Examples of Qualitative Approach to Risk Assessment

Hi all,

Was wondering if anyone can give any assistance with one of the BRC standards favourite topics "Risk Assessment". Was looking for a simple qualitative approach so that our risk assessments can be documented accurately.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Kittyk

Dear kittyk,

Welcome to the forum !

There is a lot of existing discussion on the topic of risk analysis within the forum (general and specific) but its relevance may relate to yr particular product type / process, low "risk", high risk etc, eg RTE / non-RTE foods ? Packaging ?

Do you mean with respect to the HACCP content or some other section in BRC (eg thread http://www.ifsqn.com...showtopic=10341 ?)

As you are probably aware, there are 2 popular routes for HACCP set-up, via risk matrix or Decision Tree, the former being either qualitative / quantitative, the latter qualitative in presentation. Do you hv a preference ?

If other than HACCP aspect, a little more info. might be helpful .

Rgds / Charles.C

Charles C - Thanks

More info!

Ice cream manufacture and risk assessments carried out other than HACCP as required by the BRC standard e.g. supplier / ingredient assessment. Was wondering if there was a scoring system that could be used across the board to keep it simple for my client. They are a small company with no full time technical manager so I'm looking for something simple that can be easily understood and followed by the production team.

Thanks

Kittyk

Dear kittyk,

Thks for info. I only know about icecream as a consumer but I presume must be classified as a “high” risk product.

The selection of supplier / ingredient can IMO be made qualitative, eg by listing various minimum requirements for the supplier as a function of the product risk category, eg signed agreement to specs / acceptable audit / possessing appropriate certifications such as ISO etc, etc. But not so sure if supplier performance evaluation can be done that simple. ISO 9000- type scoring systems certainly exist (I think I hv some in my archives if you are interested) but not so easy to use for HACCP safety type defects IMO. The last item will, IMEX, also require some (external ?) micro.analysis data at a minimum and possibly chemical also, (perhaps this is already legally required ??)

Maybe someone can offer a more minimalist solution.

Rgds / Charles.C