18 replies to this topic

[KAMeadows]

I am helping a friend develop a HACCP system for his pickle (onions, cabbage etc with spices) and chutney manufacturing kitchen. His production is now increasing with 120,000 jars forcast this year. He only has a small unit - a very nice brand new kitchen and small office, wc and rather cramped storage area which has a labelling machine, wooden pallets and racking for ingredients plus a couple of freezers. All the work is done by hand (cutting all veg included!), chutney is stirred manually while cooking and filled manually too.

His empty jars are delivered palletised as he needs them and the finished product is stored in a cellar to mature for a few months. He has started the HACCP process (not very successfully i feel as he has few ccps and many of the points are business critical not food safety critical).

control Points identified so far are:
contamination on fresh vegetables on arrival - control - washing and manual visual inspection (most veg is grown on local farms)
Some veg is prepared and delivered frozen - the factory which prepares these is audited by my friend but has a haccp process in place.
glass contamination - jars are visually inspected before and after washing and hot drying in an oven, and again before hot fill (CCP) to ensure they are intact
Wooden pallets have cardboard layers on them to prevent wooden splinters falling into jars
microbiological contamination - from plastic covering (could be rodent urine?) as pallets are brought and unpacked in the kitchen - control - good personal hygiene
metal contamination from screws in the lids of the cooking kettles - control to check they are there before putting ingredients in the kettle and during / after cooking.
The filled jars are kept in a cellar - there is the potential for contamination by pests (urine onto the jars ) so there are bait boxes and traps around the site and in the cellar.

This doesnt seem very much but it isnt a very complicated process. Is there anything else that anyone can think of?

[Foodworker]

There is one major area which you don't talk about and that is pH control.

This is particularly important in pickles as vegetables etc can be a source of Clostridium botulinum. This is a spore forming bug and the spores are not destroyed by normal process heating which you describe, and it is literally a killer.

You need to ensure that the pH is controlled below a maximum of 4.6.

Why do you oven dry the jars after washing?

[GMO]

I was about to say 'pH' but the PP got their first! Presumably as someone who is a home chutney maker, the oven drying is to help kill off any mould spores etc on the glass before filling. Also hot filling into hot jars tends to cause a vacuum and the jar lid to suck in. Not sure what is done in industry, presumably hot filling but perhaps at a hotter temperature?

control Points identified so far are:
contamination on fresh vegetables on arrival - control - washing and manual visual inspection (most veg is grown on local farms)
Some veg is prepared and delivered frozen - the factory which prepares these is audited by my friend but has a haccp process in place.
glass contamination - jars are visually inspected before and after washing and hot drying in an oven, and again before hot fill (CCP) to ensure they are intact
Wooden pallets have cardboard layers on them to prevent wooden splinters falling into jars
microbiological contamination - from plastic covering (could be rodent urine?) as pallets are brought and unpacked in the kitchen - control - good personal hygiene
metal contamination from screws in the lids of the cooking kettles - control to check they are there before putting ingredients in the kettle and during / after cooking.
The filled jars are kept in a cellar - there is the potential for contamination by pests (urine onto the jars ) so there are bait boxes and traps around the site and in the cellar.

This doesnt seem very much but it isnt a very complicated process. Is there anything else that anyone can think of?

On the fresh vegetables, as it's a manual process and it would be very difficult to identify critical limits for this, it may lend itself better to being a PRP or oPRP. Interestingly, IMO if he had an automated process, that might change due to the risk of stones with root vegetables but the chances of stones getting in are slim with manual washing and cutting.

Frozen veg sounds like a PRP for supplier control which he's doing (audits them).

Glass contamination sounds like it could possibly be a CCP in this kind of small manufacturing site. I can see how you could get chips and cracks which could injure a consumer or cause a poor seal resulting in mould growth (potential mycotoxins?)

Wooden pallets are normally controlled in most sites I've worked in as a PRP.

Hmm, micro contamination from rat urine and the control is personal hygiene. What? Of the rats?? Seriously, if he's buying plastic from someone without a pest control contract in place he perhaps needs to reconsider his purchasing. Perhaps some supplier approval PRP (e.g. design a self assessment questionnaire for the supplier) in this case?

Personal hygiene is rarely a CCP nowadays. Again, what is the critical limit? This lends itself naturally to be a PRP.

The cooking kettle screws I take it is an issue he's had. I'd suggest you look through the reasoning for this but if he has had an issue then it's probably a sensible approach but would be better to ensure they don't fall out easily.

I'd say if he has active rodents in a cellar he shouldn't be storing food there, even sealed food. I don't think the EHO would take a positive view. Sensible to have control but also have control around the exterior. The idea should be to prevent ingress.

Other ideas:

What about cooking temperature?

What about filling temperature? (Might be a quality thing though depending on whether mycotoxin formation is possible or likely.)

What about seal quality? (Again, probably quality but depends on the moulds likely to grow I guess?)

[GMO]

There are probably loads of PRPs that need to be in place as well that might be worth checking. For example:

Knife control - blades chipping and breaking with all that chopping?
Bodily fluid spillage - all those knives, cuts will happen occasionally.
Labelling
Maintenance of equipment (particularly those cooking pots?)

etc. etc...

[Jules]

I think there are a lot of pre-requisites here but not many CCPs needed. Lets go through the process flow to get the critical control procedures.

Personal Hygiene; Pest control; Preventive maintenance plan and plant integrity are all pre-requisites. As would be purchasing from approved suppliers.

Let's try and develop his process flow: correct me where I go wrong.

1. Intake of ingredients

2. Storage

3. Slicing / dicing vegetable preparation

4. Recipe control - Add ingredients to cooking vessel

5. Cook to required temperature (what temperature) and hold (for what period of time)

6. Heat jars to what temperature

7. Hot fill into glass jars

8. Seal - how are they sealed

9. Cooling - should be considered

10. Storage - ambient or chilled




GMO and MIFSQN have already talked about pH and this should be determined within the development stage and be controlled at the recipe control and verified by pH check prior to filling. The bacteria of concern has been identified as Cl botulinum so we also need to look at the heating and holding hot process to see whether it will control that bacteria. Just thinking back 50 years or so, how are the jars being cooled?




Ooh I like something to get my brain working

[GMO]

Good idea to start a process flow. Some ideas for steps to add:

Step 2a - veg washing
Step 9a - labelling

[Jules]

1. Intake of ingredients

2. Storage
2a. Veg washing


3. Slicing / dicing vegetable preparation

4. Recipe control - Add ingredients to cooking vessel

5. Cook to required temperature (what temperature) and hold (for what period of time)

6. Heat glass jars to what temperature

7. Hot fill into glass jars

8. Seal - how are they sealed and is there an air gap left?

9. Cooling - should be considered

9a. Labelling


10. Storage - ambient or chilled




Flow chart adapted thank you. Also we need to know a couple of physical parameters, as people have mentioned above, do we know the pH of the finished product? We can start the risk assessment soon and populate some controls that we know are in place.

[Jules]

I must not have enough to do at work! Pre-requisites first bearing in mind that we need to make this a safe HACCP and appropriate to the size of business.

Personal hygiene and medical screening

Good manufacturing practices

Pest control

Cleaning and disinfection

Temperature control

Site integrity (no bits of ceiling falling into the jars etc.)

Planned maintenance

Approved suppliers

That should do, any other suggestions?

[GMO]

I must not have enough to do at work! Pre-requisites first bearing in mind that we need to make this a safe HACCP and appropriate to the size of business.

Personal hygiene and medical screening

Good manufacturing practices

Pest control

Cleaning and disinfection

Temperature control

Site integrity (no bits of ceiling falling into the jars etc.)

Planned maintenance

Approved suppliers

That should do, any other suggestions?

Training

[Dr Ajay Shah]

What about Recall Procedures !

[GMO]

Good [re]call!

Traceability?

Wood control

Glass and hard clear plastic control

[KAMeadows]

Thankyou for all those replies they have been helpful. I know he hasn't written anything about cl. botulinum at all. However there is a lot of vinegar in the products. I wonder if this changes much on cooking. It hasnt been checked as far as I am aware.

One question asked related to temperature and time of cooking the chutneys. These are literally brought to the boil and simmered until the right consistency which depending on the product is between 4 and 8 hours. During this time they are stirred occasionally with a very large metal spoon.

The cooling of the jars once filled is at air temperature. You are right in that the jars are filled as you would a jam jar and the cooling action creates a vacuum. The vacuum is checked once the jars have matured (in the dark cellar) which could be a couple of months as they are all packed by hand.

I dont know why he oven dries the jars after washing i think it just seemed the right thing to do - not very scientific i know.

there are only 2 people who carry out this process, one is the owner (my friend) who i have recommended to do a haccp course and one is his assistant who does most of the processing and cooking when he isnt there. This is not his only job as he is also a caterer who does functions for up to several hundred people at a time (but thats a different set of food safety issues).

product recall is easy as he knows everyone that he sends too (he even has a map on the wall showing them all). Interestingly a large supermarket chain has just visited his kitchen with the possibility of stocking his products in the local stores. they may also come up with a set of criteria he has to meet which i suspect will include a fully audited haccp.

this is a small manufacturing kitchen (not a home kitchen) and was brand new 3 years ago and the equipment also.

thanks again - as a first post i'm glad it got some people thinking.

[Jules]

Additions to the pre-requisite list noted. Thank you both.

Should we assume (as we do not know different) that the process flow is ok and look at the hazards associated with intake of ingredients. From the initial question, we know this is pickles and chutney so we are taking in (ingredient wise) fresh vegetables for preparation, pre-prepared frozen vegetables, I would also assume vinegar(s) and sugar; possibly wine.

Hazard: contamination of the fresh vegetables with pathogenic bacteria and or their spores. I suppose that we are correct with B cereus as our organism of concern although others may be present.

Hazard: contamination of the fresh vegetables with extrinsic contaminants such as stones, insect life (and bits of dead insects!), string and plastic binding materials often found on farms these days, unwanted flower heads (intrinsic contaminant).

Hazard: contamination of the ingredient with pesticide residues.

Anything else?

[MQA]

Hazard: contamination of the fresh vegetables with pathogenic bacteria and or their spores. I suppose that we are correct with B cereus as our organism of concern although others may be present.

For ground vegetables, also consider other bacteria: salmonella, e coli, listeria. Any bacteria that is commonly found in soil, waters and some animals. Unfortunately, the list is growing.

If purchasing vegetables directly from the growers, know who their neighbours are. Could be potential contamination from their soil onto the vegetable growers' soil. Hopefully they are not next door to cows or chickens...

[Jules]

Thank you for that very pertinent point about soil borne bacteria and considering the surrounding activities. We are now looking at a list - Bacteria of concern. With this list we can confirm exactly which hurdles we need to overcome to provide a safe product.

Our bacteria of concern (so far) are:

B cereus

Salomella spp

E coli

Listeria Monocytogenes

[GMO]

I don't know much about what moulds can grow on chutneys and pickles but I know they can. Are there any toxin producers likely to grow?

I always think it's useful to look at recalls for similar products as that gives you a clue on things to consider. Just after a quick googling, it's raise another two for me:

Another prerequisite - allergen control

A hazard to consider (controlled by supplier assurance) - the use of illegal food dyes (e.g. sudan I etc) in chilli and paprika powders.

[Jules]

Aspergillus, Penecillium and Fusarium seem to be our mycotoxin producers, associated with fruit and vegetables that are under the decay process.

I certainly agree with having allergen controls in place, that must be a pre-requisite or will it come under an oPRP - time will tell.

What a great idea to look at recalls, simple idea but absolutely brilliant.

Illegal food colourings - as you correctly say in the supplier assurance, right in there with pesticide residues as well.

[vaishali]

:helpplease:i need help about how to prepare HACCP manual for pickle and chuteney
please guide me for these send me one example of HACCP manual.

Edited by Simon, 19 March 2012 - 11:00 AM.
Removed email address

[KAMeadows]

I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who took the (sometimes considerable it seems) time to reply and help with this. It has been really useful.