HACCP for the tobacco industry

Dear Community,
I'm working for a global cigarette manufacturing company and currently we have a project in order to prevent non tobacco materials to our products.
Actually tobacco process is not as sensitive as milk or beverage industry for that reason we didn't think haccp until now. However I think haccp can help us much for this project.

So, do you have or do you know any experience hacc implementation in tobacco industry?

Can you advice an alternative method to haccp for this project?

I will be apreciate a lot for any information or resource/link for this issue.

Thank you very much in adcvance.

Regards

Dear Volvox,

Sorry I don't have any experience in this kind of HACCP it seems incredible that you are carrying one out on a product which will kill 30% of its users in the end.

The best thing to do would be to start along CODEX principles but just carry out your assesment on physical hazards.

Hello Volvox, welcome to the forums.

Like Yorky I have no direct experience of HACCP for the tobacco industry. The Codex HACCP guidelines are the recognised method for carrying out a HACCP study, and although designed primarily for the food industry they are quite adaptable and can be used for non-food processes quite successfully (e.g. packaging). HACCP addresses physical (foreign bodies), chemical and microbiological contaminants and I wonder what sort of contaminants are issues for tobacco processing - are they mainly physical or are there chemical and / or microbiological risks also?

It would be great if you could let us know some of the contaminants you have historically experienced?

I will try and find some information / links for you. In the meantime does anyone know if the Codex guidelines are freely available anywhere?

Regards,
Simon

Here is the link:

Codex - Food Hygiene

Page 24 onwards.

I was talking to a friend about this; he had a tour around a tobacco factory and went into the lab where they were testing the paper, when asked what they were testing for he was told "carcinogens"!

Good work Yorky…thanks!

Volvox, you will do well to read the Codex guidelines. If there is anything you do not understand or if you need further help please let us know.

Regards,
Simon

Dear Friends,
Thank you very much for the feedbacks and your kind support.
I'm aware that tobacco industry is not sympathetic for most people and producing tobacco products is very complex and confused issue to discuss, however at least I can say that we are trying to our best for the adult smokers who can make their own decision.

Anyway, actually we don't have microbiological or chemical risk. Our main concern for this ıssue is some non tobacco materials ( like plastic, nylon, strips or metal ) than can contaminate to tobacco.
The sources of these materials can be supplier or our own process.
For example in one of our worst incident, a pen had fallen down from the pocket of operator who works at tobacco cutting unit and we had to destroy 2 millions packs of cigarette. In one of other incident a 5mm of plastic part of the machine had gone to tobacco.
Fortunately we never live any incident of cigarette with foreign materials that gone to customer but it is always causing huge amount of product reject/destroy ( of course it is great risk from the legal point of view )

For that reason we are looking for a system that we can feel ouselves safe and we can monitor where are we.

Hi Volvox, thanks for providing some more detail. The fact that you need only consider physical hazards simplifies your project a great deal, in so much as it is unlikely there will be any Critical Control Points (CCP's) in your process. Essentially what you need to control are factory and operator standards; here are some of the controls you will need to consider:

- Control of raw material suppliers / specifications
- Traceability
- Glass control
- Blade and sharp object control
- Pest Control
- Cleaning schedules
- Personnel hygiene (clothing, restrictions on eating and drinking in production areas and restrictions on the use of pens, staples, paper clips drawing pins etc.)
- Maintenance (especially sign off to say machinery is safe for production)

The list is not exhaustive by any means but is provided to give you ideas. The controls listed form a part of the prerequisite procedures that are required by most food safety management systems such as BRC, IFS etc.

Do you have any of these controls already in place Volvox?

Regards,
Simon

Hi Simon,
Thanks for the feedbacks.
Yes we have very strict rules for suppliers and we are regularly auditing them in their place. We have traps for tobacco beetle ( natural pest of tobacco ), we are coınting them everyday and make SPC in order to keep under control.
We have very detailed cleaning instructions and schedules.
However sometimes we are living such a bad experiences. It is very rare but its impact is huge.
For that reason I think haccp principles will be a very systematic approach to monitor and keep under control our status.

Hi Volvox,

So you have made a start, will you (have you) considered implementing some of the other factory and personnel controls I mentioned? I'm interested to know is there any pressure on you from your customers, who are (I presume) major retailers - what systems and controls do they expect you to have in place? What is the standard for the tobacco industry?

Regards,
Simon

Here is the link:

Codex - Food Hygiene

Page 24 onwards.

I would greatly appreciate if the exact URL will be posted as the link is not working. Thanks!