6 replies to this topic

[mind over matter]

I understand that adverse employee health conditions could lead to contaminations of product, but is the following a legitimate nonconformity under ISO 22000?

There was no medical record of workers on file.

[Madam A. D-tor]

Depends on:
- your procedures (does your procedures say, that you should have them?);
- legal requirements in your country (is it required to have these?);
- your HACCP plan (did you identify this as a risk and did you document that a medical record is a control measure?)
- the products you are producing;
- general guides and hygiene codes in your sector (is it common to have these?);

Some examples:
in Belgium it is (by legislation) required to have a medical attest for all workers in food industry. In the Netherlands there is no such legal requirement.
However in meat industry and other sensitive products it is common to have some kind of health statement.
I would raise non-conformity in meat industry in both countries if they fail to show these records.
I would only raise a nonconformity in Belgium if it is about unprocessed fruits and vegetables.

[YongYM]

To mind over matter:

In Malaysia, there is a new Food Hygiene Regulations which require the medical screening of workers (food handlers). While if you are going for FSSC 22000, one of the requirements in PAS 220 is medical screening of workers.

[Seyed]

ISO 22000 is a fsms program, to ensure the safety of the product it is recommended to have an updatable medical record. .

[Claudia_QP]

Interesting topic, how often this medical exam should me made to be considered update?. In my country legislation ask you to do this exams to workers once a year, but I don't think this is very useful in terms of food safety.
How about mantaining a record of workers that have been separated from sensitive areas in case of wounds, having a cold, or something like that? How do you guys do this?

[Seyed]

In Middle east, it is recommended to have medical exam annually. If the organization wants to provide good personal hygiene, can do medical exam for the workers on half yearly basis, it all depends upon the organization say for eg. Nestle has their own food safety policy.

We can take a weekly personal hygiene and can check the workers health such as wounds & sickness. The workers should be instructed to report it to supervisor, if they are sick.

[faisal rafique]

It mostly depends upon your local legistation.

Faisal