Old dog, new tricks?

Good Day Everyone,

I have been called upon to put together a GMP/HACCP program for a 60 year bakery. There are quite a few challenges on the road ahead. We have some systems in place, however, documentation is what we really need to work on. SOP's need to be established with validation. How should I approach this task? Where do I begin? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Dear QABob,

Welcome to the forum !

It might be of help if you informed what level / quantity of technical knowledge is available initially ? Only yourself perhaps ? And what kind of documentation, eg specifically HACCP or ? As you noted, I hope you hv a reasonable documentation for GMP since that acts as a launching pad sort of.

Plus are you targetting any particular standard, eg SQF, in the foreseeable future ?.

Rgds / Charles.C

I would suggest you start with GMPs that follow the basic requirements of 21CFR Part 110, and work on pre-requisite programs. After this, work on the HACCP Plan. A HACCP Plan should be a summary of the food safety programs that are in place. Get some HACCP training. That will help you. It is not uncommon for a bakery to have no critical control points. The key programs for you will likely be sanitation and allergen control. Start by describing what you are already doing. Getting it into writing will help you identify areas for improvement.

I agree with Cathy that you should start with GMPs and then work on your pre-requisites. There are some good HACCP Books available which you can consult. One that I can eassily recall is HOW to HACCP2nd edition. An illustrated guide by Mike dillon and Chris Griffith. Another good book is HACCP a Practical Approach by Sarah Mortimore and Carol Wallace.
http://www.books-by-...342-1932-8.html

Regards

Ajay

Dear Cathy,

It is not uncommon for a bakery to have no critical control points.

A brave statement indeed !

There are several existing arguments (for/against) over bakery CCPs on this forum. Care to elaborate your above comment ? (or perhaps you already did somewhere else here in which case apologies in advance ?

Rgds / Charles.C

I'd have to review the link on the prior conversations. Selection of CCPs is often a highly debated topic! I have been in several bakeries where there is no CCP. Cooking which is often a CCP for a wide variety of products, in the bakeries I have visited is not a CCP because the times and temp needed to achieve quality far exceeds what is needed to ensure safety and so the risk of producing an undercooked product is extremely low. Of course, there are (very recent!) problems when any added fillings (cream based!) are involved - but I was thinking of a simple bakery - bread.

Dear Cathy,


A brave statement indeed !

There are several existing arguments (for/against) over bakery CCPs on this forum. Care to elaborate your above comment ? (or perhaps you already did somewhere else here in which case apologies in advance ?

Rgds / Charles.C

Dear Cathy,

I'd have to review the link on the prior conversations

I applaud yr caution. I also agree there are various factors as usual. The interpretation you mention has also been cited here as a justification for no “cooking” CCPs. From memory some locations hv classified the latter as a regulatory requirement also ! (not in America presumably but similar idea to USA-beef).

I hv attached 3 bakery documents previously posted here. Two are pro-CCP (for the given product examples), one against (bak3) although the latter is perhaps more due to the UK’s decision to re-interpret the blanket EC-FS/HACCP directive of ca. 2005 in less “difficult” terminologies / concepts. The first one was apparently regulatory in 1995 but I'm less sure now (?).

bak1 fsa baking guide.pdf   777.66KB   36 downloads
bak2 - Fletchers bakery - HACCPanalysis.pdf   39.79KB   30 downloads
bak3 - FS system for bakeries.pdf   541.96KB   40 downloads

Nonetheless, I hv no doubt that published bakery HACCP plans with no CCPs can be found also.

Rgds / Charles.C

Hi
Have been in the Bakery industry more years than I can remember on and off.

The best place to start is at the beginning and i am not being insulting here

Start with the HACCP study, this will set out what you need in the other areas and to what level.

For example,
The HACCP study will set out items like the following:
Factory Background
Your HACCP Team
They training & Knowledge
Who you are suppling (old, young etc)
The legislation and Regs that you have to comply with.
Your Pre-requistes
Most common contaminates
Your flows of ingredients, packaging, people and product

Then you can go onto setting up the flow charts, doing your Risk Assessments etc

From all this you will see your areas that you need to review, fix or just generally re-build and the training needed for you and your staff.

Good Luck

Old bakeries are not easy mostly due to the culture engrained (or baked in!) within them.

Good Day Everyone,

I have been called upon to put together a GMP/HACCP program for a 60 year bakery. There are quite a few challenges on the road ahead. We have some systems in place, however, documentation is what we really need to work on. SOP's need to be established with validation. How should I approach this task? Where do I begin? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Dear QAbob,

You might find the baking HACCP comments in this thread of interest also -

http://www.ifsqn.com...dpost__p__41321

Rgds / Charles.C

Eeek! Sorry Cathy,

I am going to agree with Charles C on this one. I have not come across a bakery with no CCPs.

Rope is a serious concern in the bread industry. As is physical contamination: metals, hair, string. Let's not forget mice.

Perhaps I need to work with more bakeries to have faith that some require no CCPs...

Dear Cathy,


A brave statement indeed !

There are several existing arguments (for/against) over bakery CCPs on this forum. Care to elaborate your above comment ? (or perhaps you already did somewhere else here in which case apologies in advance ?

Rgds / Charles.C

Thanks for all the feedback. I am making some progress. BTW, this is for a flour tortilla factory. Any additional suggestions for aforementioned product production would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Dear QABob,

I'm equally sure the other posters here are/will be interested to know yr final decisions regarding CCPs and associated justifications together with a schematic of yr production flow chart.

Rgds / Charles.C