Is there a Change Management clause in SQF 8.1?
Hello,
I am new to SQF. My previous experience has been around FSSC 22000, I remember in FSSC 22000 standard, we require to have some sort of Change Management process where QA/Food Safety Team must be informed of any changes to product, raw material, and equipment. I believe this was either in internal communication clause or its own clause. I no longer have access to the FSSC code (without having to pay to access) for me to confirm. However, I am perusing through SQF ver 8.1 and I cannot find similar requirement (which i find very strange). Am I missing something or is it just have different wording?
The reason I am asking is I've been fighting with the maintenance team to inform appropriate people (safety, QA, etc) when they put in a new piece of equipment or when they replace something in the equipment that is not a "replacement in kind." I was going to use SQF requirement as my ammo but I guess I cant find that requirement specifically.
Thanks
Hey RV, I believe you are correct that there is no specific requirement for a change management plan SPECIFICALLY but there are quite a few references in the code concerning how to handle changes. The one that came to mind as fitting your purpose is tied in with the FSP (mandatory):
2.4.3.15 The documented and approved food safety plan (s) shall be implemented in full. The effective implementation shall be monitored by the food safety team, and a full review of the documented and implemented plans shall be conducted at least annually, or when changes to the process, equipment, inputs or other changes affecting product safety occur.
There are a few similarly worded codes in there, you might want to do a ctrl F for CHANGE in the document.
Most facilities tie these into a change management policy to cover the code, or at the very least some other means to track that the change was reviewed and if it does have the potential to impact food safety, proper hazard/verification steps were followed.
Tim hit is well!
There is no "one" clause - similar wording is spread throughout the code as Tim noted.
We find that most SQF facilities have their own Change protocal in place in addition to what is in the SQF Code.
Thank you!