Help with CFIA SFCR audit-inspection

Hi everyone,

I recently joined the food safety and quality industry in 2021. My first rodeo was at a pet food manufacturing company that processed raw meat into RTE pet treats.

Now I work in a bakery that only deals with fully cooked meats (roast beef, bologna, salami etc) and often times, I am overwhelmed. i understand it is the same concept with my last job (HACCP prerequisites) but they are so different at the same time. Please I'd appreciate if anyone working in a bakery where you make deli products has had the CFIA SFCR audit. How did it go? What was required? 

Thanks in advance. :spoton:

Hi Bakery41, welcome to the forum! I'm with dairy industry, but I don't think there's much difference in terms of CFIA requirements. They audit now PCP elements, I'm attaching a guidance doc. as a reference for you. However, on the other hand it might be useful to wait for the bakery industry/meat users professionals as they may have some specific advice for you.

Hi Olenazh,

I greatly appreciate that document you sent. Gave me so much clarity on what is expected of me. Our CFIA audit is just by the corner and I have every other thing handled except the part that says to have a labelling program. We supply products to 2 chains (well known) and they supply their own labels. Our nutritional labels were developed by someone who works with the CFIA. I guess my question is what would our labelling/packaging program include?

I think you should have a detailed and clear explanation of your labelling activities in your program. Your brands' labels (development, approval, control, verification, statement/claim confirmation, etc.) and customers' labels (control, etc. - as per customer requirements). Remember that even though your labels were developed by somebody knowledgeable, label information must be verified. For instance, label claims and nutrition facts shall be verified by lab testing to ensure that label information is not false or misleading.

Hi Bakery41

Is your license and ERA (establishment risk assessment) up to date?

Did CFIA tell you what elements they will be auditing?  In my experience, they let us know which elements are going to be audited (like Olenzah, we've always been inspected by CFIA)

As for as your labelling goes, you should have a copy of the approval from the company that "owns" the labels 

Was your own label created from actual lab analysis or did someone use a calculator?  Have you verified it / they meet the new labelling requirements? 

Here is the link to the inspection page 

https://inspection.c...9/1590767068842

The most important components of your labeling program are:

1. Labels that match the current legislation. (Don't rely on the customer, you're responsible for this one.)

2. Copy of the customer's label approvals (if they are they ones doing the approving)

3. Label versioning (you need to know which version of the label is current + when and why a label was changed.

It wouldn't be the first time that a raw material replacement procedure knocked the nutritional values on the label out of the stated range.