Traceability and Mass Balance During an Audit

Hello, I am new to this forum but so far have really enjoyed reading through the different topics.

I work for a small cheese factory who is trying to obtain BRC certification. One of the items I am concerned about is the traceability and mass balance test performed during the audit. We produce cheese in large vats which move the finished cheese either direct to packaging or it is put into large barrels to be pressed and later shredded and packaged into bags; depending on the product.

My issue is, due to variations in the consistency of milk used and the amount of cheese lost during packaging, different vats will produce different amounts of cheese. Even if the same quantity of ingredients is used, each vat will differ. We won't know the exact amount of product produced in a given day until it's packaged. For the mass balancing test, do I simply need to show that the amount of cheese packaged matches the amount shipped to our customers for any given day? Or do we need to determine the amount of cheese produced in the vat and match that to what was shipped?

Any insight on this test would be appreciated.

Thanks,

J.R.W

You basically need to account for everything. If one batch gives you 100lb of product, what and how much ingredients were used and where did the 100lb of product go i.e. customer orders + samples + waste etc? If the next batch comes in at 90lb the same questions apply but it doesn't matter that the yield is different (unless that indicates something has gone badly wrong...!).

JR,

I agreewith MIFSQN.

What wedid, is to make several documented mass balances and determined the averagewaste, let´s say around 15%. On audit day if the numbers are around that, youare OK.

Good Luck,

Arturo.

As the previous posts have indicated, the purpose of the mass balance check is to determine that all the material inputs into the process are accounted for in the output taking into account characteristics of the process that may result in an increase our decrease in mass. For example the cooking of meat may result in a loss of mass to due water and fat/protein loss (or cook out). The important aspect of this is that you know your process and how it works.

You have expalined that the actual mass of the final cheese product will vary depending on the raw materials and as a result it is difficult to predict the expected mass or yeild of the final product. However it is important that you put a little science and data behind this variation. Dairy based businesses are usually very focused on the issue of yield and I would be surprised if your production department does not have some raw data on the variation in yields. This will at the very least give you a range within which to work for mass balance. You can factor this variation into your mass balance exercise and expalin it in a procedure so it is auditable. You may even go as far as to measure this variation statisitically and seasonally to develop your understanding of the process e.g. standard deviation.

In short - variation is not a problem but you need to understand it and have a measure of it. This can then be factored into your mass balance equation and highlight when things have shifted significantly.


George

JRW,

Just for clarification,we do measure waste, in our case is the Animal Feed Stock, we focus in theyield average, loses just like George explained.

Arturo.