15 replies to this topic

[haccpbfs]

Hello,

 

Our company, which is processing  RTE meat products, such as salamis, sausages, bacons and etc. is preparing for the SQF Level 3 Audit. I would like to ask whether you can share some information or provide any references regarding the quality parameters of the rte meat products and how to identify Critical Quality Points? 

 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

[melvin003]

Hello,

 

                  I could find this,hope this would be of great help

 

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...t&f=116&t=28855

 

 

 

 

Regards

Melvin

[melvin003]

PFA

Attached Files

•  SQF-Code-Edition-7.2-checklist-final.xls   1001.5KB   209 downloads

[haccpbfs]

Hello Melvin,

 

Thank you for the information and efforts to help. Unfortunately for some reasons I am not able to open the provided link .  http://www.ifsqn.com...t&f=116&t=28855

 

 

 

[Charles.C]

Hello,

 

Our company, which is processing  RTE meat products, such as salamis, sausages, bacons and etc. is preparing for the SQF Level 3 Audit. I would like to ask whether you can share some information or provide any references regarding the quality parameters of the rte meat products and how to identify Critical Quality Points? 

 

Thank you in advance.

 

The previous link is circular. The excel attachment is interesting but seems unrelated to the OP ?. PFA means ?.

 

Anyway, can try this thread and particularly Post 4/the attachment in first sub-link in Post 4 -

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...mple-documents/

 

The quality parameters referred should be the same, non-safety, ones that you are (hopefully) currently monitoring. Some generic suggestions are in the SQF website guidance document which I assume you are familiar with.

 

One methodology for the Quality Plan/CQPs is illustrated in attachment referred above.

[haccpbfs]

Hello Charles,

 

Thank you for your insight and useful information!

 

[Ryan M.]

Think of this as anything that can affect the quality of the finished product.  You need to conduct a quality hazard analysis similar to a HACCP hazard analysis, but with quality.  This will tell you all the potential quality hazards.  From this, and probably your internal corrections for quality and customer complaint trends you can determine what a critical quality point could be for the product/process.

 

I think for RTE Meat your quality starts with raw materials so perhaps a critical quality point would be something like X% marbling in the meat.  Just throwing that out there since I don't have much experience in meats.

[haccpbfs]

Ryan M. Thank you for your insight and great example!

 

I guess that in the provided example the  X% would be the critical limit for that critical quality point.

 

I am wondering whether there is any guidance or book, which will provide the example of the quality hazard analysis related to the production of the RTE Meat Products. Couldn't find it yet.

 

 

[Mulan1010]

Someone shared this example of a Quality Plan Risk Analysis with me when we were setting ours Quality Plan up for SQF Level 3 and I have seen something very similar on this forum.  It might give you something to start with.  I also included the Risk Analysis Matrix that was used in the Analysis.  -   I suggest you start with the flow chart for your HACCP Plan and look it over to ensure it fits for quality as well, if not tweak as needed, and then you put all your process steps into the analysis and you and your team can answer the columns according to each step. 

 

Our quality plan is almost a duplicate of our HACCP Plan only the risk analysis and CQP's are related to quality issues.  When considering your CQP's, it helped us to review customer complaints to see if there were any significant or consistent quality complaints.

 

Good Luck!.

Attached Files

•  Example Quality Plan Risk Analysis.docx   20.45KB   344 downloads
•  Risk Analysis Matrix Method for Quality.xls   16KB   327 downloads

[Charles.C]

Hi Mulan,

 

Thanks for above. I deduce no "processing" was involved in the example (or maybe just an extract).

 

It's interesting that the matrix/settings are identical to that linked via Post 5 for a different process. Seems to be a SQF favorite.

[haccpbfs]

Hi Mulan,

 

Thank you for the provided examples. In the Risk Analysis Report Worksheet there are only the QPs. I understand that it's not the full list of analysis but I am wondering whether  it is possible to have a food quality plan without CQPs? 

 

  

[Ryan M.]

Hi Mulan,

 

Thank you for the provided examples. In the Risk Analysis Report Worksheet there are only the QPs. I understand that it's not the full list of analysis but I am wondering whether  it is possible to have a food quality plan without CQPs? 

 

Well...it would be hard to argue no CQP's, but consider the following:

 

• Customer complaint trends
• Internal quality failure trends (out of spec raw materials, work in process, finished product)

If you have no trends at all in either area then it may be possible to not have any CQP's.  However, this will always be a living plan as your CQP's will change according to the trends of the two areas noted above.

[haccpbfs]

Hi Ryan M.,

 

For example in our situation one of the quality threats could be color of the sausages. In this case the CQP would be smoking, where the time limit and frequency is controlled and decided by the operator, in order to receive the desired color. So I am wondering what will be the critical limit in this case? Can we set the critical limit related to color such as from light brown to golden brown or the critical limit should be considered smoking time, such as from 5 to 7 minutes?

 

 

[Charles.C]

Hi Mulan,

 

Thank you for the provided examples. In the Risk Analysis Report Worksheet there are only the QPs. I understand that it's not the full list of analysis but I am wondering whether  it is possible to have a food quality plan without CQPs? 

 

Hi haccpbfs,

 

Based on experiences in a previous thread, the operational/audited answer to yr query is apparently YES.

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...n-have-no-cqps/

 

Nonetheless i agree with Ryan's comment, zero would seem unlikely for most products unless, perhaps, a Company is either/both of (a) highly confident of non-occurrences of significant quality threats, (b) possessing a high appetite for Risk.

 

SQF's own "Guide" implies that typically zero CQPs is not anticipated, eg -

 

 SQF - How Many CQPs .pdf   81.15KB   280 downloads

 

Regarding yr CL query - I have extracted a few, IMO, key quotes from my previous referenced file to answer yr query. As you can see, the choice will depend on how you actually operate and yr associated risk assessment -

 

Potential threats are determined in relation to the scope of the system and the established likely use prepared in the development of the Product Description and Intended Use. The key point is to identify that might be, “reasonably expected to occur.”

 

At this stage, the threats at each step are reviewed, and those that are “critical” identified.  In deciding whether a step in a process is critical or not, it is useful to consider whether it is likely that a food quality threat will occur if control is lost at that particular point.

 

Critical Limits are the Boundaries of Control. They establish the difference between good quality and poor quality and specify a range of acceptable tolerances in which results can fluctuate without quality being compromised. The FQP development team will determine the critical limits for each preventative measure. The aim of any quality assurance system is, amongst other things, to detect problems as soon as they occur, the critical limits chosen must be measured easily and quickly.

 

Examples of critical limits are:

• Measurements of temperature, time, weight, size, pressure, color and shape.
• Measurements of salt concentration, fat, protein, fiber, and sugar content

 

Offhand, i would have thought it operationally much easier to control a time than a colour ?

[Ryan M.]

Hi Ryan M.,

 

For example in our situation one of the quality threats could be color of the sausages. In this case the CQP would be smoking, where the time limit and frequency is controlled and decided by the operator, in order to receive the desired color. So I am wondering what will be the critical limit in this case? Can we set the critical limit related to color such as from light brown to golden brown or the critical limit should be considered smoking time, such as from 5 to 7 minutes?

 

Ah...we have an "organoleptic" CQP of our own which is flavor of the milk.  Color is easier to differentiate and determine and I recommend using a key to reference and a lot of training to ensure the operators have the expertise to differentiate acceptable versus not acceptable.  Once this is done you merely treat it like a critical control point for a HACCP plan.  As Charles said though color is more difficult to "control" than time.  The frequency of the CQP check would be dependent on the variability in your process.  To validate your frequency you would need to do time/color checks very often and note variability.  If you see variability every 4 hours, but not every hour then your frequency of monitoring would be sometime between 1 hour and 4 hours.

[Mulan1010]

Hello 

 

Charles C. -  in response - Yes, the matrix/settings is a favorite of SQF. :)  The attachment was just an example of what was shared with me.  I figured that haccpbfs might like an example of a possible format to use.  I think content is made up as their real information was probably confidential.

 

haccpbfs - I agree that it is fully expected for you to have at least one CQP but it might be possible to have none as long as your support is solid.   We had only one CQP for a few years.  It was tied to proper labeling of the finished product since it most likely would result in a recall if the wrong label was on the product and it could occur.  The SQF Auditors we had were not crazy about it because it was also a regulatory requirement for us but we never received a non-compliance for it.  We did input a 2nd CQP eventually because we started making a new product that the temperature of the blend was critical to prevent quality issues down the line that would cause us to not be able to sell the product.  Therefore, we made the temp at blending a CQP for that specific product.  Unfortunately there is not a definite answer to what should be a CQP as far as I know so you just have to look at your process and determine if there is a key step in the process that could cause major issues should that step not be done properly. 

 

Take Care!