3 replies to this topic

[JillLovesTea]

Hi everyone. Tea questions again. I know you can group similar/like products together in the HACCP plan based on their features and intended uses, but I'm wondering what the limits on this are. For example, my company has a catalog of some 500+ different recipes of tea, pulling from a stock of some 1200+ different ingredients. Some products are JUST tea leaves, others are tea leaves and liquid flavor and the most complex I believe includes ~12 different ingredients. 

 

My plan so far is to divide our catalog by the package the recipe ultimately ends up in. So, I'll have one HACCP plan for tea sold in pouches. One for tea in pretty glass jars. Another for tea that is run through our machines and turned into tea bags - and so on. The logic here is that each of these products go through a similar process with a similar end product, the only exception being how the finished blends are packaged. So it looks something like this... 

 

Ingredients in > Storage > Blending/Mixing > Staging (waiting to be packaged) > Packaged (various methods) > Storage > Shipping

 

Does that sound right?

 

--- 

 

Follow up question! Some of our teas have allergens in them, so we have a solid allergen handling program in place and allergens are listed as chemical hazards on all HACCP plans even if the tea doesn't include them. Our biggest offender is coconut shreds in teas (looks beautiful!) But do I need to make one HACCP plan that's for "Tea in Pouches - Non-Allergenic" and another that's for "Tea in Pouches - Allergenic"? Does that even make sense? 

 

I feel like the core goal of HACCP is to identify hazards in specific products and the above feels like "cheating". My gut is that each tea needs it's own HACCP but at 500 recipes x 6 possible pack types, that's a bonkers amount of plans. 

[chrkut]

So a HACCP flows to be PROCESS specific, and not PRODUCT specific. So you could possibly have just 1 HACCP plan if the packaging part of the step is similar. We have ours seperated out into items that receive direct ingredient addition, those that receive a pouched ingredient addition. We have 6 lines here, but 4 flows. We only separate out for seafood vs non-seafood. 

 

You would not need a seperate HACCP plan for your allergens. The allergens would be listed in the ingredient hazard analysis separated out, rather than in the process flow. 

[Xoinks]

I concur with the HACCP plans being based around process and general similarities of finished product (i.e. Dry tea vs a tea drink).  We have at least one instance of two products with overall similar processes (but a few varying steps).   Allergens should not be consideration for a separate HACCP plan. 

 

In one plant I worked in, we made baked or fried chips.  As the chips are fundamentally the same and made on the same line (just with one product being diverted to a toaster and one being diverted to a fryer), we ultimately combined those into one HACCP plan and accounted for it in both the flow diagram and the processing hazard steps.  As no additional/differing hazards were present downstream based on which type of chip we were packaging, it wasn't necessary to address them in separate plans.  I personally prefer this as you need to consider the hazards introduced by other products run on the same line, so keeping like HACCP plans combined can facilitate that a little more easily.  

 

I also keep the same HACCP plan when the product is going into different packages, at least in everything I've encountered so far in my career.  I just account for it in the finished product hazard analysis, the flow diagram, and the processing step hazard analysis. 

 

My personal goal with HACCP plans is to have a few as possible while still having each be reasonably easy to understand.   Each plan needs to be validated annually, so bear that in mind.  If you're operating under one food sector category with substantially similar products, I personally would aim for 5 or less HACCP plans, with a target of 1-4 if feasible.    

[Charles.C]

Hi everyone. Tea questions again. I know you can group similar/like products together in the HACCP plan based on their features and intended uses, but I'm wondering what the limits on this are. For example, my company has a catalog of some 500+ different recipes of tea, pulling from a stock of some 1200+ different ingredients. Some products are JUST tea leaves, others are tea leaves and liquid flavor and the most complex I believe includes ~12 different ingredients. 

 

My plan so far is to divide our catalog by the package the recipe ultimately ends up in. So, I'll have one HACCP plan for tea sold in pouches. One for tea in pretty glass jars. Another for tea that is run through our machines and turned into tea bags - and so on. The logic here is that each of these products go through a similar process with a similar end product, the only exception being how the finished blends are packaged. So it looks something like this... 

 

Ingredients in > Storage > Blending/Mixing > Staging (waiting to be packaged) > Packaged (various methods) > Storage > Shipping

 

Does that sound right?

 

--- 

 

Follow up question! Some of our teas have allergens in them, so we have a solid allergen handling program in place and allergens are listed as chemical hazards on all HACCP plans even if the tea doesn't include them. Our biggest offender is coconut shreds in teas (looks beautiful!) But do I need to make one HACCP plan that's for "Tea in Pouches - Non-Allergenic" and another that's for "Tea in Pouches - Allergenic"? Does that even make sense? 

 

I feel like the core goal of HACCP is to identify hazards in specific products and the above feels like "cheating". My gut is that each tea needs it's own HACCP but at 500 recipes x 6 possible pack types, that's a bonkers amount of plans. 

 

If the haccp plan flowchart is very similar and involves identical stage hazards you can just insert an "X" in the chart and cross-reference "X" to a list of items.on a separately included page. That's what i did for a shrimp haccp plan which covered a multitude of species, all being processed in basically the same way.