Annual Water Testing
Hi everyone!
I just had my first true HACCP audit and one of the big things was making sure we test our water annually, as we use it as an ingredient in our product.
My question is, how do you find out the state regulations on what it needs to be tested for? We are located in Oregon and I assumed that it would be the Oregon Health Authority who set the regulations, but I felt like that was a dead end.
I figured all you smart food safety oriented people would be better to guide me than Google.
Thank you in advance!
Just tell a local lab that you need an independent water test and they will test it according to standards.
Hi! We had a third party GMP audit and this is what we test for (recommended by a CB):
- Coliforms
- E.Coli
- Heavy metals
- Chlorine
If your area in Oregon is at risk of radiation you might want to have it tested for that. As for our HACCP, we use municipal water so their yearly water report sufficed for it. Hope that helps!
Just tell a local lab that you need an independent water test and they will test it according to standards.
Agreed.
You may want to test for PFAS, since that is gaining in recognition.
You may want to test for PFAS, since that is gaining in recognition.
It certainly is, I get more questions about that than I can count. I don't test for it, but the municipality does. Think that covers it? What if it came back positive? I have no real recourse....
Good point though.
It certainly is, I get more questions about that than I can count. I don't test for it, but the municipality does. Think that covers it? What if it came back positive? I have no real recourse....
Good point though.
We've only had it cross the plan of our understanding in the last year. So... I am not sure of our next steps, but I do have questions out to our lab. We do water testing once a year and then rely on the local municipality for a statement. If I were setting up testing, I would want to add that. :unsure:
Hi everyone!
I just had my first true HACCP audit and one of the big things was making sure we test our water annually, as we use it as an ingredient in our product.
My question is, how do you find out the state regulations on what it needs to be tested for? We are located in Oregon and I assumed that it would be the Oregon Health Authority who set the regulations, but I felt like that was a dead end.
I figured all you smart food safety oriented people would be better to guide me than Google.
Thank you in advance!
If they're just looking for an annual test, and you're using municipal water, you can probably just find the test results published by that office and offer those.
It would probably be advisable to pull a sample from the point of use within your facility though, just to verify that your own facility and process aren't contributing anything unacceptable. This one can be sent off for potable water testing. The state environmental resources office or local land grant university can probably direct you to a suitable regional lab.
Thank you everyone, you were all very helpful!
Agreed, use your local water municipality test results. They will/should be doing monthly checks, mostly micro and then an annual water full test program for all sorts of things. You should still be doing some tests of the water in your facility (some micro, coli, e.coli, etc) as you have no control of what happens to the water when it leaves the supplier and reaches your facilities.