10 replies to this topic

[carine]

Hi all, 

 

i'm apologies if i post into wrong place. 

 

We are producing edible ice and raw water (municipal water) is our main ingredients , and is it mandatory or necessary to have raw water physical test such as pH, free chlorine  on daily basis instead weekly basis? 

[mahantesh.micro]

Dear Carine,

As you are saying that you are manufacturing edible ice, it is mandatory to test your water on daily basis for physico-chemical and basic microbiological parameters (generally Total viable count & yeast and mould count). Also you can refer your Local/regional/Country's regulation for other parameters as well.

 

Mahantesh

[SQFconsultant]

I am not aware of a mandatory daily testing for water to produce ice....

 

However, having done over 40 inspections on ice plants not testing on a daily basis can create an interesting issue....

 

Most plants are not storing ice, if anything they might have no more than a 5 day hold back in inventory in the freezer, most ice is produced, bagged, put on pallets and out the door it goes onto a truck for delivery.

 

You need to weigh out what could happen in the event of a recall due to a bad water test that is only done once a week - it would mean having to track down and recall every bag of ice since the last weekly test.

 

Of the 40 plants that I did 3rd party audits on, 30 of them did daily testing, 10 did not and then 2 of them came up with bad tests, at last count almost all now test on a daily basis - you just need to ask yourself is it worth it.

[moskito]

Hi,

 

the answer is very dependent on the country whrer you are producing) and what is "your treatment" to water after your receiving point (municipal-plant).

 

e.g. in Germany potable water (municipal water) is the best examined food. But, once received the water the quality end of (your) line is dependent on your filters, pipings, maintenance etc.. The risk assessment will give you the frequency of testing.

We have close relationship to our water supply companies with agreed early warning procedure. You can perform chemical treatment or might have pressure drops/shocks in the piping resulting in biofilm detachment etc.

We have incoming filters, in-line-filter in the piping and end of line filters for removal of  foreign bodies, but not protection for chemicals. Because we recive only "deep" water from levels below 100 m we don't have real microbial (or protozoan like Gardia) risk.

 

Rgds

moskito

[Setanta]

Given the risk, I don't know why you wouldn't

[carine]

I am not aware of a mandatory daily testing for water to produce ice....

 

However, having done over 40 inspections on ice plants not testing on a daily basis can create an interesting issue....

 

Most plants are not storing ice, if anything they might have no more than a 5 day hold back in inventory in the freezer, most ice is produced, bagged, put on pallets and out the door it goes onto a truck for delivery.

 

You need to weigh out what could happen in the event of a recall due to a bad water test that is only done once a week - it would mean having to track down and recall every bag of ice since the last weekly test.

 

Of the 40 plants that I did 3rd party audits on, 30 of them did daily testing, 10 did not and then 2 of them came up with bad tests, at last count almost all now test on a daily basis - you just need to ask yourself is it worth it.

Thanks for your reply. 

 

I'm more interested to know if there is a violating of the Physical parameter results for example, pH, free chlorine etc, what the likely corrective action need to be done in this situation? 

[carine]

Hi,

 

the answer is very dependent on the country whrer you are producing) and what is "your treatment" to water after your receiving point (municipal-plant).

 

e.g. in Germany potable water (municipal water) is the best examined food. But, once received the water the quality end of (your) line is dependent on your filters, pipings, maintenance etc.. The risk assessment will give you the frequency of testing.

We have close relationship to our water supply companies with agreed early warning procedure. You can perform chemical treatment or might have pressure drops/shocks in the piping resulting in biofilm detachment etc.

We have incoming filters, in-line-filter in the piping and end of line filters for removal of  foreign bodies, but not protection for chemicals. Because we recive only "deep" water from levels below 100 m we don't have real microbial (or protozoan like Gardia) risk.

 

Rgds

moskito

Thanks Moskito for the reply. 

 

I would be appreciate if you could elaborate more about biofilm forming and detachments. Thanks in advance. 

[Tony-C]

Hi Carine,

 

The requirements for ISO 22000 will also be based on ISO/TS 22002-1, here are the relevant parts.

 

INTERNATIONAL ISO STANDARD 22000: 2018 Food safety management systems — Requirements for any organization in the food chain

8.2 Prerequisite Programmes (PRPs)

8.2.1 The organization shall establish, implement, maintain and update PRP(s) to facilitate the prevention and/or reduction of contaminants (including food safety hazards) in the products, product processing and work environment.

8.2.2 The PRP(s) shall be:

a) appropriate to the organization and its context with regard to food safety;

b) appropriate to the size and type of the operation and the nature of the products being manufactured and/or handled;

c) implemented across the entire production system, either as programmes applicable in general or as programmes applicable to a particular product or process;

d) approved by the food safety team.

8.2.3 When selecting and/or establishing PRP(s), the organization shall ensure that applicable statutory, regulatory and mutually agreed customer requirements are identified. The organization should consider:

a) the applicable part of the ISO/TS 22002 series;

b) applicable standards, codes of practice and guidelines.

 

TECHNICAL ISO/TS SPECIFICATION 22002-1 Prerequisite programmes on food safety —

Part 1: Food manufacturing

6.2 Water supply

Water used as a product ingredient, including ice or steam (including culinary steam), or in contact with products or product surfaces, shall meet specified quality and microbiological requirements relevant to the product.

Where water supplies are chlorinated, checks shall ensure that the residual chlorine level at the point of use remains within limits given in relevant specifications.

 

As you are producing edible ice in my opinion if you didn’t test your water daily for simple tests like pH, turbidity and free chlorine that would be negligent and in the event of an issue your ‘due diligence defence’ would have a big hole in it.

 

 WHO Turbidity.pdf   71.32KB   21 downloads

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[Scampi]

The biggest help is if you tell us where you are selling the ice/water.............there are a lot of variables and ice in particular can be very risky

[moskito]

Thanks Moskito for the reply. 

 

I would be appreciate if you could elaborate more about biofilm forming and detachments. Thanks in advance. 

Dear carine,

 

in the case water supply companies perform maintenance at the piping they will disconnect parts of the piping network. In some cases it can happen that large pressure fluctuations are triggered when reconnected. If these pressure drops are heavy detachment of biofilm may happen. If you don't have installed filters and/or turbidity monitors at the transfer point of delivery your pipings and your products might become contaminated.

 

Rgds

moskito

[Charles.C]

Hi all, 

 

i'm apologies if i post into wrong place. 

 

We are producing edible ice and raw water (municipal water) is our main ingredients , and is it mandatory or necessary to have raw water physical test such as pH, free chlorine  on daily basis instead weekly basis? 

 

If there is no Regulated (ie mandatory) requirement, the sampling frequency typically depends on haccp plan / risk assessment, eg  (1) specific health significance, (2) quality etc and history of manufacturing system.

 

The pH / free chlorine level are typically critical parameters regarding, respectively, effectiveness of free chlorine and micro.status of finished product so would likely be monitored as close to continuous as practically/instrumentally possible (and particularly if levels are significantly deviating from target criteria).

 

Corrective actions are typically to re-adjust levels to comply critical limits and segregate related Production for further micro. analysis of acceptability. The details will relate to your specific operational set-up/product specifications.