Risk of hanging Super-Sacs above a ground hopper to feed machine?
Hello All,
I work for a coffee roasting and packaging facility, and we are SQF Level 2 Certified. When packing coffee, we hang a super sack above a ground hopper to feed the machine, and our HACCP Consultant mentioned we should find a way to cover the exposed product from settling dust during production. We will have the sack hang for about 2 or 3 hours before it empties. This is NOT something that we think poses a risk to our food, as our product is filter brewed before consumption, on top of us having NO Allergens present in the entire facility. What do you guys think? I have watched as many videos as possible of the inside of other (billion dollar) factories, all of whom have exposed product being fed into the filling machines, why was my consultant worried about our single machine in such a low risk environment?.
I dont think it really matters either way.
So you don't have vac machines like some coffee roasters do to catch the "dust?"
I dont think it really matters either way.
Thanks for the response! Not on our main production line, but we do in our freeze-dried room. Will bring that up with management, maybe get one next to the roaster and the bean pit?
...This is NOT something that we think poses a risk to our food, as our product is filter brewed before consumption...
FYI, some strange people like me use roasted coffee as an ingredient or even a desert topping.
FYI, some strange people like me use roasted coffee as an ingredient or even a desert topping.
This is a good point. From my PCQI training, FDA is considering any recipe on the internet to be "reasonably forseeable potential use". Which means that if there's a reasonably forseeable intended use and you don't include a warning on your packaging to cook or otherwise treat the food, you need to make it to an RTE standard.
Again though, I agree with you that the risk here is negligible to none on the risk assessment matrix. You could add further security to this area via the vacuum you described, airflow control in the area to "prevent" dust (haha), or otherwise demonstrate that the product already has native dust, and that because you have an environmental program etc. your dust is unlikely to pose a safety or quality risk.
This is a good point. From my PCQI training, FDA is considering any recipe on the internet to be "reasonably forseeable potential use". Which means that if there's a reasonably forseeable intended use and you don't include a warning on your packaging to cook or otherwise treat the food, you need to make it to an RTE standard.
Again though, I agree with you that the risk here is negligible to none on the risk assessment matrix. You could add further security to this area via the vacuum you described, airflow control in the area to "prevent" dust (haha), or otherwise demonstrate that the product already has native dust, and that because you have an environmental program etc. your dust is unlikely to pose a safety or quality risk.
Thanks F3! I agree, and the day after my SQF audit my boss will allow me to start on FSMA, so reasonably foreseeable uses will be added soon!