7 replies to this topic

[MRios]

Could someone please help me out with how to manage the point on allergens in a grain elevator? Our company has a facility that has several silos located at a port, where grain is taken immediately after it is unloaded from the ship, so that it can later be sent to different food factories.
There are no "dedicated" silos; after having wheat (and being cleaned), a silo can be used for storing maize or soy. The whole installation is cleaned using a dry process. How do other grain facilities manage this point? How can we be sure that there are no traces of allergens in that facility?
Mills and other grain processing facilities usually have a "cleaner" that sieves the raw material using meshes that will take out particles of a different size from the grain that is used. This doesn´t guarantee 100% that a particle in the shape and size of the grain in question and that is not that grain, will not pass. There could be traces of soy in the maize grits, for example.

[FSSM]

Could someone please help me out with how to manage the point on allergens in a grain elevator? Our company has a facility that has several silos located at a port, where grain is taken immediately after it is unloaded from the ship, so that it can later be sent to different food factories.
There are no "dedicated" silos; after having wheat (and being cleaned), a silo can be used for storing maize or soy. The whole installation is cleaned using a dry process. How do other grain facilities manage this point? How can we be sure that there are no traces of allergens in that facility?
Mills and other grain processing facilities usually have a "cleaner" that sieves the raw material using meshes that will take out particles of a different size from the grain that is used. This doesn´t guarantee 100% that a particle in the shape and size of the grain in question and that is not that grain, will not pass. There could be traces of soy in the maize grits, for example.

Well, without knowing more information I think a dedicated silo would solve the problem. I´m not aware of cleaning methods, but let´s see if this detection methods would be useful for you.

 Al__rgenos.doc   427.5KB   78 downloads

Regards,

FSSM

[Charles.C]

Dear MRios,

I noticed this paragraph in a document recently uploaded on an allergens thread -

Grains that do not contain gluten can become contaminated with grains that contain gluten at any step in the farm-to-table continuum, particularly if shared equipment is not thoroughly cleaned between uses. It is difficult, if not impossible, to prevent all cross-contact situations, considering the tons of grain handled by farm equipment, bulk storage, and transport containers on a daily basis. In fact, the Official United States Standards for Grains (USDA, 1999) assume that most grains that have an established U.S. standard will contain a small percentage of other grains.

Looks like it operationally depends on what yr specific objectives are ?

Rgds / Charles.C

[MRios]

Thank you FSSM and Charles. We´ll probably go with Elisa testing. Dedicated silos are a bit more of a problem, since our port facilities receive soy, wheat, maize or malt, depending on customers needs. The difficulty with cleaning is not so much with the silos but with the transport equipment: horizontal transport screws and bucket elevators.
Since most of our grain comes from the US, and the USDA is assuming that most grains have a small percentage of other grains, at least for our port facilities, it should be enough to assume that same thing?
All the grain goes to food processing facilites, that have "cleaning" areas to remove other grains. So responsibility for allergens would actually fall on these food processing facilities?

[FSSM]

Thank you FSSM and Charles. We´ll probably go with Elisa testing. Dedicated silos are a bit more of a problem, since our port facilities receive soy, wheat, maize or malt, depending on customers needs. The difficulty with cleaning is not so much with the silos but with the transport equipment: horizontal transport screws and bucket elevators.

Unless you can stablish a limit for the presence of this allergens, that would represent no risk for consumers (difficult when talking of allergens), why would you need to test (ELISA) for allergens if there is no way you can clean them effectively?

Since most of our grain comes from the US, and the USDA is assuming that most grains have a small percentage of other grains, at least for our port facilities, it should be enough to assume that same thing?

It seems you will have to do the same, and comunicate this to your customers.

All the grain goes to food processing facilites, that have "cleaning" areas to remove other grains. So responsibility for allergens would actually fall on these food processing facilities?

If this are your customers facilities, yes, its their responsability, but again, you need to comunicate that your products might have traces of allergens. But, please also consider that your customers might want you to provide allergen free products. What is your cutomers requirements?

Regards,

FSSM

[MRios]

Thank you FSSM for all your observations.
The grain elevator belongs to the same corporation as most of the food processing facilities that are receiving the grain. So in the end, it´s just pushing the responsibility a little further forward, within the same corporation.
Up to now, none of our clients have asked us to provide allergen free products. Maybe we´re just being more papist than the pope, as we say in Spanish. One of our strictest clients has a banner on their product packaging that warns that the product might have traces of soy and wheat. The QA Manager recently told me that in about 5 years that he´s worked in the company, they´ve never had any customers complain about food allergies.
Which also makes me wonder if certain populations are more prone to food allergies? At least in Guatemala, I´ve never heard of someone being allergic to soy. Only recently, I´ve heard of people allergic to wheat products, but very few cases.

[Charles.C]

Dear MRios,

Indeed I remember one of the big boys in USA discussing the xcontamination problem and their solution was to simply hv a labelling statement something like - "this item has been produced in an environment where the possibility exists for traces of xxyyzzz to enter the process chain. Although all reasonable precautions hv been taken to minimize such possibilities, we felt it appropriate to provide this information for concerned customers".

Of course, the exact reality may also be that legally, some similar action is obligatory.

Rgds / Charles.C

BTW, I came across another HACCP document (thesis) for flour milling although had no time to study it.

 generic_HACCP_for_the_Flour_Milling_Industry.zip   7.86MB   95 downloads
(had to zip to get < 10 MB)

[MRios]

Thanks again for all your help Charles.
If it´s good for the big boys, it´ll do for us little ones. Especially since there really are no laws concerning allergens in Guatemala, as far as I know.