk assessment) for each process flow.
• 5 hazard identification raw materials
• 6 hazard identification general process and prerequisite programs
• 7.1 hazard identification reception/storage
• 7.2 hazard identification production product group
• 7.3 hazard identification production product group 2
• 7.4 hazard identification production product group 3 etc
• Form 8: Decision Tree - CCP determination and other Control Measures (PP, PC)
• Form 9: Hazards Not Controlled by the establishment
• (I hope this is an empty document)
• Form 10: Critical Control Point(s)
• Form 11: Process Control(s), when applicable

(above is just a suggestion, it will save some trees)

 

Remark: In your HACCP plan I am missing: HACCP team (description, expected knowledge and experience, and persons in it), description of the systematics used, validation of CCPs and verification processes.

 

Good luck with changing your system.

N.B. If you want to save more trees --> just keep it all digital and do not print it.

[Officer]

Thanks for the detailed answer.

 

You've backed up and confirmed exactly what I was looking at doing, I just wanted and need some clarification before committing.

 

As for keeping it Digital, I'd love to and hopefully by the time I've finished simplifying everything the company will see no need to keep paper copies.

 

 

On a side note, is there any issue keeping logs and records digitally? So much paper is wasted at the facility.

[Mariam Y.]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am currently working on updating our HACCP Plan and the Plan Layout we have is SUPER Detailed!

 

It is on the engineering layout, so we have every single equipment and detail you can think of, we have a complex process (poultry slaughter and processing + further processing + ready-to-eat products) so I brought up the suggestion of using a simpler layout (one without the equipment details and with no differentiation between kinds of products)

My manager was convinced that these many details are not a requirement (either by CFIA or BRC) but she asked me to double and triple check :D

 

I read this topic:

https://www.ifsqn.co...products-waste/

 

And I the example layout Wamamili posted is exactly what I have in mind, general areas with simple arrows showing: (might be on multiple layouts)

• access points for personnel

• access points for raw materials (including packaging), semi-finished products and open product 

•  routes of movement for personnel

•  routes of movement for raw materials (including packaging) 

• routes for the removal of waste

• routes for the movement of rework 

• location of any staff facilities, including changing rooms, toilets, canteens and smoking areas

• the hand/boot washing and sanitizing installations (CFIA Req.)

Can someone pleas confirm that I am not missing anything?

 

THANKS !

[Scampi]

Hello!

 

I have a very similar background, Canadian poultry slaughter and further processing. We had 2 4 inch binders that was pretty much just form 1 to 10

 

You are correct and I don't believe you are missing anything

 

I have my form 4 on 4 different tabs, too many arrows and it becomes muddy. So traffic flow 1, movement of ingredients and FG 2, waste 3, chemical 4

 

We currently have a separate one for cross contamination points, and it may go away this year as we are getting new equipment and the entire process is going to change

 

I'm not sure about BRC, but CFIA only requires you to mark equipment generally speaking ( just squares for all the evis equipment and the cutting tables etc)

 

You may find your HACCP plan ALOT easier to manage if you break it into 3 or 4 by department.  So live receiving to chiller exit as 1, deboning as another and 1 for FP 

 

Assuming the plant is laid out correctly, this will also make it easier to simply your flow diagrams

[Mariam Y.]

Thank you Scampi.

 

We are actually doing a big project of updating the whole HACCP Plan.

 

This is my 2nd year with the company, and the Forms 3 we have are really complicated (I realize that it was this way because the process is complicated), they are really hard for me to understand.

 

The plan is exactly what you said, instead of going by "Plants" we are breaking down the process into departments and spreading the flow diagram into several Visio sheets/department (or activity) instead of being on 1 sheet/department.

 

The forms 4 are also really complicated, and in my previous experience, it was always a simple layout (without all those engineering details) with different arrows. Would something like this work, or do we need general equip. markings?

[pHruit]

I've no experience with poultry or Canadian regs, but can confirm that I've never had an issue with using a simplified layout for BRC purposes - e.g. a rectangle showing the general area for a filling operation, rather than separate diagram parts for filler heads, check weighing, boxing, taping, pallet prep etc.

FWIW I've used the same approach as Scampi in terms of splitting things up into different tabs to aid legibility as needed, whether that's putting the site plan on different tabs, or subdividing a HACCP flow into separate stages/sections as needed to reflect the operation of the site.

[Mariam Y.]

I've no experience with poultry or Canadian regs, but can confirm that I've never had an issue with using a simplified layout for BRC purposes - e.g. a rectangle showing the general area for a filling operation, rather than separate diagram parts for filler heads, check weighing, boxing, taping, pallet prep etc.

FWIW I've used the same approach as Scampi in terms of splitting things up into different tabs to aid legibility as needed, whether that's putting the site plan on different tabs, or subdividing a HACCP flow into separate stages/sections as needed to reflect the operation of the site.

 

Thank you pHruit :)

 

I appreciate the input regarding BRC a lot! 

 

I think I will go ahead and push for the new floor plans as an update for the current ones.

Our next BRC audit is in July and I am not so confident I can explain the complicated flows to the auditor !

 

Have a good day !

[Scampi]

Visio.........now i know who you're working for

 

Is the plant by chance located in rural ontario?

[Mariam Y.]

Visio.........now i know who you're working for

 

Is the plant by chance located in rural ontario?

 

Lol! No :D

 

I am not a tech savvy, but is there something I should know about using Visio 

[Scampi]

Damn, I had bought VISIO for the last poultry slaughter house I was at because the flow was complex lol so I thought I had it figured lol

 

Its a dream to use!!!!!!!  Drag and drop and everything else fixes itself (mostly)

 

You should be able to copy and paste at the process change step and start a new file for the HACCP plan change your doing, but you'll have to renumber all of the steps

[Mariam Y.]

Damn, I had bought VISIO for the last poultry slaughter house I was at because the flow was complex lol so I thought I had it figured lol

 

Its a dream to use!!!!!!!  Drag and drop and everything else fixes itself (mostly)

 

You should be able to copy and paste at the process change step and start a new file for the HACCP plan change your doing, but you'll have to renumber all of the steps

 

:D

 

The way the previous one was created & saved, makes it impossible to use   (To be able to decipher it, I need to be constantly on the phone with the person who was managing it before me, as she has been with the company for more years than I have, and have more experience on the floor)

I am starting from scratch and going back to the previous diagram for cross reference to try to make sure I didn't forget anything.

 

It is taking longer, but at the same time I getting better at understanding the flow.

 

Have a good day and Stay Safe :)