Is anyone using the quality by design methodology in the food industry?

Hi all,

Is there anyone here in the forum, using the quality by design methodology in food industry ? 

I have done some research and such approach is mainly implemented and adapted in pharma industry, however will be interesting to see if there are food manufacturing company with such approach.

Please share your thoughts, comments  and if so expericene.

Thank you 

Aneta

I utilized a Quality plan when I was working in the bakery industry and I found that it helped to reduce food waste and it assisted the operators with understanding the adjustments they would need to make on their equipment based on what they were seeing during quality checks and when to escalate an issue. While many food companies do not fully utilize a quality plan because it is not a regulatory requirement, I think its the missing link to any successful management system. 

Just like a HACCP or Food safety plan, a quality plan is a predictive system, preparing your for the known and foreseeable quality threats. I have worked many places where they collect quality data but then they do not really do anything with that data. The plan will make those checks meaningful. 

I like using the Fishbone diagram approach for determining quality threats. BRCG has a good guidance here. https://images.templ...se-Analysis.pdf It discusses more root cause analysis but the same concept can be used for understanding how your product quality may be impacted at each processing step. 

Thanks for your feedback and comments. Much Appreciated.

Would you be able to share an example please ?

Thanks

I utilized a Quality plan when I was working in the bakery industry and I found that it helped to reduce food waste and it assisted the operators with understanding the adjustments they would need to make on their equipment based on what they were seeing during quality checks and when to escalate an issue. While many food companies do not fully utilize a quality plan because it is not a regulatory requirement, I think its the missing link to any successful management system. 

 

Just like a HACCP or Food safety plan, a quality plan is a predictive system, preparing your for the known and foreseeable quality threats. I have worked many places where they collect quality data but then they do not really do anything with that data. The plan will make those checks meaningful. 

 

I like using the Fishbone diagram approach for determining quality threats. BRCG has a good guidance here. https://images.templ...se-Analysis.pdf It discusses more root cause analysis but the same concept can be used for understanding how your product quality may be impacted at each processing step. 

I have attached 2 screen shots from a template I use as well as SQF Quality Code guidance. 

The items in yellow are examples of some quality attributes and some of the fishbone diagram categories. Those can be changed to suit your needs. 

You should be asking yourself at each step (and always include conveyance!!!!!!!) how is this affecting my product? Then after identifying what could go wrong - ask yourself - can I make an adjustment to prevent more product loss? If you cannot, do you put it on hold or do you just throw it away? 

The quality by design (QBD) approach in pharma industry is very common and governing bodies have issued guidance documents well. However, as you said, food industry in general isn't used to taking QBD approach during plant design but mature multinational companies follow their internal QBD type system when their engineers design food facilities. They take learnings from their other operating plants, perform system risk assessments and design facilities according to the user requirement specifications (URS).