Temperature Monitoring for Quality

Is it required to monitor temperatures if just a quality issue- in this case melting chocolate pellets and the tank maintains the chocolate at a certain temperature. Not a kill step. 

They are not recording currently- because they state not a food safety issue.  

What are everyone's thoughts.

Thanks

I think you should to have better control over your process. If the quality deteriorates during processing, your customer would be get the expected end product. And if you are not meeting the customer expectations ( Food Safety, Quality etc) then it affects your business.

Especially with chocolate would think you would want to know how the temperature is running.  Tracking-trending of it can be important as well.  Most GFSI schemes want quality metrics as part of the overall system.  So it may not be a safety issue, but think it is still an important one. 

If the temperature affects the quality of your product then you should set acceptable limits then monitor and record.

Regards,

Tony

Hooray, someone else who does chocolate!

I'd recommend temperature recording at the melting tank, all of the tempering unit zones, depositor, and cooling tunnel.  Also a tempering meter check to make sure the chocolate snaps and is glossy. 

Temperature is incredibly important to chocolate tempering and the product will turn out dull and crumbly if it's not controlled.

We record temps, but I don't trend anything.

The answer depends.

If it's just for quality then by all means don't record it... unless:

If you apply for SQF level 3 you will need to monitor and record the temperatures because SQF level 3 is the only standard, that I'm aware of, that requires you to treat food quality as high as food safety.

It is a GMP and record point only. Sufficient if records for monitoring temperature variation which is a processing requirement but need not to be or necessary a food safety concern or killing step otherwise it is CCP.

thanks

It is a GMP and record point only. Sufficient if records for monitoring temperature variation which is a processing requirement but need not to be or necessary a food safety concern or killing step otherwise it is CCP.

thanks

Not all food safety checks are CCP's.

Hi MFSC,

I not really have got your question.

Temperature recording is necessary to generate and keep quality of chocolate. It becomes important in the temper to create the correct kind of cristals. Once formed a stable gloss ist induced. After the stage temperature and any temperature shifts especially swinging of temperature in the range of 16 - 24°C is is bad and will create fat bloom over time. As a manufacture you have to keep the chocolate bars at constant temperature - during storage, transportation etc. In these stages we record temperature continously by logger.

Rgds

moskito

Hi MFSC,

 

I not really have got your question.

Temperature recording is necessary to generate and keep quality of chocolate. It becomes important in the temper to create the correct kind of cristals. Once formed a stable gloss ist induced. After the stage temperature and any temperature shifts especially swinging of temperature in the range of 16 - 24°C is is bad and will create fat bloom over time. As a manufacture you have to keep the chocolate bars at constant temperature - during storage, transportation etc. In these stages we record temperature continously by logger.

 

Rgds

moskito

Do you trend anything?  I mean, I have all of these records of temperatures, and I use them as a condition of release (if they are out of range the chocolate is remelted).  But I don't really...trend...anything.  It seems off to keep collecting all of this information and not analyzing it.    

Thanks

MM

Hi moskito

As fat booming is concern it is critical for chocolate acceptance in market. As this is how customer perceives the product in market. But for food safety it is not concern. I agree with Merlew, it depends on standard we follow. Which you standard you follow and how the clauses says to address the prps or oprrs or control points but not ccps.

thanks

You answered your own question. Assuming you are tyring to maintain quality in your product, then yes, you should monitor relevant quality controls. 

I suspect you were thinking that since your certification (SQF level 2) does not cover quality controls, they aren't relevant. Don't get yourself stuck on minimum requirements to pass an audit, always do what's right for your business and your customers. I don't think your customers would be too impressed if they thought your perspective was "we'll worry about quality when we try for level 3".

Achieving a food safety certification is a big important step, but we all have to be careful that we don't become so focussed on following the Standards rules, we forget about good business practices.

John

Hi John

I agreed to you what you said. I am also working for higher bench mark. I am presently working only on GFSI standards BRC FS, BRC S&D, FSSC22K, ISO 22K and HACCP. I appreciate for your advise and agreed. Even i trust for higher bench mark but not minimum benchmark to achieve. Now a days in India - food safety has gain the momentum and is on top priority for all food industry hence in no way we are not doing any short cuts or hanky panky work. We are serious in our business. We follow strictly. Temperature with respect to chocolate Conching process is physical phase conversion where crystals will develop and leads to fat blooming in chocolate when chocolate goes in distribution. 

thanks

I think many of you are missing the point of the posters question.

Is it REQUIRED to record something that is for food quality not food safety.

The answer is dependent on only a couple things:

Is it part of your food safety standard (SQF level 3)?: If no continue to next question. If yes: Record it.

Is it required by your customers or a regulatory body? If no continue to next question:  If yes: Record it.

Do you care to know the temperature at all times?: If no then don't record it.  If yes than do it.

That's the entire answer boiled down.

You don't HAVE to record something that is only product quality related unless you are applying for SQF level 3 or if you want to make sure your product is a quality product.  If you will accept that some of your product may not be high quality during distribution than by all means don't record it.  Nobody is going to make you. 

the point of monitoring your process temperature are if that temperature effect to safety to your people, quality of your product and  safety for your customer

rgds

AS Nur

It is essential to monitor the temperature especially when this is a customer or regulatory requirement or relevant to meet the product specification. Also, basis/study that the temperature has really no impact to your product should be available.

I would say its part of your PRP to record it

Interesting discussion! Agree with Mr. Incognito on this one.

We're a small 50-person Gourmet Chocolate Manufacturer and we just had a company here to do a demo for us yesterday that pertains to this very issue. In short, we decided that we wanted to monitor the temperature of our chocolate in real-time and also generate reports for trend analysis. They came in because they have an affordable, effective, small wireless device that measures (in real-time every 60 seconds) the actual temp of all of our chocolate in each Melter/Mixer and can send us an email/text alert if the temp should fall above/below the desired temp range. 

Anyway, as Mr. Incognito pointed out, this one seems to fall into the category of "personal preference" more so than anything that's "required" of you. But what do I know!? I'm still an SQF Newbie, which is why I have to defer to my more educated/experienced colleague(s) on this one.

Jeff