Handling damaged bags containing dried ingredients
We experience an issue with ingredient bags getting damaged in storage as they are moved around between production and warehouse. These are bags with dry ingredients - starch, talc.
When bag is found damaged, QC representative will place it on hold and evaluate damage.
Further production will be advised to discard:
- the whole bag if badly damaged ,
- or if small damage discard partially the material in the area of damage and the rest of material transfer in a bin. Inspect for foreign material when transferring.
Is this the right approach, please comment.
Thank you
We have struggled with this often in my facility as well and warehouse employee's first reaction is the same as yours. They will notify QC and product will be placed on hold for evaluation. However if ingredient is exposed at all we automatically discard entire bag fore fear of pest contamination. Additionally, even if there is no damage the outer lining of the bag is removed and discarded by a designated employee to try and minimize contact of good product with outside "dirty" bag.
Either option is fine.
Just ensure that if you throw away the material, you log it for traceability proposes.
Marshall
If there is the option to do so, if you decide to go the way of discarding the lot, your company could always look into selling the damaged bag(s) for stock-feed as a way to recoup some loses. When we have damage we don't try to salvage for human consumption, we have the whole bag placed in a large (food grade) plastic bag and sealed. After we have a certain amount we then sell for stock-feed use. It's both a money saver and minimises waste for a product that is technically fine.
If there is the option to do so, if you decide to go the way of discarding the lot, your company could always look into selling the damaged bag(s) for stock-feed as a way to recoup some loses. When we have damage we don't try to salvage for human consumption, we have the whole bag placed in a large (food grade) plastic bag and sealed. After we have a certain amount we then sell for stock-feed use. It's both a money saver and minimises waste for a product that is technically fine.
This is exactly our process, with a few exceptions.
A significant portion of our business is as a distributor. We have clients who will only take 100% intact bags/boxes. We have clients who will take "distressed" product at a reduced rate (generally cost). These are products that have damage to the OUTER container (ripped box lid, torn back outer layer of multi-layer bag, but no exposure of the product) with no penetration into the finished product final barrier container.
For items that have damage that exposes the product inside the container, we bag and seal them in food grade clear bags and accumulate them until there is enough to have a feed rendering company come by and pick them up. In our area, there is no "sale" of items to stock feed people, but they will remove it for free and provide you with documentation that the items were destroyed/permanently removed from the human food chain (certificate of destruction).
The important part is tracking the inventory for traceability purposes. You still need to be able to identify where all the containers of Lot X went in a recall situation.
We also have to deal with this issue for our dry ingredients which are spices and condiments. The suggestions here are in keeping with what we normally do, however, we also follow up by sending a sample of the affected material (dry ingredient) for microbiological checks to verify the absence of harmful microorganisms. These results also help with confirming safe food, if the remaining material is being reused.