11.3.10 Lunch Room is a refrigerator really needed
Hello,
We have just completed our annual SQF ED 7.2 Level 3 certification audit and received a minor for not having a refrigerator in our lunch room. We have an air conditioned breakroom and provide shelving units for the employees to store their lunch coolers. We also have refrigerated vending water, pop, milk and juices in additional to sandwiches, pizza etc..
We have been SQF Certified Level 3 since 2009 and this is the first time we have ever taken a minor for this in the 9 years/26 audits I have attended. I have had three plants certified this year and only one plant received this non-conformance all three audits were within a month of each other however two plants had the same auditor and the third plant had a different auditor (plant that took the hit).
Any input you can give on this would be appreciated.
Regards,
S
"Equipped with refrigeration and heating facilities enabling them to store or heat food and to prepare non-alcoholic beverages if required, and..."
So, you got an Auditor that knew the code better than the other.
Time to install that refrigerator.
It is required by the code but it is not as easy as buying a refrigerator to comply.
I am dealing with a similar situation so I was wondering... does anyone have a justification for an exemption to this requirement for refrigeration in the lunch room?
It is required by the code but it is not as easy as buying a refrigerator to comply.
I am dealing with a similar situation so I was wondering... does anyone have a justification for an exemption to this requirement for refrigeration in the lunch room?
As in you don't have enough space in the break-room to put it? Or because you do not want to have to prove it gets cleaned? Or do you have rules against what types of food can be brought from home? If so maybe you can use that reasoning for an exemption case? Or am I missing something? (Genuinely curious, no auditor has cared about the fridges we have in a storage room with packaging, never mind the slightly dirty one in the break-room.)
Well, I've never seen an exemption for refrigeration, however I have seen an in lieu of - meaning a company that required all employees to come in with a cold cooler to store their food and they had shelving for 100 coolers. I was the SQF Auditor and it was accepted as refrigeration. Those were the days!
As in you don't have enough space in the break-room to put it? Or because you do not want to have to prove it gets cleaned? Or do you have rules against what types of food can be brought from home? If so maybe you can use that reasoning for an exemption case? Or am I missing something? (Genuinely curious, no auditor has cared about the fridges we have in a storage room with packaging, never mind the slightly dirty one in the break-room.)
Our space throughout the entire facility is tight... particularly in the break area. We could squeeze in a fridge, but not one big enough for for all 150+ employees to store their lunch. This is the company's 8th SQF audit and my first with them. They've never had a fridge due to what I am told is an exemption, although no one can articulate what was the exemption justification. We have a new auditing body and auditor this year so I need to either provide an exemption justification or hope the auditor doesn't notice.
Several years ago at another place, I had a minor for a "dirty" fridge :rolleyes:. Even though I have my opinions on that as a minor non-conformance, fridge cleaning is always on my cleaning schedules now.
I would hope you could establish a policy that prohibits perishable items in lunches kept in the facility and monitor it.
I've been at plants with 150 employees per shift that made due with a single normal residential sized refrigerator. The requirement has no details on how much refrigeration is actually needed, though there's certainly an argument for what's "sufficient".
Like SQFConsultant said, just because your previous auditor's didn't notice in the past does not give you an exemption now, the code has remained the same, you just weren't following it and got lucky.