Mandatory certificates or courses for SQF
Is there any mandatory certificate or courses that a SQF team needs to have besides the HACCP certificate? Our food consultant is asking to take various courses which is on the expensive side, and we are a small company and taking all these courses can be burden. Some of the mandatory courses suggested were Preventive Controls (PCQI), Internal Auditor, Handling Body fluids spills, and Food Defense Awareness for the IA Rule. Are these courses mandatory?
Is there any mandatory certificate or courses that a SQF team needs to have besides the HACCP certificate? Our food consultant is asking to take various courses which is on the expensive side, and we are a small company and taking all these courses can be burden. Some of the mandatory courses suggested were Preventive Controls (PCQI), Internal Auditor, Handling Body fluids spills, and Food Defense Awareness for the IA Rule. Are these courses mandatory?
Nothing like having faith in a consultant eh? Anyway, let me pick this apart for you...
1. Yes, HACCP certificate for the SQF Practitioner and backup Practitioner - if there is a HACCP team they can then be given an overview of the HACCP plan(s).
2. Technically speaking no one HAS TO go for the PCQI, this can be self-taught by simply looking up the requirements and focusing on the end result - what you would have to do if an agent showed up and asked to speak with PCQI. A course is nice, but a paid for course is NOT MANDATORY.
3. Anyone conducting INTERNAL AUDITS is required to be able (qualified) to conduct these audits. If you have someone experienced in conducting these types of audits, you can simply teach the folks how to do it (in house), note on your training matrix they were trained and add a nice touch by presenting them with training completion certificates. As consultants ourselves we actually sell an Internal Auditor Training program that is rather reasonable on the cost side and inclues those nifty certificates too - however you can actually do this in house and save that little bit of money. Again a paid for course is NOT MANDATORY.
4. I know of no requirement for MANDATORY TRAINING in handling bodily fluid spills - good idea though and in a past life when I was a food safety inspector for Sam's Clubs, Target and Trader Joes and hotel inspector for Howard Johnson, Ramada, Sheraton, Hilton that training was a mandatory requirement for all management level employees.
5. I might be slow on the uptake, but what is the "IA RULE."? But as far as trainng for Food Defense - yes - so you would take a known issue that could happen and do a mock exercise with the team, document it and note them all as being trained on the matrix.
6. This would apply to RECALL for instance, training for the team again thru a mock recall - detailing what each person was responsible for, what they did, etc.
So, basically with the exception of HACCP - all other training is required yes, but can be done in house by your own personnel.
Of course, I look at it this way - here you are paying for a consultant and paying for an audit - that's a bit of change already, why not pop for some training too - it's an investment - at the same time you will have to spend labor money to train, so you may find it cheaper to do some of this outsourced - like Internal Auditor Training for instance as the costs of labor in-house may eclipse the cost of outsourced training.
Hope that helps.
I agree with Glenn's assessment. The training needs to be done, but most of it can be done in house. Sometimes is can be easier to "defend" a third party training cert in an audit.
For #4 i think they are referencing 11.3.1.2 "In the event of an injury that causes the spillage of bodily fluid, a properly trained staff member shall ensure that all affected areas, including handling and processing areas, have been adequately cleaned, and that all materials and products have been quarantined and/or disposed of"
There are many free and some other inexpensive IA / food defense training the FSPCA does that will cover basic IA, vulnerability assessments using KAT or the "long way", mitigation strategies, etc. https://www.fspca.ne...-types-overview. I would recommend the basic, KATs, and mitigation strategies.
Whoever the main practitioner-is going to be-would be the one I get the training for. Who is going to be there for the long haul to make the investment in? Is this person just handling SQF, or are they over food safety plans too? I would suggest going through this websites' (IFSQN) past videos posted on these subjects. Very informative. I was hired and was sent to paid trainings and it has helped me immensely. But I have had people sent for training and they used it to get a different job. I would know my team and evaluate value/cost. In the long run someone needs formal training in my opinion. If it cannot be provided in-house, and that is usually by someone that has gone through the formal paid certificate courses themselves, then a consultant that knows more than yours might need to be hired. You either create what you want or pay for it. The end result should be someone that can take charge of the program.