5 replies to this topic

[vladislavdanchev]

Hi all,

I am new in the hygiene management role, and my company is a big protein powder manufacturer, trying to go for the BRC in very near future.

Please could you advise on the hygiene requirements in therms of validation records, paperwork, and what else records do I need. I am working on the procedures at the moment, training records for the procedures, also got line clean records, daily and weekly cleaning records. Please I would like to know if I need any more paperwork such as allergen validation when we are addmiting that the product may contain allergens?

Also the higher management in my work place are insisting to replace the wet clean with dry clean, but I am against that due to the high risk of contamination from the dry cleaning, and the terrible ATP results.

Please if you have got any good ideas of cleaning mixing blenders without using detergent and sanitizer, share them.

Thank you in advance guys!

[Charles.C]

Dear vladislavdanchev,

 

Welcome to the forum

 

The simple response to yr query  is that you have to address the requirements of the BRC standard which is quite prescriptive with respect to hygienic aspects. The exact details will relate to yr  product / process / environment / organisation. I presume you have a copy of the standard. Mandatory validations are stated in the text, usually explicitly.

 

Many people determine how well their documentation/procedures, etc matches the requirements  via a Gap Analysis which you are probably familiar with. A self-assessment tool which can be used for this purpose is freely available on the BRC website (if still there) and also exists on this forum.

 

From memory, lists of the minimum necessary documented procedures do exist on this forum (somewhere).

 

Allergen aspects are detailed in sec. 5.2, "validation" is mentioned.

 

Rgds / Charles.C

[vladislavdanchev]

Thank you very much Charles.
I have had the BRC manual but someone took it. Do you guys know any links I could download it from?
No i have never heard about gap analyses, neither the self-assessment tool :-(. As i mentioned I am fairly new to the management side of it, and i am a bit confused.
Anyway i will do a bit more digging.
Please if anyone knows how to dry clean powder mixers let me know. We are trying to move away from water due to causing to much hustle with not being able to dry.
Thanks guys

[Charles.C]

Thank you very much Charles.
I have had the BRC manual but someone took it. Do you guys know any links I could download it from?
No i have never heard about gap analyses, neither the self-assessment tool :-(. As i mentioned I am fairly new to the management side of it, and i am a bit confused.
Anyway i will do a bit more digging.
Please if anyone knows how to dry clean powder mixers let me know. We are trying to move away from water due to causing to much hustle with not being able to dry.
Thanks guys

Dear vladislavdanchev,

 

self-assessment tool available via this post -

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...indpost&p=74914

 

the linked page also explains "gap analysis".

 

you will see that the tool contains the audited, tabulated standard (full text  is copyright AFAIK)

 

Rgds / Charles.C.

[vladislavdanchev]

Wow, that website helped me a lot!

Thank you very much Charles.

PLease if anyone else could answer the other questions, about ways of dry cleaning, every opinion will be highly valued!

And also I was told that when you are using change parts cleaning machine ( basicly a massive dishwasher, where you place parts of the lines you are cleaning ) you do not need ATP swab validation. Is that correct? I was told that you need swabbinng validation only if you are manual cleaning?

Thank once again

[Charles.C]

Dear vladislavdanchev,

 

An ATP measurement on the item's surface is one method for assessing the effectiveness of a cleaning procedure. The origin of the cleaning procedure IMO is unrelated (assuming no interference from residues).

 

Dry cleaning no experience myself but other people here surely do. The necessity usually depends on the business.

 

Rgds / Charles.C