Hazard Identification - supplier's specs or regulatory standard?

Hello,


I'm making a hazard table for all the raw materials and I was confused whether my basis for identification of physical, chemical, and biological hazards are with the supplier's specifications or the international-regulatory standard?


Thank for the help in advance.


Michelle

I would say probably depending on the raw material in question. eg. dried herbs may not be covered by any specific international standard and may rely specifically on supplier information; on the other side items such as scallops are covered by international recognised standards (in control of specific viral shellfish poisoning) or another example is potential for dyes in spices.

Hope this makes sense.

Regards

I see. I thought of that too, that specific/specialized raw materials are not covered by international-regulatory standard. In any case, will the auditor question it's reference/basis for safety limits?

Another thing though, supplier's specifications have some parameters lacking which the international-regulatory standard requires. I would put this parameter as a hazard but, again, will the auditor question this?

Dear midnytbloo,

From a HACCP POV, any existing safety-related official regulatory standard(s) which apply to your production/product will inevitably take precedence. This could be local / international / both depending on what you are actually doing. (obviously such limits do not prevent you from being more strict).

Otherwise, hazards are characterised/evaluated via criteria / conditions which can be validated as appropriate to ensuring safe food.

A supplier's specification has to match, or be better than your safety requirements, not the reverse. Ideally, the contents should be mutually compatible of course.

Rgds / Charles.C