Controls for drinking water bottles in the plant (per SQF code)
does anyone have experience with allowing drinking water in the processing area/plant.
I cant seem to get a straight answer on this one.(per SQF code)
what is the acceptable criteria for the container?
can the employees have drinks other than water in the container?
should there be a risk assessment with that?
looking of a little help & guidance.
thanks.
With anything you should always risk assess. However, I don't think the problem lies in the SQF code as much as the FDA regulations on having water bottles in production areas. I may be wrong with that but I know the FDA inspector is never too happy to see water bottles in a production area.
I allow bottles in the facility under the following conditions:
1. The bottles contain only water or black coffee (we make coffee in our facility so it felt silly to ban it).
2. The bottles have spill-proof lids (can tip over without spilling, screw tops or other).
3. Bottles are not stored in/above product contact areas.
4. Employees wash hands as necessary to prevent cross-contamination.
5. Bottles are kept in a sanitary condition.
6. Spills from bottles are treated as a food safety hazard and QA is involved in the response.
We have a 90 degree plant in the summer, water availability is a safety concern and if the bottles can be stored safely it's reasonable. This would be much harder for a different product line than mine however and it will be situation specific.
Look for BPA free plastic bottles that have pressure tops on them, meaning the employee does not have to touch a pull up sippy or unscrew the top thus canceling out the possibility of saliva to hand/finger contact.
The pressure bottles have a simply little valve in them that allows water to come out of the top hole when squeezed in the middle of the bottle and held up to drink, I have never seen an Auditor (including myself when I was an SQF Auditor) question this method of water dispensing.
Also, I have seen a growing number of water coolers (in place of water bottles) where the company has had the sense to install cone cups as compared to flat bottom cups so the employees had to drink in place and toss the cup.
At our food company we are installing water coolers with the cone cups and will allow water bottles/soda cans, etc in the lunchroom only.
does anyone have experience with allowing drinking water in the processing area/plant.
I cant seem to get a straight answer on this one.(per SQF code)
what is the acceptable criteria for the container?
can the employees have drinks other than water in the container?
should there be a risk assessment with that?
looking of a little help & guidance.
thanks.
Hi Pennsfield,
A few more recent SQF thoughts here -
We allow water and Gatorade in the plant, there are designated stations that are monitored throughout, all in low risk areas and near hand washing stations. We also use the cone cups as mentioned and they are single use. Risk assessment has been conducted and we were also questioned on this practice during our last SQF Audit. No issues were found as we had assessed the risk and no hygienic issues were found.
Look for BPA free plastic bottles that have pressure tops on them, meaning the employee does not have to touch a pull up sippy or unscrew the top thus canceling out the possibility of saliva to hand/finger contact.
The pressure bottles have a simply little valve in them that allows water to come out of the top hole when squeezed in the middle of the bottle and held up to drink, I have never seen an Auditor (including myself when I was an SQF Auditor) question this method of water dispensing.
Also, I have seen a growing number of water coolers (in place of water bottles) where the company has had the sense to install cone cups as compared to flat bottom cups so the employees had to drink in place and toss the cup.
At our food company we are installing water coolers with the cone cups and will allow water bottles/soda cans, etc in the lunchroom only.
Glenn, that's a genious use of the cone cups I had never considered before! Thanks!
does anyone have experience with allowing drinking water in the processing area/plant.
I cant seem to get a straight answer on this one.(per SQF code)
what is the acceptable criteria for the container?
can the employees have drinks other than water in the container?
should there be a risk assessment with that?
looking of a little help & guidance.
thanks.
In addition my Post 5 can also see this thread -