Hello everybody! This is my first post on the forum as I was drawn in by all the knowledgeable individuals as well as the productive conversations. To be clear, I do not specialize or work in the food industry but have agreed to help a buddy of mine out with developing a solid HACCP plan for his food product. I apologize in advance if the answers to any of my questions are painfully obvious.
The product in question is a pickled napa cabbage product. Kind of like a kimchi but there is no fermentation and development of live bacteria cultures. Very simple washing/cutting and mixing, then moved into cold storage, after which it is taken out after at least 24hrs and then packaged, then stored again before shipping.
I have currently determined the CCPs as:
CCP1a - monitoring the storage cooler's temperature upon storing
CCP2 - *somehow monitoring the food temp while the mixed product is out of the cooler being packaged*
CCP1b - monitoring the storage cooler's temperature upon storing the packaged product
this may not be the full scope of CCPs.. would appreciate help in identifying more
I am having difficulty determining what the best way to control the product during the packaging stage is (CCP2). On one hand, I understand that all food must be stored at 45°f or cooler. However, I can't find any documentation online regarding how much higher (and for how long) the temperature is allowed to exceed 45°f while out of storage. For example, if it takes about 45 minutes to package one batch, how can I prove that this is safe? Can I use IR thermometers? Do I need to ice the food while it is being packaged? There seems to be a lot of possible answers but none are sticking out.
Thank you in advance!