Hazard identification (8.5.2.2.1) in a Food Storage and Distribution Company
We are a food distributor and we have about 1500 different products from all categories including temperature controlled product (frozen and refrigerated). All products we work with arrive to us prepacked and we do not do any processing other than storage and distribution.
We are currently updating our system to ISO22000:20018 and we have an issue with the Hazard identification. Until now because we have so many different products we usually did not identified the agent for each hazard having microbiological development as the hazard for instance instead of specifying which organism in particular. This has allowed us to have a single and simple Hazards List.
Considering the definition of food safety hazard in ISO22000:2018: "biological, chemical or physical agent in food (3.18) with the potential to cause an adverse health effect" I tend to consider that we need to detail all agent in the Hazard identification which ultimately will led to a long list or many Hazards List per product category, considering the different products we have.
It seems allot of work specially when they all be considered in the hazard assessment to be in an acceptable level considering the type of product, type of process and process environment.
Can you please confirm how you have addressed this issue if you are in a similar position?
Many Thanks for your help.
We are a food distributor and we have about 1500 different products from all categories including temperature controlled product (frozen and refrigerated). All products we work with arrive to us prepacked and we do not do any processing other than storage and distribution.
We are currently updating our system to ISO22000:20018 and we have an issue with the Hazard identification. Until now because we have so many different products we usually did not identified the agent for each hazard having microbiological development as the hazard for instance instead of specifying which organism in particular. This has allowed us to have a single and simple Hazards List.
Considering the definition of food safety hazard in ISO22000:2018: "biological, chemical or physical agent in food (3.18) with the potential to cause an adverse health effect" I tend to consider that we need to detail all agent in the Hazard identification which ultimately will led to a long list or many Hazards List per product category, considering the different products we have.
It seems allot of work specially when they all be considered in the hazard assessment to be in an acceptable level considering the type of product, type of process and process environment.
Can you please confirm how you have addressed this issue if you are in a similar position?
Many Thanks for your help.
Hi chap,
Strictly speaking, the specific micro. hazard should always be identified, regardless of the Standard. The reason is that the appropriate preventive actions/acceptable levels may vary with the species
And yes, it can be a lot of work..
Hi chap,
Strictly speaking, the specific micro. hazard should always be identified, regardless of the Standard. The reason is that the appropriate preventive actions/acceptable levels may vary with the species
And yes, it can be a lot of work..
Hello Charles,
Many thanks for your feedback.
Can I try to narrow it down considering only the ones that are reasonably expected to occur in relation to the type of product, type of process and process environment (8.5.2.2.1)?
We tend to list all the hazards that are common for each product not taking into account that usually those hazards only aply to the production and not to the storadge of a prepacked product.
Would this be a way to go about it?
Many thanks for your help.
Hello Charles,
Many thanks for your feedback.
Can I try to narrow it down considering only the ones that are reasonably expected to occur in relation to the type of product, type of process and process environment (8.5.2.2.1)?
We tend to list all the hazards that are common for each product not taking into account that usually those hazards only aply to the production and not to the storadge of a prepacked product.
Would this be a way to go about it?
Many thanks for your help.
Hi chap,
As I understand this is frozen/refrigerated S&D, ie product is always fully packaged/enclosed.
Accordingly some generalisation is IMO possible.
Can see some analogous steps in this model hazard analysis for fssc22000 -
Hi chap,
As I understand this is frozen/refrigerated S&D, ie product is always fully packaged/enclosed.
Accordingly some generalisation is IMO possible.
Can see some analogous steps in this model hazard analysis for fssc22000 -
Hello Charles,
We have some frozen (20sku's) and refrigerated (50sku's) but the majority are not (1400sku's). Regardless of the storing temperature all products are fully packaged/enclosed.
Many thanks
Chap,
Very similar situation here. I have broken my hazard analysis out and did a product hazard analysis for groups of ingredients and a process hazard analysis for the actual process of receiving, storing, and shipping. It might be an option for you if you can categorize similar ingredients.
Hello sqflady,
We’re going for a similar approach but still there are allot of hazards that are very specific to an ingredient or product. Going for groups or categories of products you cannot be too specific, otherwise it won’t be manageable. On the other hand doing so you end up omitting some hazards.