Peanut Free Facility

I wanted to reach out to individuals who have managed or implemented Peanut free program / facility. We are ideally looking to make “manufactured in peanut free facility “claim. Few points that we are considering:

• None of our approved or R&D ingredients contain Peanut. We have a robust vendors program where non approved ingredients are not accepted by ERP system.
   
• Our vending machine does not have any peanut containing products, we also have a written agreement with them and signs are posted as well.
   
• From my research companies which make this claim, have very strict controls on this policy , which involves not allowing any peanut containing products in employees lunch , monitoring employees lunch , no peanut may come in contact with employees clothes or uniforms , this extends to office staff, visitors and contractors  that may enter the plants etc.

Any thoughts on this.

Hello QAMVB,

i think you have already system in place of controlling peanut in your factory and processing area. But my question is how you document it as we go on we should remember to document our in-place system or control. And as per your "1. None of our approved or R&D ingredients contain Peanut. We have a robust vendors program where non approved ingredients are not accepted by ERP system." What specific record from your supplier does it said or proof that they don't have any peanut?

My suggestion is request for a Major Allergen Declaration or any records that contains they have controlled peanut or their supplier raw materials don't have any traces of peanut.

Hope it can help and thanks to consider.

Factory Hygienist.

Hello QAMVB,

 

i think you have already system in place of controlling peanut in your factory and processing area. But my question is how you document it as we go on we should remember to document our in-place system or control. And as per your "1. None of our approved or R&D ingredients contain Peanut. We have a robust vendors program where non approved ingredients are not accepted by ERP system." What specific record from your supplier does it said or proof that they don't have any peanut?

 

My suggestion is request for a Major Allergen Declaration or any records that contains they have controlled peanut or their supplier raw materials don't have any traces of peanut.

 

Hope it can help and thanks to consider.

 

Factory Hygienist.

thanks for your reply , we have allergen questionnaires for all our ingredients and spec sheets are reviewed for any declared allergens . Where I am stuck is how far have companies gone in implementing peanut free , does this include not allowing any peanut containing products in employees lunch , monitoring employees lunch and visitors / contractors. Is it sufficient not to have any peanuts in your ingredients/ products ? 

Hello QAMVB,

We are a peanut free/tree nut free facility, producing a product directly marketed to people with peanut and tree nut allergies.

We require allergen declarations from all our suppliers (ingredients, packaging, etc.), and do not allow anything in unless it is guaranteed peanut and tree nut free. We do not allow any peanuts or tree nuts in employee lunches or any other food on site. We also monitor all visitors to ensure that no one who has had peanuts or tree nuts that day are allowed in the facility.

I know this may seem overkill, but we cannot risk a trace of peanuts or tree nuts in our product. It wouldn't look good if a peanut-allergic person had a reaction to our product!

I would say that having peanut free ingredients is only part of being peanut free. It would also need to be in your personnel program and visitor policy to keep any trace of peanuts out of the facility. We even do laundering of work clothing on site to ensure no contamination.

Hope this helps!

WowQC