9 replies to this topic

[LM Gonzalgo]

Hi guy!

 

I would to ask for your help.

Im currently working in a cold warehouse facility and all our goods are with allergen.

 

how to create an allergen program for this?

 

Hope you all can help me.

 

Thank you

[Tony-C]

Hi LM Gonzalgo,

 

Your starting point should be a list of all your products and any allergen content.

 

You will then need to consider the state of the allergen e.g. powder, liquid etc.

 

You will then need to assess the risk associated with each product and any potential for cross-contamination.

 

It may be that all your products are enclosed and the only real risk is from damage and spillages so your main controls will be managing those.

 

Good practice would be to have dedicated areas for products with each type of allergen but this may not be practical.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[LM Gonzalgo]

Hi Sir Toni,

Thank you for the feedback.
All items are finished products in forms of butter, Margarine, cheese and ice cream.

I have already the matrix for the allergens of these. My problem is they want us to declare it always.


What can i do?
Thank you.

[Brendan Triplett]

Good morning

 

There are a handful of past forum entries on this.  Check these out to help narrow down some of your items:

 

Allergen Control and Management Policy - IFSQN

 

Allergen Control Program - IFSQN

 

Good luck.

 

Cheers!

[MaggieB]

The way we handled this when I worked in a distribution facility was that we tagged items with their allergen profile at receiving. We had large, color-coded, easily visible stickers for each allergen that we handled. Purple S for soy, Red P for peanut, etc. It took some effort to implement with receiving staff, but it mad it easy for the warehouse staff to make sure they were following correct allergen stacking procedures, easy to monitor for the QA techs, and easy to show to auditors. I don't know how many items you have or how different their allergen profiles are, (like it might not be feasible if you just have way too many items or if the items you stock often changes), but if you wanted to implement something like this, I would recommend making up a cheat sheet for receivers: items with Peanut label are A,B,C, items with Peanut and Treenut label are E,F,G, etc, and then having QA staff doing inspections to make sure things are being tagged and stored correctly.

[soriondee]

I second color coding, auditors have always loved that and very easy for all staff to see at a glance if things are stored appropriately. 

[G M]

...
I have already the matrix for the allergens of these. My problem is they want us to declare it always.
...

 

Generally speaking, the products should always be clearly identified.  With hazards, that also needs to be present (think a bottle of chemical sanitizer that gets dispensed from a larger container, the small one gets the safety labeling too).  Allergens are a hazard, and regardless of the process state, need to have some identification and notification of hazards that should be considered during handling.

 

 

The way we handled this when I worked in a distribution facility was that we tagged items with their allergen profile at receiving. We had large, color-coded, easily visible stickers for each allergen that we handled. Purple S for soy, Red P for peanut, etc. ...

 

Most of our materials come in marked like this from suppliers, but I've printed out rolls of similar labels that can be added to any that don't, or applied to intermediate containers.  It's simple and people remember the training easily.  

 

All you're left with is trying to decide what level of segregation your facility has the capacity for, or needs to use for the level of risk associated with the specific materials and packaging being handled.

[Scampi]

A) are you saying all of the products you handle contain the same allergen(s)?  Always??

 

B) who's "they" 

 

C) what does your current allergen management plan say?

[Tony-C]

I too like to colour code but have the name of the allergen on the pallet label, for example:

 

 FS 5.3 Allergen Colour Coding.jpg   106.28KB   0 downloads

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[LM Gonzalgo]

Thank you everyone for your feedback.

 

Im just starting all of our Quality plans and programs.

Since, our warehouse is a start up one and im just the only QA around.

Its been difficult but thanks to all of your advices and help, its getting better.