Hi all
We are in the process of obtaining our SQF certification, and I had set up a validation scenerio for vallidating our allergen sanitation.
We currently have dairy, soy, anchovie and wheat in some of our products. I chose to do my testing for dairy, as it in the more finished product than anything else ( we use it in our sausages/hotdogs) , and soy as it is in a product that is of our messiest, greasiest, hardest products to clean, it is also the highest % of an allergen that we have in any formula..( it is a taco meat with soy/beef mixture)
My troubles began when i could not get positive controls back.
The only positive control I could get was on the raw sausage side for milk. ( and i think that is because the nonfat dry milk sticks to the side of the equipment) I was not able to achieve a positive control in my packaging room ( either off of my peeler, or work surfaces ) i even smeared a sausage over a stainless steel table, and then took a sample and that came back negative as well.
Verified with Neogen that the tests were being done properly.
I sent the finished products off to Neogen for their free product testing, and they verified that the ppm were too low to be detected in their Reveal 3D allergen kits.
So... herein lies my question, how do i validate a clean, when the amounts are too small to detect? In my study, do I just document this, and say... hey...nothing works except for the raw milk...so i am only going to do this validation study on my raw allergen cleaning, and only for milk and nothing on my packaging side?
Also, if anyone has a template for an allergen validation study it would be greatly appreciated, I want to make sure I am not forgetting something or leaving something out!
BTW I love this forum, it has been so helpful in working through the certification process Thank you!