8 replies to this topic

[Ian2370]

Hi there    Does anyone have a basic knife procedure I can have look at; I need to introduce one, asap, into our QMS as per a non-conformity of late.   Any help would be  greatly appreciated!! Many thanks Ian

[Setanta]

We check out a specific number of knives to our lines at the start of each day.  We do a mid-shift santitizing step, and at this point we count the knives and bring them back to the line.  This occurs 2 times a day and then at the end of the shift we check in the knives.  I will attach our form, hopefully that will be helpful.

 

 Knife check in check out.doc   25.5KB   569 downloads

Edited by Setanta, 14 July 2014 - 02:43 PM.

[Ian2370]

Hello there

 

Many thanks for this 

[trubertq]

I have implemented a book where the knives are signed out in the morning, and checked and signed back in at the end of shift. Book and knives are kept in a locked box in the production area. Limited key holders. Works well in that situation, it's the boyos out the back that pose the problem....

[djfitz1231]

We check out a specific number of knives to our lines at the start of each day.  We do a mid-shift santitizing step, and at this point we count the knives and bring them back to the line.  This occurs 2 times a day and then at the end of the shift we check in the knives.  I will attach our form, hopefully that will be helpful.

I work in a large manufacturing baking facility and we use knives in our mixing area and in the oven room. We give each employee in those areas a new knife at the beginning of the month and they must return the old knife and sign a sheet in order to get the new one. We have never had a problem with a knife breaking and when they return the old knife it is inspected and we have never had a problem with any of them missing pieces. Do you think we need to put a stronger program in place? We are looking at becoming SQF certified in the coming year.

[Tony-C]

To add to the posts above in some facilities I have put more stringent policies in such that all knives issued into production had a clear, unique identification number which was entered onto a log and used as a checklist. Your level of control will need to be based on the risk and repercussions of a broken blade/knife being lost and their chances of ending up in the product.

 

If your operation is storage and distribution then the controls required as less stringent and this is reflected in the BRC Storage and Distribution standard: 6.1.5 Knives or other tools provided shall be used in such a way as to prevent damage to products. Snap-off blade knives shall not be used.

 

In comparison the BRC Food Safety standard requires a documented control policy, records of inspection and investigation of lost items.

 

Regards,

 

Tony

[mica]

I work in a large manufacturing baking facility and we use knives in our mixing area and in the oven room. We give each employee in those areas a new knife at the beginning of the month and they must return the old knife and sign a sheet in order to get the new one. We have never had a problem with a knife breaking and when they return the old knife it is inspected and we have never had a problem with any of them missing pieces. Do you think we need to put a stronger program in place? We are looking at becoming SQF certified in the coming year.

I would want to know what checks your employees conduct at the end of a shift to ensure the knives are not damaged, and where is the written documentation to prove this has been done, A lot of product can go through a line in a month how would you find the missing piece?

[Setanta]

 

I work in a large manufacturing baking facility and we use knives in our mixing area and in the oven room. We give each employee in those areas a new knife at the beginning of the month and they must return the old knife and sign a sheet in order to get the new one. We have never had a problem with a knife breaking and when they return the old knife it is inspected and we have never had a problem with any of them missing pieces. Do you think we need to put a stronger program in place? We are looking at becoming SQF certified in the coming year.

 
You may want to. Our reasoning came about as a result of an audit and the auditor asked "how do we know if our knives and some other equipment is in good shape throughout the day?" We do clean them at mid shift due to the possible wide range of products those knives could open. Meat, breads, veggies, etc, so it wasn't difficult to add a counting step in our sanitizing step.

S

[Tony-C]

We seem to have gone

 

This is a BRC Storage and Distribution forum
 

Regards,

 

Tony