Changeover Procedure to Prevent Allergen Cross-Contamination
Hello,
I had a question about how to deal with change-over or ensuring safety when dealing with allergens on the same line/machinery.
(Particularly See this post -
http://www.ifsqn.com...ng/#entry103932
Hypothetically, say we use a blender to process a seasoning mix that may contain an allergen. After processing that seasoning mix, we clean and sanitize the blender using industry-approved chemicals and procedures. Then, later we clean and sanitize the same blender before using it to process another seasoning mix that does NOT have any allergens in it.
Is this an adequate change-over safeguard? What if we included a general ATP swab test (for any organic material) of the blender in between processings? Would that satisfy allergen-control requirements?
If not, what are some control measures one can take to ensure adequate allergen safety for change-over on the same machinery? And if this is a CCP, how do you test for critical limits when dealing with blends?
I hope this makes sense...
Thanks in advance for the help and suggestions.
The first thing you should do to prevent cross contamination or cross contact is to make anything that has allergens at the end of production or after the non-allergen products.
after production of allergen-containing products, your sanitation protocol has to be proven that it is sufficient to take care of that allergen. I don't think you need a daily swab forever. you do need to check if your cleaning and sanitizing takes care of the allergen to set the standard and after that it should be checked at designated intervals, like twice a week [depending on how often you produce that allergen containing product] to make sure that you are maintaining your standard.
The following link gives you an overview of the components of an effective allergen plan. You can also find ideas on the GFCO, the gluten free community on how to have an effective allergen plan.
Hi Snethar,
I sugest to perform a hazard analysis, ie BCPA
Maybe no allergenic cross-contamination hazards ?
If otherwise, you are likely to have to investigate allergen-testing kits.