Wood Contamination

Could anyone help me with a preventive measure for wood contamination.  A little info: customer found wood in a combo of meat, in the middle of the combo.  I've conducted an investigation into how this could have happened and am coming up empty handed.  Is retraining of our Foreign Material SOP & responsibilities regarding inspection, monitoring, & discovery sufficient? Thank you in advance.

Do you have an idea of what type of wood it was?

Who is responsible for ensuring that the combos are clean before filling?

In our plant the only wood is in our pallets, no other forms are allowed.

How long has it been since your last wood contamination complaint?  Ever?  How long has the plant been around?  Have you had any changes in equipment?

You can start with retraining.  Also double check any wood structure or equipment you may have (I'm assuming none but assuming isn't ever good) to see if they are deteriorating.

How big was the piece of wood?  Did you get the item sent back to you?

I would first ask if you can get the piece of wood mailed back to you or a picture in order to make a thorough investigation. For example, If it's blue you know its a CHEP pallet, if its ultra thin, it may have been a toothpick someone in the plant was having after lunch, if it's... you get the point but its all "what ifs" right now. You're taking the right approach on reanalysis your wood/pallet/foreign material control program.

How is wood handled in your facility?

Are your pallets inspected upon arrival?

Are they monitored during GMP audits?

Is double stacking allowed?

If so, do you use a slip sheet?

Do you use slip sheets or wrap on pallets that are on the lower bays?

Are skids inspected for wood and cleaned off before transporting it into another location other than the warehouse?

Does wood exist in your processing room?

Are employees trained on who to advise if they do find foreign material?

The only wood that we have in the plant would be from pallets, combos are made as needed, and we do use a slip cover.  There are two pictures that the customer sent us showing the wood pieces. I can't figure out how to upload the pictures that they sent me onto this post but it looks as if the wood piece was placed on top of the meat in one of the pictures.  You can tell from looking at the picture that they had started dumping the combo of meat and you'd think it'd be buried (at least a little) in the meat but it's right on top and kind of far away so you can't see it very well.  The other picture they sent looks to be about 2 inches in length and does appear to be from a pallet.  I'm just stumped as to how this could have made it's way into the middle of a combo of meat.  Visual inspection is done of the meat before it goes into the combo.  It gets dumped from a box onto a metal inspection line where 2 people spread the meat out & inspect it before shoving it into a combo at the opposite end of the line.  ???

Dear B.Nicks,

Is retraining of our Foreign Material SOP & responsibilities regarding inspection, monitoring, & discovery sufficient?

 

I presume you meant rewriting ? or were you referring to your staff ?

Either way, rather difficult to comment/advise without seeing the SOP.

No idea what a "combo" is but never mind.

I suppose the usual suspects are (a) raw material (b) process environment, © sabotage / customer playing games.

(b) is often predictable from knowledge of local handling operations.

(a) might be predictable if there is a history or an obvious transport contamination possibility. Otherwise it becomes a rare event possibility.

© Your guess is as good (or probably better) than ours. Again might depend on the existence of a history/motivation.

Rgds / Charles.C

You can also prohibit wooden pallets in the area your process meat in.