Does my Animal Food PCQI certification also allow me to be qualified to Human Food?

Good morning, 

The company I work for has several divisions and I transferred from the feed division last year to our industrial and food division.  My PCQI certification is for Animal Food.  Will I need to take another course for Human Food or will this suffice since I can show I am qualified?  

Thank you, 

Jill

Good morning, 

 

The company I work for has several divisions and I transferred from the feed division last year to our industrial and food division.  My PCQI certification is for Animal Food.  Will I need to take another course for Human Food or will this suffice since I can show I am qualified?  

 

Thank you, 

 

Jill

Hi Jill,

My suggestion to you would be to get your certification in Human Food as well. I am a PCQI for both Human Food and Animal Feed. While the whole of both programs are very similar, there are some noted differences between Animal Feed and Human Food programs. After being certified for Animal Feed, this will make your training for Human Food perhaps a bit easier. 

I don't know if there is a specific regulation that says you have to do this, but it would help you in understanding FSMA for Food, and will prevent auditors from questioning your training.

Technically speaking one is not required to take a training course/exam to be a PCQI.

However, with that said I agree with QAGB that it help in understanding FSMA for Food and of course there is always going to be Auditors that may question your animal vs. human food training.

I was questioned on the opposite - a SFSF auditor advised me that FDA would likely question my Human Food certification since I work in animal food.  Although I feel that I could strongly justify my PCQI standing with prior experience, education, and Human Food certification, I chose to forego a potential argument with an inspector or auditor and just obtain my Animal Food certification and be done with it.

Just to chime in, I recently underwent a SFSF (animal feed) audit and when I presented my human food PCQI the auditor gave me a look that said she was about to either mark it as a non-conformance or needs improvement. My backup is an animal food focus trained PCQI, so I presented her cert of attendance and it was dropped.

If you are going to be the sole PCQI in your food facility, I would agree with the posters above that you should probably go ahead and get your human food PCQI training. I plan on getting my animal feed PCQI this year just to cover all my bases.

I appreciate everyone's input.  Our audit is coming up fast, so will probably not get it done before then, so will have to prove my abilities.  And if the auditor says anything, we can go from there.  

Thanks everyone!

I appreciate everyone's input.  Our audit is coming up fast, so will probably not get it done before then, so will have to prove my abilities.  And if the auditor says anything, we can go from there.  

 

Thanks everyone!

We also got by during our audit because we had multiple Animal Food PCQI trained individuals at our facility. If you have anyone else who is PCQI Human Food who could serve as your backup, you may be able to dodge the bullet until you can get your certification.

We also got by during our audit because we had multiple Animal Food PCQI trained individuals at our facility. If you have anyone else who is PCQI Human Food who could serve as your backup, you may be able to dodge the bullet until you can get your certification.

I am the only PCQI certified person in our division.  This is the first SQF audit I've been through and first audit for the division, so I hope this isn't a stupid question:  How harsh could an auditor ding us for not having a PCQI for Human Food?  

I am the only PCQI certified person in our division.  This is the first SQF audit I've been through and first audit for the division, so I hope this isn't a stupid question:  How harsh could an auditor ding us for not having a PCQI for Human Food?  

Depending on the auditor, could be a minor to major.  I would like to think it would be a minor only, considering you have some PCQI training and are new to your role.  Go ahead and schedule your Human Food certification, then demonstrate to the auditor that you are new to this role and have plans in place to obtain your Human Food certification and you may knock out the finding.