Jump to content

  • Quick Navigation
Photo

SQF 11.7.1 - Pasteurized eggs high risk food?

Share this

  • You cannot start a new topic
  • Please log in to reply
10 replies to this topic

dashnishad

    Grade - Active

  • IFSQN Active
  • 7 posts
  • 0 thanks
0
Neutral

  • Australia
    Australia

Posted 06 February 2023 - 04:24 AM

Hi everyone,

 

I work for a mayonnaise/sauce producing factory and we use pasteurized eggs for production. As it is a cold emulsion, we cannot use any raw unpasteurized eggs. We are aiming for SQF certification by end of this year and according to 11.7.1, will it be considered a high risk food? Even though we use pasteurized eggs? 

I am a bit confused because if yes then I have to do a whole list of things before certification, if not then I can skip that section after a risk assessment. 

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks



Tony-C

    Grade - FIFSQN

  • IFSQN Fellow
  • 4,223 posts
  • 1288 thanks
608
Excellent

  • United Kingdom
    United Kingdom
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:World
  • Interests:My main interests are sports particularly football, pool, scuba diving, skiing and ten pin bowling.

Posted 06 February 2023 - 05:09 AM

Hi dashnishad,

 

This would depend on your final product, is it heat treated, sealed and ambient stable?

 

SQF Definition of a high-risk food is:

Food or food product with known attributes for microbiological growth, physical or chemical contamination, or which may allow for the survival of pathogenic microbial flora or other contaminants which, if not controlled, may contribute to illness of the consumer. It may also apply to a food that is deemed high risk by a customer, declared high risk by the relevant food regulation or has caused a major foodborne illness outbreak.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

 



SHQuality

    Grade - SIFSQN

  • IFSQN Senior
  • 317 posts
  • 46 thanks
59
Excellent

  • Netherlands
    Netherlands

Posted 06 February 2023 - 11:22 AM

It also depends on the pH of the final product and if that process is a controlled CCP.



Nemma01

    Grade - Active

  • IFSQN Active
  • 1 posts
  • 0 thanks
0
Neutral

  • United States
    United States

Posted 06 February 2023 - 02:53 PM

Hi Dashnishad,

 

As mentioned above, the high risk status is evaluated in relation to the finished product.  That means; Pasteurized Eggs will be considered as "high risk" product by your supplier (it is their finished product) BUT not you.  The type of product you make use acidity to prevent micro contamination.  As long as the pH level of your finished product is within specification (low pH level), one ingredient (eggs) is no longer an issue, it cannot be considered as high risk in your process. But yes, you need to get pasteurized milk from your supplier and always request COA to ensure eggs contain no salmonella, unless if you are going to pasteurize it yourself before you use it.

 

I hope this helps.

 

N.



OrRedFood

    Grade - MIFSQN

  • IFSQN Member
  • 110 posts
  • 24 thanks
30
Excellent

  • United States
    United States

Posted 06 February 2023 - 05:54 PM

Hi there - I worked as a food safety manager at a pasteurized egg plant for 20 years, and we told a LOT of pasteurized eggs to a mayo producer.  Eggs are considered a high-risk ingredient, because of the definition that someone provided above.

 

We provided a COA to our customer for every lot.  We never shipped eggs until the micro results were available, and the COA (including Salmonella, TPC, coliforms, yeast, mold, and Staph) was provided with the shipment or prior to shipment.   

 

The reason that our customer considered the eggs, even though they are pasteurized, to be high risk, is because of the risk of post process contamination, and the history of foodborne illness associated with egg.  With this history, it's difficult to make that case to an auditor that eggs are not high risk.  

 

At my current job, we use eggs at our plant, and we have used the Supplier Control (FSMA) to control the risk.  You need a copy of their third-party audit from a GFSI accredited certifying body such as SQF, BRC or similar, which you have reviewed for any food safety red flags. You should also have receiving procedures including a truck inspection/temperature check <40 F with corrective actions if not in spec, that a COA is required prior to use, and temperature monitoring for the cooler you store the eggs in, just like any other refrigerated item.   Lastly, you should have instructions for sanitary handling during production to show that you are preventing environmental contamination as you add egg to the mayo.  All this should be in your risk analysis.  Even though mayo is an acidified product, salmonella has been proven to grow in low pH items such as orange juice. It's not wise to rely on pH only as a CCP without a kill step in your process.   

 

It sounds like a lot but once it's in place it really works well.  



Thanked by 1 Member:

AJL

    Grade - SIFSQN

  • IFSQN Senior
  • 336 posts
  • 21 thanks
38
Excellent

  • Germany
    Germany
  • Gender:Male

Posted 06 February 2023 - 06:12 PM

Agreed- the ingredient (eggs) needs to be managed as supplier management (so COA) to ensure you don't introduce salmonella - but your final product should not be considered high risk.
😊



dashnishad

    Grade - Active

  • IFSQN Active
  • 7 posts
  • 0 thanks
0
Neutral

  • Australia
    Australia

Posted 06 February 2023 - 09:34 PM

Hi Tony,

 

It is not heat treated but we use induction sealer to seal our products. It is not ambient stable. pH of the final product is less than 4.6 and storage of the product is below 4degrees Celsius so these are the major CCP and QCP.


 

Thanks



dashnishad

    Grade - Active

  • IFSQN Active
  • 7 posts
  • 0 thanks
0
Neutral

  • Australia
    Australia

Posted 06 February 2023 - 09:35 PM

It also depends on the pH of the final product and if that process is a controlled CCP.

 

Yes the final product pH is below 4.6 and it is a controlled step.



Charles.C

    Grade - FIFSQN

  • IFSQN Moderator
  • 20,542 posts
  • 5662 thanks
1,544
Excellent

  • Earth
    Earth
  • Gender:Male
  • Interests:SF
    TV
    Movies

Posted 07 February 2023 - 06:27 AM

Intriguing thread. I always thought commercial mayonnaises were all shelf-stable (at least until opened).

 

Posts 2,7 apparently >Yes to the OP's query.


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C


Tony-C

    Grade - FIFSQN

  • IFSQN Fellow
  • 4,223 posts
  • 1288 thanks
608
Excellent

  • United Kingdom
    United Kingdom
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:World
  • Interests:My main interests are sports particularly football, pool, scuba diving, skiing and ten pin bowling.

Posted 07 February 2023 - 06:38 AM

Agreed- the ingredient (eggs) needs to be managed as supplier management (so COA) to ensure you don't introduce salmonella - but your final product should not be considered high risk.
😊

 

:yikes: See the post below.

 

Hi Tony,

 

It is not heat treated but we use induction sealer to seal our products. It is not ambient stable. pH of the final product is less than 4.6 and storage of the product is below 4degrees Celsius so these are the major CCP and QCP.


 

Thanks

 

Hi dashnishad,

 

If the product is not ambient stable and requires refrigeration then it is very likely to be high risk unless you are saying it is refrigerated to preserve the product quality?

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony



SHQuality

    Grade - SIFSQN

  • IFSQN Senior
  • 317 posts
  • 46 thanks
59
Excellent

  • Netherlands
    Netherlands

Posted 07 February 2023 - 06:58 AM

Usually, I would expect mayonaise to be shelf stable, especially if the pH is controlled.





Share this


Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: #mayonnaise, #SQF, #InternalAudit

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users