BRC packaging - contamination issue

Hello everyone!!!


Our company which manufactures food grade PET sheets for thermoforming customers and inline with this we are preparing our system for BRC certification. One contamination identified is hairs. we use hairnets and snoods will be issued to those who doesnt want to shave their beard and mustaches.... But i have one question how about the hairs in the hands i mean some guys have thick and long hair on the hands isnt it that it is more prone/ high risk to product contamination than the beard/mustaches since hands is the one usually doing the work ??????? what do you think ? kindly comment on this

Dear mherz,

Indeed, all kinds of hair are a much discussed topic in this forum

Can hv a look at these threads which I hv briefly extracted -

With regards to the hairy hands, some people tend to shave their hands and others cover all the exposed areas. I have seen samples of a plastic protective covering just to cover the hands few years back.

http://www.ifsqn.com...?showtopic=9700

Apparently the jury is still out on how hairy arms have to be before they are netted/covered, and what actually constitutes a beard before a beard snood has to be worn.

http://www.ifsqn.com...hp?showtopic=67

Rgds / Charles.C

It does seem strange that hair covering in the food industry only goes as far as head hair, beards and moustaches. In the pharmaceutical and other highly regulated industries often they work in clean rooms with a full body suit and face mask, so they are more stringent. To a greater or lesser extent all humans have nasal hair, eyebrows and eyelashes and ear hair (esp. as you get older) and then as you mention hand and arm hair. So why does the food industry not require more extensive coverin?. Maybe it is because some hairs are shed more easily than others and I think hair of the head and face is more easily shed than that of the arms or hands (if this was wikipedia it would require a reference here). But then what about eyebrows and eyelashes? It does not make 100% sense, but I suppose also that hair contamination although disgusting is low severity in terms of the ability to cause harm to the end consumer.

If you are following the BRC Packaging Standard then the most you need to do is cover head hair and beards / moustaches to meet the requirements. If you do this then you have reduced the likelihood of hair contamination of your products. Next continue to analyse complaints (assuming you have some for hair contamination) and if you they are high or have not reduced then you may have to consider further control measures to reduce the likelihood further to an acceptable level.


Regards,
Simon

thanx simon,,,,,,, super input and yes we are preparing for the BRC and we already started to impose using beard snood for those who have long beard and moustach but when they saw how they look like ( santa claus) most of them opted to trim their beard and moustaches hehheheheheheheh

thanx simon,,,,,,, super input and yes we are preparing for the BRC and we already started to impose using beard snood for those who have long beard and moustach but when they saw how they look like ( santa claus) most of them opted to trim their beard and moustaches hehheheheheheheh

Glad to be of assistance, if you need any more help let us know.

Regards,
Simon

Is anyone aware of any regulations covering how long facial hair should be before a snood is worn? Our MD (packaging company) is stating 3mm. Is this about right?

I can just see it now a pre shift beard measuring exercise, with calibrated gauges of course. I may be wrong but I don't know of a 3mm standard. To be honest I think it should be common sense for example a five o'clock shadow is ok, even missing a days shaving is ok, but anything resembling a beard should be covered.

It's very difficult to specify timescale as men grow at different rates and difficult to set rules then without having a specific length defined. But I would still avoid specifying one and try to have it based on common sense. Maybe you could have the rule as either clean shaven or beard snood and you can just check to see whether they have a silky smooth chin in the morning.

It will be intersting to see how others manage this.

Regards,
Simon

I work in a Salt Plant that uses evaporation as the procees to obtain salt from underground to be packaged for food grade applications and we have recently started the BRC program.
Employees have now been instructed that mustaches must now be covered.
It use to be if you had a beard it had to be covered but a mustache was ok but now if you have either one or both they need to be covered.
I would like to know if this an ACTUAL BRC requirement or just another misinterpertation of the regulations from an over zealous Quality Control Manager

I work in a Salt Plant that uses evaporation as the procees to obtain salt from underground to be packaged for food grade applications and we have recently started the BRC program.
Employees have now been instructed that mustaches must now be covered.
It use to be if you had a beard it had to be covered but a mustache was ok but now if you have either one or both they need to be covered.
I would like to know if this an ACTUAL BRC requirement or just another misinterpertation of the regulations from an over zealous Quality Control Manager

BRC/IOP Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials

Requirements Category 1 (direct food contact)

Section 6.5.5 – Based on hazard and risk analysis, snoods for beards and moustaches shall be worn to prevent product contamination.

To fulfil this requirement you must assess the risk by asking:

Are hairs likely to fall out of an uncovered beard and/or moustache and is that likely to contaminate product. If the answer is yes then both should be covered. I think most people would conclude this.

If you can successfully argue against this reasoning then you may be able to write an exclusion justification in your personal hygiene policy based on the results of your risk assessment.

Regards,
Simon

As we all are aware of packaging system it is very much important to have a packaging system so that the product inside it doesn’t get damage and remain safe and easy to handle. As well as packing makes a difference in the product and looks much more attractive after packing.