Migration test on the packaging for bake off bakery products
Hello everyone
I have a very delicate situation regarding the migration test on the packaging we are using on our "bake off" paff pastry cakes.
We are IFS certified and our pakcaking supplier is certified against BRC Packaging.
every 2 years we ask for an updated product specification and analysis.
this year I got a package of what I call "supporting documents" on the packaging and no migration test. In the discussion with the quality manager from the packaging manufacturing company I got the answer that they are not performing any kind of migration test on the packaging - not even "set off" migration and that the reason they don't have a productspecification is that they have way too many products and can not elaborate product specification for all of them ...
is it possible? how can a situation like this be solved so that we on our side have everything in place?
Thanks
So it sounds like they are being lazy about it and not wanting to get specifications for ALL of their products. Have you told them that without this you will be forced to search for an alternative supplier? Sometimes that alone will get them to comply.
Tatiana:
This is an interesting topic. We are suppliers of corrugated paper packaging. Most of our packaging is secondary, although we do supply some intended for direct food contact. I do sympathise with your vendor in that we also supply thousands of different shapes and styles of packaging.
I have chosen to look at the "specification" issue a little differently and have so far met the requirements of our customers.
While we do supply a myriad of different shapes of packaging we have relatively few different substrates. So our specification takes 2 parts. One describes the shape, printing and performance characteristics of the product which require definition in any event in order to manufacture it. The second part defines the substrate used, for example virgin vs. recycled paper. There are relatively few variations of this and the system becomes manageable in this way.
With respect to migration testing, the most difficult part of this was identifying a suitable lab. We did eventually do so and are able to supply our customers with this, again we generally do not test each individual item rather representative items which are processed on the same equipment in the same manner. An example of this would be an 'unprinted' tray made from recycled substrate and another test on a 'printed' tray made from the same substrate.
Upon request we would also perform migration testing on a customer's specific packaging, however we may look for some cost sharing on this due to the thousands of different packages we manufacture.
A little long winded, but I hope it helps
Hi Tatiana,
It may simply be that yr orders are not considered "significant" to their business for some reason, eg volume, invidualistic characteristics.
If their decision was implemented in a unilateral fashion, i would think they would shortly face bankruptcy !
Tatiana:
This is an interesting topic. We are suppliers of corrugated paper packaging. Most of our packaging is secondary, although we do supply some intended for direct food contact. I do sympathise with your vendor in that we also supply thousands of different shapes and styles of packaging.
I have chosen to look at the "specification" issue a little differently and have so far met the requirements of our customers.
While we do supply a myriad of different shapes of packaging we have relatively few different substrates. So our specification takes 2 parts. One describes the shape, printing and performance characteristics of the product which require definition in any event in order to manufacture it. The second part defines the substrate used, for example virgin vs. recycled paper. There are relatively few variations of this and the system becomes manageable in this way.
With respect to migration testing, the most difficult part of this was identifying a suitable lab. We did eventually do so and are able to supply our customers with this, again we generally do not test each individual item rather representative items which are processed on the same equipment in the same manner. An example of this would be an 'unprinted' tray made from recycled substrate and another test on a 'printed' tray made from the same substrate.
Upon request we would also perform migration testing on a customer's specific packaging, however we may look for some cost sharing on this due to the thousands of different packages we manufacture.
A little long winded, but I hope it helps
I do agree with you regarding the multitude of packaging types and the challenge of finding a balance between being time effective and meeting client requirements. I had a similar suggestion to our packaging company, we even took the time to elaborate our oun specification and send it for revision/correction but I got cold shoulders... I might take it to another level... Anyway I would like to say thanks for your answer it helped a lot knowing that others in the packaging industry have work ethics :)
I am currently employed in a packaging company. We Produce Secondary packaging and labels. We are now planning to have an internal audit as it is one of the requirements of the BRC Ver 5. but we are having a trouble selecting who will become our internal auditor. What are the requirements needed to qualify as an internal auditor? thanks!