Product description- Origin of ingredients

Hello,

can anybody help me...

Perhaps my doubt it is very stupid...

In the Product description of the HACCP I need to put the "Origin of ingredients".

This ORIGIN means de Country of origin (ex: EU, China,..), or the origin for example of thr citric acid (corn, beet molasses...). ????????

Because, my clients usually ask me the origin of the citric acid, to confirm that it is GMO free...

What is the importance of the Country of origin of the ingredients the food safety? The applicable legislation?

Many thanks,
Filipa

Dear filipa:

From the country of origin, you can have an idea what was happened to that country before e.g. dairy products, people will try to source from Australia and New Zealand compared to those countrie with BSE outbreak. So, when you carry out Hazard analysis, you may want to consider the 'prion' from BSE if your source is originated from that particular countries with outbreak.

Any comment / idea from the rest?


Yong

Hello,

I agree with Yong.

If there is an outbreak somewhere, or an incident is mentioned in he RASFF/EWS, you need to know where your ingredients come from. Examples: Sudan Red, Dioxine, microbiological or environmental contaminations (Tsjernobyl).

Furthermore, It is possible you need this information for your HACCP-study. Example Peppers from Holland are allways growth in glasshouses. I have been told that peppers in USA grow in valleys.
Spices can be dried in sun, by air or with machinery. I do not know if this depends on the country of origin, bu I suppose it is. (Why invest in expensive machinery if you are living in a warm country?) Salmonella and pest invest are possible.

Many thanks for your comments.

I understand the point...

I work in a tomato industry... The tomatoes come from Portugal, but for the citric acid we have more than one Country of origin.. I think that I can put "several" and put an observation (see specification file, and approved suppliers).

And in the annual review of the HACCP, we analyse if the supplier of raw materials change and if have impact in the finished product.

Many thanks,
Filipa

Dear filipa,

Just for additional, the Product specification from supplier should clear your clients doubt. IMO, you have to get a detail of product specification when you are in process to approve your supplier / RM clearance. On that spec., you should able to determine which hazard that may occur on your RM, but of course, you should compare it with your regulation. Because your supplier may use different regulation than yours.

And the product spcification is absolutely needed from every supplier, even it was at the same country, or even the same supplier but different country. IMO, you should request the detail of Product Specification.

By copy to Madam A. D-Tor: Forgive me if I'm wrong, but do you mean that "Sudan Red" was coming from Sudan? Coz, Im doubting that. The origin of the name still mystery, but I dont think it comes from Sudan. Does anyone has other clue? Even the Government of Sudan is requesting to WHO to change the name of Sudan Red. Because the bad reputation of Sudan Red also smudging their country's rep. (Sorry, if a little bit out of topic)

Regards,


Arya

By copy to Madam A. D-Tor: Forgive me if I'm wrong, but do you mean that "Sudan Red" was coming from Sudan? Coz, Im doubting that. The origin of the name still mystery, but I dont think it comes from Sudan. Does anyone has other clue? Even the Government of Sudan is requesting to WHO to change the name of Sudan Red. Because the bad reputation of Sudan Red also smudging their country's rep. (Sorry, if a little bit out of topic)

Dear Arya,

I did not mean that Sudan Red came from Sudan. Sudan Red was one of the incidents reported through RASFF. In RASFF the products involved and the land of origin are mentioned. For example: 14-02-2006: sudan 1 was found in sweet red pepper from Turkey.

I do not know where the name come from. Maybe an idea to start a new topic?