4 replies to this topic

[skredsfan]

One of the requirements for water potability is that you must have your water tested annually, or be able to provide a certificate of potability from your water supplier. I called the city water department, and they informed me that they dont provide certificates of potability, however their annual test results are downloadable from their website. Would a copy of the test results be sufficient for an audit?

[Setanta]

It depends on who is conducting the Audit. What we do is go with the city water analysis report, they can be quite thorough and then 6 months later run a test with an independent lab.

Best,
S

[Jason Young]

First what does the audit criteria ask for:

Example BRC - 4.5.1

All water used as a raw material in the manufacture of processed food, the preparation of product, or for equipment or plant cleaning shall be supplied in sufficient quantity, be potable at point of use, or pose no risk of contamination according to applicable legislation. The microbiological and chemical quality of water shall be analyzed at least annually. The sampling points and frequency of analysis shall be based on risk, taking into account the source of the water, on-site storage and distribution facilities, prevous samples history, and usage.

With BRC, the copy of the annual test results from the city's web site is not enough. It is good to have and helps support, but you will still need to have microbial and chemical testing analyzed at sampling points/sites within the plant.

[Chris @ Safefood 360°]

<br />One of the requirements for water potability is that you must have your water tested annually, or be able to provide a certificate of potability from your water supplier. I called the city water department, and they informed me that they dont provide certificates of potability, however their annual test results are downloadable from their website. Would a copy of the test results be sufficient for an audit?<br />

<br /><br /><br />

In a canning facility that used city water as an ingredient, I provided auditors with a copy of the annual water test results that were published in the newspaper. Potable "service" water that we treated on site prior to use was tested every 6 months at an outside lab (full heavy metal analysis), monthly outside lab tests on both city/service for e.coli & total coliforms, several times per shift for cl2 level. This was sufficient for FDA, USDA, AIB, OU, and GFSI (BRC).

Keep in mind that there are CB requirements that you may have to conform to as well such as: maintaining an up-to-date site plan indicating travel (lines), holding tanks, treatment, recycling loops, etc.; Filtering for direct food contact.

[BAC]

We have multiple requirements for potable water from multiple suppliers. I put all of the requirements in one place, and send the samples out to a certified lab. They can provide a report for all of the analytical/micro requirements in one place. The auditors like it.

I couldn't find a "standard" potability test/report anywhere else.