3 replies to this topic

[Tomato Country Girl]

I have a question,  we have been certified SQF at Level 3 for about 6 years, one of our plants has been Organic for about 4 years and another one is just picking up Organic in addition now all three of my plants will be going NON-GMO.  

 

The guidance document under 2.8.1 says Organic and Non-GMO should have separate Food Quality Plans, current state we have never had organic in our Food Quality Plan.  Now I have one plant saying it does not need to be in there it never has been and another one feels we should add to our current plant not create a separate plan.  

 

What is everyone's thoughts on this?

 

 

Thanks in Advance.

[katjad]

we have organic and non-gmo as well but don`t have separate quality plans. We are only sqf level 2 however.  They are considered identity-preserved items so treat as you would kosher or halal items.  I would have a document saying what you do in particular to handle, treat, identify these items as well as allocating them for finished product that is also non-gmo assuming of course you handle the same raw materials in various forms, both conventional, organic,non-gmo and with gmo. 

[Nancy@Masser's]

I agree with katjad.  We handle Organic products in our produce packing plant and are Level 3.  Treat Organic as Identity Preserved items and describe how they're handled in that section. 

[CMHeywood]

My opinion is that all the plants should have basically the same quality programs.

 

Your plants probably already have documented procedures on how to maintain organic status without facing nonorganic cross contamination.

 

I would think that a simple statement in the quality manuals would be sufficient:

"No genetically modified organisms (GMP's) are allowed as raw materials or allowed to be present on the production floor."

 

You might need to add references to the written procedures that show how this is controlled.