13 replies to this topic

[Christopher Martinez]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm a new SQF Practitioner so I'm still trying to learn about how everything works so advice would be greatly appreciated because i feel lost at times on how things work so any tips or any information would be greatly appreciated

 

My Main Question: Has anyone been audited for Edition 9 yet? I'm curious how they rated your food safety culture. My facility just manufactures plastic bottles but doesn't fill the containers, our customers just fill them after we have produced it for them. 

 

So since we don't handle the food I find it a little challenging to implement a good food safety culture when we don't even have any food products in here, there just containers. I understand why we are held to SQF standards because the containers we manufacture are used for food but they are also used on non food product's such as oil.

 

Just for a bit of background on what elements we are following my facility only has to follow modules 2 and 13

 

Thanks for your assistance everyone!

[clrmwebb4350]

Hi. We manufacture non food and food grade valves and plastic covers. We had our SQF audit in December over SQF 9. We did well on the audit.  Since our valves are direct contact we always emphasize that we should consider our product like an ingredient. Everything we do relating to SQF is from a food standpoint. All lines, presses etc are treated like we manufacture food or food packaging products. 

 

For our Food Safety Culture (FSC) program we have lots of food safety posters, cartoons, etc. We also have video screens that remind the employees about food safety. We also use these monitors to communicate everything from quality issues to HR communication. In addition, we have a FSC topic of the month. The supervisors communicate the info to the employees. Posters, cartoons etc for that topic are put up to keep things fresh. 

 

StateFoodSafety is a great resource to get cartoons, posters, etc. 

 

One last thing, we did a food safety contest to come up with a theme for our program. We used the these to use on promotional sweatshirts that we gave to the employees as part of the program. 

 

Good Luck!

[Christopher Martinez]

Hi. We manufacture non food and food grade valves and plastic covers. We had our SQF audit in December over SQF 9. We did well on the audit.  Since our valves are direct contact we always emphasize that we should consider our product like an ingredient. Everything we do relating to SQF is from a food standpoint. All lines, presses etc are treated like we manufacture food or food packaging products. 

 

For our Food Safety Culture (FSC) program we have lots of food safety posters, cartoons, etc. We also have video screens that remind the employees about food safety. We also use these monitors to communicate everything from quality issues to HR communication. In addition, we have a FSC topic of the month. The supervisors communicate the info to the employees. Posters, cartoons etc for that topic are put up to keep things fresh. 

 

StateFoodSafety is a great resource to get cartoons, posters, etc. 

 

One last thing, we did a food safety contest to come up with a theme for our program. We used the these to use on promotional sweatshirts that we gave to the employees as part of the program. 

 

Good Luck!

 

Thanks for the great information, but my senior management team doesn't think its a good idea to treat it as a ingredient because a lot of the practices that are applied for food manufacturing doesn't really apply to packaging manufacturing since we have no food in here. any advice on the situation? 

[Richaney Impraseuth]

Not sure if this will help since i work with food but in our management commitment policy statement we outline our measurable objectives, communicate the results in monthly meetings, and have the posters and employee incentives (a party) when they reach the GMP Audit target and we also consider Food safety violations when nominating employee of the month. 

During our GMP Audit we nominate a production employee that does not have a leadership role to join our audit, this way it empowers and e4nocurages them to report and identify actual and potential food safety risk and also further educates them.

 

Measurable Objectives

Safety- through monthly internal GMP Audits target of 92+ (we trend our monthly results, This will show if there's any improvements)

Education- employee food safety training with a competency test target of 90+ (we have a grading matrix for this using excel)

Customer complaints- target of less than 5 per month with no reoccurrences, we also trend this. 

Compliance- We trend our corrective actions, we have a target of no reoccurrences

[Scampi]

I love the idea of pulling folks off the floor to participate----similar to the joint health and safety team

[clrmwebb4350]

Thanks for the great information, but my senior management team doesn't think its a good idea to treat it as a ingredient because a lot of the practices that are applied for food manufacturing doesn't really apply to packaging manufacturing since we have no food in here. any advice on the situation? 

 

You definitely have to have management buy in.  We are a food packaging company but our suppliers in the food industry (dairies and other large food manufacturers) definitely view us in the same category as other actual food  suppliers. 

 

What score did you receive on your last SQF audit? if it was a good score, maybe the FSC is already established. I believe the term is something that has always been done in SQF but it now quantified.  

[Christopher Martinez]

You definitely have to have management buy in.  We are a food packaging company but our suppliers in the food industry (dairies and other large food manufacturers) definitely view us in the same category as other actual food  suppliers. 

 

What score did you receive on your last SQF audit? if it was a good score, maybe the FSC is already established. I believe the term is something that has always been done in SQF but it now quantified.  

 

So one of the biggest challenges I face at my facility also is for the past 3 years we have gotten perfect scores (100%) and the previous years before that were 98 & 96. with prefect scores like that I'm also finding it hard to find room for continuous growth. I came in as a brand new SQF practitioner while they were in the middle of switching over from SQF edition 8.1 to edition 9. I know the food safety culture element (2.1.1.1 & 2.1.1.2) is brand new in edition 9 but before they made that mandatory we already had a great safety culture we just didn't call it food safety culture , with that being said I feel the pressure to maintain our perfect score. another challenge I have found with the management is they kind of have the mindset if it isn't broke don't fix it but don't get complacent either, with perfect audit scores what's your advice on how I can handle this situation? I feel like I'm stuck going in circles instead of moving forward. 

[clrmwebb4350]

So one of the biggest challenges I face at my facility also is for the past 3 years we have gotten perfect scores (100%) and the previous years before that were 98 & 96. with prefect scores like that I'm also finding it hard to find room for continuous growth. I came in as a brand new SQF practitioner while they were in the middle of switching over from SQF edition 8.1 to edition 9. I know the food safety culture element (2.1.1.1 & 2.1.1.2) is brand new in edition 9 but before they made that mandatory we already had a great safety culture we just didn't call it food safety culture , with that being said I feel the pressure to maintain our perfect score. another challenge I have found with the management is they kind of have the mindset if it isn't broke don't fix it but don't get complacent either, with perfect audit scores what's your advice on how I can handle this situation? I feel like I'm stuck going in circles instead of moving forward. 

 

We also have high scores (98 the last two years). We have been at an excellent category for quite a while.  The auditor did not seem to focus on FSC very much.  It is possible that we went above and beyond on the FSC program and it was not needed. My advice is see how the audit goes. You should be able to prove you already have a level of FSC imbedded in your organization by audit scores, # of customer complaints, etc. 

 

Before taking on my role at this company, I worked in actual food manufacturing so my experiences might be a bit different than yours. I think that is why I choose to be very conservative on our program.  Good luck to you :-)

[Christopher Martinez]

We also have high scores (98 the last two years). We have been at an excellent category for quite a while.  The auditor did not seem to focus on FSC very much.  It is possible that we went above and beyond on the FSC program and it was not needed. My advice is see how the audit goes. You should be able to prove you already have a level of FSC imbedded in your organization by audit scores, # of customer complaints, etc. 

 

Before taking on my role at this company, I worked in actual food manufacturing so my experiences might be a bit different than yours. I think that is why I choose to be very conservative on our program.  Good luck to you :-)

Thank you so much for the advice! I had a feeling that was all i can do. As a brand new person part of the team i just want to make sure im doing a great job and go above and beyond for them! i will update you guys on how we did on our audit! Fingers crossed!  

[Richaney Impraseuth]

Just by your initiatives and going above & beyond, you will do great and we are all here behind you when you need help.  YOU GOT THIS!

[kingstudruler1]

I have found the both SQF and BRC are just looking for a documented program and making sure you are following it.  they will not - or should not attempt to "rate" your food safety culture.   That is what you should be doing in your program through surveys and such.   

 

Anytime anyone asks about fsq culture, I attach the GFSI white paper on the subject.   It is a great resource.   it is below

 

https://mygfsi.com/w...ulture-Full.pdf

[Christopher Martinez]

My facility got a 99 on our audit! Thanks so much for everyone's help! the only thing we missed is our maintenance crew was not documenting every time equipment maintenance was performed. The solution I came up with is that I made electronic forms that hey can fill out from any computer/ portable devices, this way its efficient and reliable and quick. 

 

 

 

Once again thanks everyone!

[Hoosiersmoker]

We are a food packaging manufacturer also (paperboard packaging) and were audited last November to Ed 9. Our Food Safety Culture consists of: notation of FSC in our FS Policy and Objectives, Management Review and food safety throughout all training basically from the first day forward. The specific requirements are here (Manufacture of Food Packaging, Edition 9 - Module 13):

 

"2.1.1.2 Senior site management shall lead and support a food safety culture within the site that ensures at a minimum:

i. The establishment, documentation, and communication to all relevant staff of food safety objectives and performance measures;

ii. Adequate resources are available to meet food safety objectives;

iii. Food safety practices and all applicable requirements of the SQF System are adopted and maintained;

iv. Staff are informed and held accountable for their food safety and regulatory responsibilities;

v. Staff are positively encouraged and required to notify management of actual or potential food safety issues; and

vi. Staff are empowered to act to resolve food safety issues within their scope of work."

 

It states performance measures not measurable performance. In my IAs I refer to all training and use the term "Immersive Food Safety Culture" to describe the integration of food safety in all aspects of our training and operations, thus demonstrating the measures we take to integrate a robust FSC.

 

2.1.1.2 i. is really the only item that points to something other than you should have been doing all along.

 

We received a 99% with 1 point for 1 cobweb that he practically had to use a telescope to find. (He's told me in the past that he doesn't issue 100% for anything other than a brand new facility.)

 

Don't overthink it and don't kill yourself trying to define something you've probably been doing all along.

 

Cheers!

Edited by Hoosiersmoker, 28 March 2022 - 01:18 PM.

[Quality Achiever]

These are my segments
8. Manufactured Meats and Poultry
32. Pet Food Manufacturing

Also modules 2, 4 & 9 are covered in the scope any suggestions