16 replies to this topic

[The Food Scientist]

Hello everyone,

 

currently in SQF audit prep and I am kind of going through a debate with a coworker on this.

 

we review SOPs annually. and even if theres no change, we still review it annually and change the date and say annually reviewed. 

if there is a change in it, we change it and put the date. 

 

there is nowhere in the code where it tells you , YOU MUST review them annually despite no changes, right? 

we literally reviewed them all within a year. the ones that had a change, got the change, otherwise we didnt touch it. 

 

we dont outline in our SOP policy either that we do this.

 

will auditors pay attention?

 

reviewing SOPs is extremely time consuming, especially when you have a ton of operations and its a waste of time to me to have to review EACH AND EVERY one of them despite knowing there's no change done.

 

I just dont see it being something that adds value or will get dinged on.

 

our audit is tomorrow and some of our SOPs were reviewed in 2022 or LATE 2021. 

 

I did outline in our latest SQF mgmt review meeting that we have reviewed SOPs but only updated and changes the ones that needed changes. 

 

this coworker is pressing we MUST review them all annually even if theres nothing changed and we have to put dates on them or auditor will deduct points. my thing, is no where on the code does it say and no where do WE say we do this.

 

let me know your thoughts,

[The Food Scientist]

Also,

 

never in my previous experiences in SQF (prior to my current job) have we done this and an auditor even payed attention. its not like the SOP was last reviewed in 1995. it is late 2021 or 2022 and is edition 9.

[The Food Scientist]

obviously the policies that require an annual review like FOOD SAFETY plan, crisis managment food defense fraud.. etc have all had their annual revision.

[Scampi]

We have a list of all procedures wiith the revision date and version number that is included in the binder 

it is ONLY updated in the lead up to an audit

 

otherwise what you see is what you get--------that's why you show the log of changes 

[Setanta]

I update every year and make notations on the Change log and on the SOP. I have had auditors ask about both.

[Brothbro]

When I worked an SQF facility we reviewed SOPs annually and logged on the master document that the SOP had been reviewed; even if there were no changes to the policy itself. I did not recall seeing the actual requirement in code, however.

[Sayed M Naim Khalid]

Update/review is needed and required. 

 

I (SQF practitioner or food safety person) will only review the documents related to me (directly food safety). Operation related SOPs/documents/guideline shall be reviewed by their relevant teams (document holders). Because as a food safety person, I do not know all the processes of operations. HOWEVER, I will have a schedule or time in the year to ask all team to update /review their policy. This way the load of work will be less and if there is any change in any SOP, that will be updated accordingly and on time every year. So you wont' have fight over it with coworkers just a day before the audit. 

 

Lastly, changes in SOPs/guidelines or any other document shall be communicated to people affected. Let's say you change your recall process. You not only need to update your recall procedure or SOP, but also has to train/communicate your recall team who is going to implement that.

[SQFconsultant]

We review everything in the master review whether changes or not.

No it does not say in the code but then again it also doesnt say you should not eat yellow snow but you would not anyway.

[SHQuality]

We review everything in the master review whether changes or not.

No it does not say in the code but then again it also doesnt say you should not eat yellow snow but you would not anyway.

I agree here. If you don't actually review every single document annually, or if you don't document the review because nothing was changed, anyone looking at the document doesn't have a clue if it was simply overlooked or willfully ignored.

 

I review documents at least annually to ensure they still match reality.

[Gelato Quality Lead]

I like to try to review SOPs during internal auditing, which occurs over the course of the year. 

 

We have a lot of equipment so there are many SOPs and SSOPs, so by breaking it up to just a few per month, it makes it a little more manageable while still reviewing every single on annually.

[jfrey123]

SQF code requires you to review your FSMS annually, but code does not require you to update the programs.  I tend to break my FSMS into sections and review them with management in our monthly or quarterly meetings.  In the meeting records, I document which programs we review, discuss, check against SQF updates, etc.  If no changes are required, I don't update the programs.  My FSMS books are massive, and I'm not going to reprint them every year just to show new dates with no revisions.

 

Auditors initially would try and use my last published date on a program as a finding that it wasn't reviewed.  But good records of my meeting minutes has always gotten me out of the situations.  I've defended programs with last revised dates 4 years old this way.

[G M]

For us not every document is being updated, but the summary page of changes to the plan, be it HACCP plan, SQF program, etc. has an entry saying an annual review and reassessment was done.

 

A few of them are 5-6 years old.

Edited by G M, 09 March 2023 - 08:03 PM.

[SHQuality]

For us not every document is being updated, but the summary page of changes to the plan, be it HACCP plan, SQF program, etc. has an entry saying an annual review and reassessment was done.

 

A few of them are 5-6 years old.

And that is good enough, as long as it is clear for everyone where to find that information.

[The Food Scientist]

SQF code requires you to review your FSMS annually, but code does not require you to update the programs.  I tend to break my FSMS into sections and review them with management in our monthly or quarterly meetings.  In the meeting records, I document which programs we review, discuss, check against SQF updates, etc.  If no changes are required, I don't update the programs.  My FSMS books are massive, and I'm not going to reprint them every year just to show new dates with no revisions.

 

Auditors initially would try and use my last published date on a program as a finding that it wasn't reviewed.  But good records of my meeting minutes has always gotten me out of the situations.  I've defended programs with last revised dates 4 years old this way.

 

I am aware of that requirement and about FSMS as stated in my original post. 

 

I am referring to "other" SOPs that are not tied to FSMS that do not need to be annually reviewed per what the code says.

[Setanta]

Can you give an example of what 'other' SOPs you are referring to? I don't think I followed.

[jfrey123]

I am aware of that requirement and about FSMS as stated in my original post. 

 

I am referring to "other" SOPs that are not tied to FSMS that do not need to be annually reviewed per what the code says.

 

My only experience here with "other" SOP's would be things like what accounting/payroll/HR has for policies and programs, things that aren't tied to production, storage or sanitation.

 

I've never had an SQF auditor ask to look at those things, and I don't think any of the code would apply to those.  So if they're excluded from your FSMS, keep them that way and don't worry about them.  Not your circus, not your monkeys.

[Hoosiersmoker]

We have excluded many SOPs from our FS procedures. Accounting, HR issues, Safety procedures etc. that do not directly relate to FS. If we keep them with our FS documents they can be audited. I have had that discussion with our auditors and they are in agreement that it is a good practice to make that distinction.