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Advice on developing HACCP for Refrigerated/Frozen Storage

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Suzie B

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Posted 17 September 2014 - 04:23 PM

Hello All,

 

Need some help.  I'm new to the Cold/Frozen storage industry.  I come from a manufacturing background.  We are working toward SQF Certification, and I'm having trouble dropping the Quality Piece of SQF.  I understand the principle of identifying CCPs and setting control limits, but not sure how to begin with this or how it applies in this industry.  Does anyone have advice on developing HACCP plans for foods that are received packaged, boxed, wrapped and frozen? 

 

Thanks,

 

Suzie



Mac

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Posted 17 September 2014 - 07:36 PM

Well what I have done was to develop a hazard analysis on each of the process steps and have found that none of the hazards were controlled by a ccp but were controlled by PRP,s. SQF wants to see your process of determining and justifying your findings.
Sounds simple because it is.
Good luck.



Suzie B

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Posted 29 September 2014 - 04:00 PM

That's exactly what I thought, too.  What do you consider your process steps?  The reason I ask is my Director wants a HACCP for each of the food categories we store.  I don't understand the relevance of the product in the box since we only receive, store, and ship.  The temperature of refrigerated does not change, and temp for frozen does not change.  Why would there be a need to identify pathogens for the product when there are literally 10s of thousands of different SKUs? 



RG3

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Posted 29 September 2014 - 06:32 PM

Hi Suzie Q,

 

First lets look at your processing steps:

 

  • Receiving Dry Product

 

  • Receiving Refrigerated Product

 

  • Receiving Frozen Product

 

  • Dry Storage

 

  • Cold Storage

 

  • Freezer Storage

 

  • Shipping and Distribution

Or you can lump receiving cold storage as well as storing cold storage

 

Now let's see possible hazards:

 

Receiving and Storage:

 

Your control would be Temperature for at least your biological hazard, because microbes like growing in "unfavorable" temperatures. You want to make sure your receiving at ambient temp, cooler temp, or frozen temp depending on your product as well as storing at proper temperatures. This is why you need to identify pathogens. Might be easier for at least here to lump your SKU's into categories.

 

Physical hazard can be anything inherited from packaging or the pallets that may be found upon receiving or storage (wood, metal, etc.).

 

Chemical hazard would be if you're dealing with any foods that are allergens. You want to make sure you're identifying and controlling.

 

Shipping and Distribution:

 

Again Temperature of trailer before loading and after loading.



Charles.C

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Posted 30 September 2014 - 01:53 PM

Dear SuzieQ,

 

Offhand i agree with Mac's and yr own opinions.

 

Not quite sure what you mean by Quality certification, ie is SQF level 2 or level 3 relevant ?.

 

i assume only safety is involved.

 

I presume by “frozen” you mean a received product core temperature of <= -18degC

 

I assume that this temperature is validatably maintained during transfer to, residence in, and transfer out of the storage location.

I assume you have PRPs inplemented such that there is no risk of  safety-related BCP hazards via cross-contamination, during the same product flow as in previous para.

If so, then the significant health risks created by  your operation should IMO be BP negligible. Chemical changes can occur over extended storage but these are usually quality rather than safety related unless some specialised product. If  nothing weird involved,  "C" negligible also.

 

Rgds / Charles.C

 

PS - is it possible that yr Director(?) is not overly HACCP-savvy ? :smile:


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C


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agasr

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Posted 30 September 2014 - 06:38 PM

Hi SuzieQ -

I am in a similar industry with similar background, looking to implement HACCP for multiple sites. I would concur with the approach you are proposing around following the process to be basis for HACCP rather than the multiple scores of SKUs.

 

While the SKUs/Product based approach might sound like a good way to approach, you might want to point out to your Director that, if the SKUs/Product profiles change your HACCP documents would change almost every month yet not adding any value & not resulting in any changes in the Procedures or CCPs.

 

If that reasoning still doesn't work, a more reasonable approach could be based on the Product categories ? like Dairy & Dairy Products, TCS requiring products etc.,

Hope this is helpful !

 

Regards,



erin.m.v

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Posted 14 April 2015 - 12:42 AM

Hi Suzie,

 

My facility is 100% frozen storage and ALL of the products we receive, store, and ship are fully enclosed in packaging and frozen solid.  Also, we do not own any of the products we handle, we never open any of the packages or handle any exposed product, and nearly all of the products we handle are an allergen (finfish or crustacean shellfish)

 

I too struggled with how to put together a HACCP plan for this type of facility.  I could whip through completing complicated and extensive hazard analyses and HACCP plans for processing seafood (during seafood HACCP training), but I struggled with our simple system of receiving, storing, and shipping.  It drove me nuts!  It was so simple to do that it was hard to do!  Reference resources were limited because there was so very little out there referring to what we do.  So, I am attaching the result of much internet research and extensive reading, in hopes that you might find something in it that is helpful and possibly even save you some precious time.

 

Attached File  Frozen Food Products HACCP Program.pdf   940.93KB   777 downloads

 

Good luck!

- erin -

 



Charles.C

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Posted 14 April 2015 - 10:07 AM

Hi erin,

 

I liked the intro. And the haccp plan. However I did notice a few interesting points.

 

All decisions for CCPs are NO due to either “Not Applicable” or “FDA policy”. I could not find any explanation of these 2 terms.

 

There are 2 analogous plans in thread below – posts 2,4 respectively. First one is probably EC, the other US oriented. Post 2 uses a similar micro-hazard terminology to yourself, notably “contamination” whereas IMO the hazard is more accurately described as “growth”. Post 4 states “biological” and avoids clarity altogether.

http://www.ifsqn.com...any/#entry82622

 

(1) the receiving frozen goods/micro is indicated as not CCP due “not applicable” . In comparison, the 2 haccp plans in thread above score this  NO-YES respectively. Some other systems, eg ISO, would probably have classified  these stages as Prerequisites.

 

(2) the storage frozen goods/micro is indicated as not CCP due “not applicable”. In comparison, the 2 haccp plans in thread above score this YES-YES respectively.

 

(3) allergens are stated to be not an “issue” (m-vi), the details listed in  haccp plan/receiving, storage, etc suggested otherwise (to me) ? No mention of segregation per se is suggested for receiving frozen goods/allergens. As I understand, the situation, per se, for non-frozen goods, but perhaps depending on the specific goods, would typically be different. The reason for any distinction is unclear to myself.

Post 2 indicates that segregation is implemented, post 4 has no mention of allergens.

 

I deduce some/all of the CCP conclusions may well relate to specific USDA/FDA Product/Regulatory directives which I won’t be familiar with. If so, interested to know how .

 

In the absence of Prerequisites/Regulatory requirements, for certain products, I would have used YES (BCPA)/(A)/(out of scope).


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C


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Tony-C

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Posted 14 April 2015 - 12:59 PM

Hi Suzie,

 

There is a lot of useful information posted already which will give you a guide. For a lot chilled and frozen products I am sure at some stage the time at an out of specification 'high temperature' is too long and even possibly a CCP (control measures are in place, micro/toxin hazards can increase to an unacceptable level, a subsequent step won't remove the hazard). When I see 'Have freezer temperatures been maintained within critical limits?' to me this implies that freezer temperatures are a CCP.

 

You can have generic HACCP plans by storage category but also you need to consider the types of products, risks of cross-contamination for example of RTE from raw and allergen cross-contamination.

 

Regards,

 

Tony



gagansaini1

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Posted 04 May 2015 - 07:42 PM

  • Anyone with HACCP plan for storage and distribution of frozen or cured fish


Charles.C

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Posted 05 May 2015 - 05:25 AM

 

  • Anyone with HACCP plan for storage and distribution of frozen or cured fish

 

 

See post #8


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C




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