Finished and EOSL Assessments - Coles and (WQA V.8)

Hi,

Is it necessary to do the net and drained weight as part of the finished and End of shelf life assessments for Coles and WW (WQA V.8).

Coles plus specification forms have drained and net weights as part of the weight details - and as per coles standard CSR-FV3:

6.4: The supplier shall ensure that they are carrying out assessments/checks of packaging, labeling and date-coding per product per production day. At a minimum, these assessments/checks must be undertaken at the start and end of each product per variant or pack size run. Records of packaging assessments/checks shall be maintained.

In the standard it didn't mention that the net and drained weights to be checked in the finished product and end of shelf life assessments.

Same goes with WW (WQA V.8) -  I haven't come across in the standard that EOSL assessments must include net and drained weight.

Can any one please help me understand this if I need to include the net and drained weights in the finished product and EOSL assessments.

Thank you,

Archana

Hello Archana,

What type of product is this? Is there a chance for any weight loss during shelf life? e.g. like drying out etc., Although the standard is not very specific, your concerned QA counterpart in the retail sector would be able to help you understand their requirements.

"The supplier shall ensure that they are carrying out assessments/checks of packaging, labeling and date-coding per product per production day. At a minimum, these assessments/checks must be undertaken at the start and end of each product per variant or pack size run. Records of packaging assessments/checks shall be maintained."

The above relates to daily process control checks on product release parameters and not End of shelf life assessment. EOSL assessment needs to be documented separately.

Hi Gunapathi,

Thank you for the advise. I will contact the respective QA in retail to understand their specific requirements.

Our products are Antipasto (e.g: Semi dried tomatoes, Olives, Mixed veegtables etc..) that does't really undergo weight loss during the shelf life. 

Thank you,

Archana

  

6.4: The supplier shall ensure that they are carrying out assessments/checks of packaging, labeling and date-coding per product per production day. At a minimum, these assessments/checks must be undertaken at the start and end of each product per variant or pack size run. Records of packaging assessments/checks shall be maintained.

 Hello Archasnakolasani,

As an auditor I read this requirements as the need to check and document if the correct packaging and/or the correct labelling is used and that the correct date-coding is printed.

If you have agreed weight specification with your customers, or if you are printing weight on your products. You should have a system for checking (and documenting) this weight. You probably also want to know this to verify your filling/weighting process. If the products can loose weight during storage and transport, you should also test on end of shelf life, after simultating the storage and transport conditions.

Hi Madam A.D-tor,

Thank you for the comment and advise.

We do have net weight printed on the labels and during filling and packing we record these weights every 15 min as per the specifications. I want to know if I need to record these weights in the daily finished product assessments as the finished product specification for coles have net and drained weights in it. Our's is a bulk product and we add oil after filling the product the product actually absorbs oil and weighs more after the shelf life.

Thank you,

Archana

Dear Archana,

I understand that the cole absorbs oil during storage and the drained weight and net weight depends on this.

You are also producing bulk products and therefore it will be hard to take representative samples. (assuming that the absorption is different in bulk than in a small pouche)

I would take samples and perform this check on the latest possible point in you storage distribution chain.

If you were producing consumer products, I would suggest to take finished product samples and check these end of shelf life.

Please note: I have no experience of knowledge of the standard you are referring to.