How to Demonstrate 'food safe'ness of chopping boards etc ?

Hi,

Really stumped here. One of the points rasied in the Tesco TFMS standard is the ability to demonstrate / prove the food safeness of any food contact equipment. i.e. chopping boards, knives, conveyor belts.

Having trawled the intraweb extensively I have found the ANSI/NSF standards, with section .51 being appropriate for these type of items.

The problem I have is that although all our equipment is food safe and purchased from reputable suppliers specialising in the fresh produce industry, I cannot source any form of certificate or documentation relating to the products we use.

has anyone else had this problem or do you have an alternative solution that I may not have considered?

Many thanks in advance

Ss

Hi,

Really stumped here. One of the points rasied in the Tesco TFMS standard is the ability to demonstrate / prove the food safeness of any food contact equipment. i.e. chopping boards, knives, conveyor belts.

Having trawled the intraweb extensively I have found the ANSI/NSF standards, with section .51 being appropriate for these type of items.

The problem I have is that although all our equipment is food safe and purchased from reputable suppliers specialising in the fresh produce industry, I cannot source any form of certificate or documentation relating to the products we use.

has anyone else had this problem or do you have an alternative solution that I may not have considered?

Many thanks in advance

Ss

Your suppliers should be able to give you a specification or technical details of the items they are supply with confirmation that they are food grade.

In addition Tesco would expect you to inspect the condition of your equipment and carry out hygiene swabs at intervals based on risk assessment.

Regards,

Tony

Dear sskubisnac

In line with Tony-C words, all your food-contact equipment suppliers must comply with regulation 1935/2004 and all regulations related. So they should be able to provide a certification about the materirals they are using in equipment. Some of the supplier may include information about materials migration which can relevant ( or maybe it is mandatory for Tesco, I do not know ).

And also, as Tony-C said, it is very important to have in mind the maintenance and hygienic condicitons of all equipment. You should clearly define how to clean the equipment ( method, with what products, frequency) and validate/varify its effectiveness.

BEst regards
Esther

Dear sskubisnac,

It's called validation. One of the most popular topics here.

There are some posts here (somewhere) on (official experiences) / (how to do it yourself) for validating chopping boards if you can find them.

Rgds / Charles.C