SQF Lot Samples
We are a confectionery company and have lot samples that we save, now my question is do we need to keep these for a certain amount of time or whatever we deem acceptable?
What is the shelf life of them? Experience taught me to keep samples a set time (that we decided) past the best before date. My previous employer worked with product best before 10 days (industry standard) so we set up a system for keeping it for 14 days which seemed to work well, however if your confections have a long shelf life that would probably not work for you.
What is the shelf life of them? Experience taught me to keep samples a set time (that we decided) past the best before date. My previous employer worked with product best before 10 days (industry standard) so we set up a system for keeping it for 14 days which seemed to work well, however if your confections have a long shelf life that would probably not work for you.
Technically we do not legally have to put a shelf life date on our products but most customers if they require one get a 2 year date.
The requirement for holding samples will depend on your geographic location, governing body (FDA CFIA etc) as well as the scheme you are operating under (BRC SQF etc)
The requirement for holding samples will depend on your geographic location, governing body (FDA CFIA etc) as well as the scheme you are operating under (BRC SQF etc)
We are going for SQF level 1 and I do not believe the FDA has a requirement.
Perhaps the best way to determine keeping the samples, is to determine when MOST of a given lot has been or would expected to have been consumed. YOu could do that by looking at customer purchasing information (frequency, amount etc.) and then YOU would adjust your plan to reflect that length of time determination.....in other words, it would be a validation study to PROVE that the risk level is low based on historical sales data
I hope this helps
Glenn Oster
www.GlennOsterConsulting
Awesome thanks everyone!