Need help in classifying each production zone as high risk, high care, low risk
Dear all members. I'm quite confused in classifying each production zone as High risk, high care, low risk area according to BRC standard. So if anyone can give me some advise whether my zoning is correct or not, I would be much appreciated. For your information, our product is Commercially sterile chicken soup with vegetable. There are 6 rooms as follow:
1. Raw material receiving room - low risk
2. Cold storage for raw material - low risk
3. Preperation room - for cutting meat, vegetable - low risk
4. Cooking room - chicken meat is cooked at 90C for 2 mins before filling into the pouch in the next room - low risk
5. Filling room - filling vegetable, meat and soup into the pouch - High care
6. Sealing room - High care
7. Retort room - High risk
8. Cartoning room - put the retorted products into the cartons - low risk
Thank you in advance. Hope you all have a nice day
Presumably ambient stable ??
Yes, it's ambient stable
Do you have a spice room?
Sorry what do you mean by spice room. I presume it's the same as cooking room? as we mix everything and boil the soup in the cooking room
Have you been through Appendix 2 of the standard, and the associated decision tree?
If the finished product is stored ambient, presumably the first step on decision tree 1 points you straight to decision tree 2, and you can then categorise each area from there?
Obviously I don't know your process, but to me e.g. the retort and cartoning look like they'd be enclosed product areas, and the filling/sealing would be low-risk areas. Assuming you answer step 3 in decision tree 2 as "no" (since people do apparently eat ambient-stable soup without heating it) and move to step,
the answer to "will vegetative pathogens (e.g. Salmonella) with the potential to cause food poisoning survive and grow during the normal use of the product?" would seem to be no, if you're making an ambient-stable soup.
The decision tree gives the example of canned soup, but as a completely sealed retorted pack your product is presumably pretty much identical for the purposes of this?
Sorry what do you mean by spice room. I presume it's the same as cooking room? as we mix everything and boil the soup in the cooking room
Where you store your spices or are they stored in your dry storage area. For us, we consider our spice room high risk.
Below extract is from BRC, F048 1st issue, (I do not possess >= 2nd issue) which specifies cans/glass containers..
I speculate that the "high" guidance will similarly apply to retorted plastic pouches in view of BRC's Categorization list.
BRC canning.pdf 26.87KB 41 downloads
PS - F048, 1st issue, is dated 2012 which likely predates the appearance of the BRC ambient zoning chart.