Where the Heck’s My Chicken From? Raw Material Traceability

Where the Heck’s My Chicken From? Understanding Raw Material Traceability
Amanda Evans, Food Safety Compliance Specialist

The purpose of this presentation is to educate participants on how to trace raw materials throughout their food business. Raw material traceability involves the food business understanding the source of and the journey that their raw materials have taken. With this knowledge, the overall risk of the finished product can be better assessed. The session will focus on understanding raw material traceability and how to implement within your food business.

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First up at 9.00 A.M. BST...best of luck Amanda.

Thanks very much, very informative presentation Amanda. :clap:

Your questions and comments from the webinar:

• What actions to do when a supplier last minute inform you that the batch we receive has slightly some changes on the specs not related to food safety and has alerady processed and sent to consumer? Thanks
• If raw material and finshed product s are coforming specfications, even we receive product complaints , please guide for finding the cause of spoilage of finished poduct.
• Are they going to discuss regarding extension of shelf life of expired products or raw materials and what are the possible food safety issue?
• You sometimes reply on Certificates of conformities for your specs.  How do you ensure that these certificates are not falsified?
• What tips can you offer to deal with Brokers who are reluctant to tell you where they get their food materials from, as they are concerned that you may go direct to their suppliers if they tell you?
• We are producing cheese ballls and using raw materials corn grits, cheese flavorings, and soyabaen refined oil and salt, we receved complaints of off flavour.  What may be the cause?
• Good day! What's the target we should keep for time and Mass balance
• What should be the frequency of verifying COA for a high risk and medium risk raw material?
• Can someone tell me when the BRC new standard is in the presentation
• How we can increase the shelf life of cheese balls
• I struggle to get some country of origin information from some suppliers as well as the make up of the product as suppliers state that it is confidential information. I have experienced this issue many times and have got the information eventually, but how would I tackle this going forward
• How do you determine shelf life of cookies? Which parameters do you measure and how do you model it?
• Hi Amanda - What information re traceability and ingredient information is required for new labelling legislation?
• What is beyond COA? I can and have experienced getting what I want on a COA. However, I am curious to see to how reliable those COA are. Another side question is what does a guarantee letter brings to the table?
• Hei! How do you handle the direct packaginfg materials? Same as raw material? Make the traceability and mass balance test within time limit?
• How the finshed products affected during transportation and handling of products and storage coditions at customer end?
• THANK YOU VERY MUCH

• What actions to do when a supplier last minute inform you that the batch we receive has slightly some changes on the specs not related to food safety and has alerady processed and sent to consumer? Thanks

 

You would need to refer to your own procedures regarding what corrective action you would take if the product is sent 'out of spec'.  If there is ongoing issues, I suggest a review of the specification and also a review of the suppliers performance.

• If raw material and finshed product s are coforming specfications, even we receive product complaints , please guide for finding the cause of spoilage of finished poduct.

You would firstly need to Review your product specification to assess if that are actually suitable for your business / food safety / quality outcomes.  To find the source of spoilage, a full investigation would need to be completed to find areas in your production / packing that could be causing the issue.  I suggest working with your local food laboratory to help identify the spoilage organisms involved in your product. 

 

• Are they going to discuss regarding extension of shelf life of expired products or raw materials and what are the possible food safety issue?

This presentation does not cover shelf life verification or validation.  However, when you are setting your shelf life of your product during your R&D process, you need to take into consideration the actual shelf life of all of the raw materials used.  You need to then complete adequate shelf life verification assessing your target food safety, quality and regulatory parameters and based on your processing methods.

 

• You sometimes reply on Certificates of conformities for your specs.  How do you ensure that these certificates are not falsified?

There is really no 100% way to ensure that your C of A certificates have not been falsified. You can however complete your own testing to verify if you have suspicions of falsification. 

• What tips can you offer to deal with Brokers who are reluctant to tell you where they get their food materials from, as they are concerned that you may go direct to their suppliers if they tell you?

It all comes down to the relationship that you have with your Broker.  Information should be forth coming.  Check your local food legislation to see if there are any requirements and also refer to the product specification.  All relevant information should be available to help you comply with your regulatory and food safety requirements, especially around country of origin.  If you still have problems, I would find another broker (if possible).  You can also write into a contract the requirement to provide this information.  If they do not then comply, at least you have an avenue for legal action. Another tip is to look on the product labelling if the product your receive is packaged.

 

 

• We are producing cheese ballls and using raw materials corn grits, cheese flavorings, and soyabaen refined oil and salt, we receved complaints of off flavour.  What may be the cause?

 

To find the source of spoilage, a full investigation would need to be completed to find areas in your production / packing that could be causing the issue.  I suggest working with your local food laboratory to help identify the spoilage organisms involved in your product. 

 

 

• Good day! What's the target we should keep for time and Mass balance

I gather that this question relates to what is the target time from that you should be able to complete a traceability activity.  If you are certified to a GFSI accredited standard you can refer to their requirements.  The majority of standards that I work with state 4 hours. 

 

 

• What should be the frequency of verifying COA for a high risk and medium risk raw material?

 

There is no straight out answer. You would base the frequency on supplier and raw material performance and also the risk assessment that you have determined for this activity.  As you have more confidence in the supply, your frequency of testing may reduce.  It also depends on what you are going to do with that raw material (ie what process it will go through)

 

 

• I struggle to get some country of origin information from some suppliers as well as the make up of the product as suppliers state that it is confidential information. I have experienced this issue many times and have got the information eventually, but how would I tackle this going forward

 

It all comes down to the relationship that you have with your Supplier.  Information should be forth coming.  Check your local food legislation to see if there are any requirements and also refer to the product specification.  All relevant information should be available to help you comply with your regulatory and food safety requirements, especially around country of origin.  If you still have problems, I would find another supplier (if possible).  You can also write into a 'supply contract' the requirement to provide this information.  If they do not then comply, at least you have an avenue for legal action. Another tip is to look on the product labelling if the product your receive is packaged

 

 

• How do you determine shelf life of cookies? Which parameters do you measure and how do you model it?

 

This presentation does not cover shelf life verification or validation.  However, when you are setting your shelf life of your product during your R&D process, you need to take into consideration the actual shelf life of all of the raw materials used.  You need to then complete adequate shelf life verification assessing your target food safety, quality and regulatory parameters and based on your processing methods.   I suggest working with your local food laboratory to help identify the shelf life parameters involved in your product. 

 

 

• Hi Amanda - What information re traceability and ingredient information is required for new labelling legislation?

 

Can you please be a more specific.  What is your country of manufacture?

 

 

• What is beyond COA? I can and have experienced getting what I want on a COA. However, I am curious to see to how reliable those COA are. Another side question is what does a guarantee letter brings to the table?

Completing your own verification testing on receival of your raw materials.  There is really no 100% way to ensure that your C of A certificates have not been falsified. You can however complete your own testing to verify if you have suspicions of falsification. 

​A Guarantee letter can be similar to a "contract of supply". It gives you some legal backing should something go wrong.

 

 

• Hei! How do you handle the direct packaginfg materials? Same as raw material? Make the traceability and mass balance test within time limit?

Direct packaging or indeed all packaging should be treated just like you would a raw material.

 

 

• How the finshed products affected during transportation and handling of products and storage coditions at customer end?

 

Not really sure what this question is asking. Can you please re-phrase.

Thanks everyone for your questions and for tuning into this presentation.  If there are any more questions, please post below and I will try answer as best as possible.

Cheers

Amanda