Legal limits on specifications of mixed products
Hello all,
Untill recently we could only produce and pack single products. Now we can also mix product but now wo do not know what we need to put on the specification regarding the legal limit if they are diffirent for the single products.
Let me give an example:
A 50/50 mix of poppyseed and wheat.
For poppyseed there is no legal limit regarding cadmium eventhough the amounts found are relatively high around the 1.0 mg/kg
for wheat the legal limit of cadmium is 0.2 mg/kg
The problem is, we can not put the legal limit on the specification because the chance is real high that there will be more cadmium in the mix
Hi,
Regarding the limits of both products I would state that if the wheat is below the legal limit this material is fit for use - It may be that you can speak to supplier/ change supplier if there is a possible way to lower the level in the poppy seeds.
There are a few ways to look at this:
1. test the material 50/50 so you have a rough level of the material - or calculate from UKAS accredited lab results - this will give you a figure - as if there are no legislated levels for poppy seeds as such this should help in your favour.
2. Speak to supplier and ask for there specification limit of what is a rejection for them - then calculate/ test material and agree a standard.
3. State that material (mix) complies to EU regulation Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 of 19 December 2006 setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs (Text with EEA relevance) - on your specification so you are not giving the material an actual level of each product.
Hope this helps.
Chris
Hello all,
Untill recently we could only produce and pack single products. Now we can also mix product but now wo do not know what we need to put on the specification regarding the legal limit if they are diffirent for the single products.
Let me give an example:
A 50/50 mix of poppyseed and wheat.
For poppyseed there is no legal limit regarding cadmium eventhough the amounts found are relatively high around the 1.0 mg/kg
for wheat the legal limit of cadmium is 0.2 mg/kg
The problem is, we can not put the legal limit on the specification because the chance is real high that there will be more cadmium in the mix
Hi Dongilles,
As I understand from yr OP, you are uncertain as to which category of food yr mixed product is to be classified in for legal purposes and the associated official methods for sampling and analysis.
Assuming that product will be regarded in same category as wheat, then if the Cd distribution in yr wheat is uniform and yr mixing is efficient, yr example indicates a high likelihood of rejection if an arithmetic mean based on several random samples is used.
IMO some official info. is needed for both the above paragraphs plus some appropriate data on yr product if further predictions of non-rejection are required.