Flour Mill Environmental Monitoring
Hello!!
I have seen few topics related to EMP for flour mills. To have a better understanding,
1). We are only producing White and whole wheat flour. Our wheat source is directly from the commercial commodity with max of 1ppm vomitoxin.
- do we need to make another testing for vomitoxin after we received the wheat?
- With the said testing that require few days before the result (if using the lab) (or hours using the other testing kit), we cannot put the truckload on hold while waiting for the result
-what is the best option?
2). We have GMP and Sanitation program in place for dry cleaning.
-is it advisable to use ATP swab as everyday testing for indicators (only)
- and quarterly lab testing for indicators, e.coli, salmonella and listeria?
3). Is there any deep (water)cleaning schedule for flour mill and production? can you send me a sample?
Thank you in advance!
Greetings,
1) You don't need to test for vomitoxin everytime or at all if the wheat supplier can provide you with the "health" history of the crops. Vomitoxin is a mycotoxin associated primarily with Fusarium fungal strains, so if the crops have been affected during the cultivation period and no measures were taken then it could be subject to the presence of said toxin. I don't suggest to cut off entirely your testing, but it can be from time to time, according to a sampling plan, just for further verification and furthermore I would start with a microbial testing for fungi. If this is positive then you can test further for vomitoxin.
This way you can save a lot of time.
2) Yes it is advisable, but the frequency can be subject to risk assessment. eg if you consistently have no findings then you can do it every other day or weekly. Same goes for pathogens as far as frequency goes, taking into account also that the product doesn't really favor bacterial growth (low aw).
Disclaimer, these are suggestions and you need to approach this considering every aspect of your case.
3) What exactly do you mean with "deep water cleaning"? For equipment parts? Otherwise if you mean the production line, silos etc you need highly pressurized potable water.
Regards!
I work at a flour mill too.
Grain (ingredient) testing for doxynivalenol (DON) / vomitoxin is not part of our EMP, it is part of our HACCP ... we used to have suppliers provide copies of laboratory test results (supply chain program) on the grain (annual / each harvest LOT), but we recently switched to doing in-house vomitoxin testing via Envirologix quickscan. We also submit an annual sample to a certified lab to verify / calibrate the testing equipment. We also do organoleptic inspection of each grain delivery.
For EMP we do annual salmonella & coliforms.
Greetings,
1) You don't need to test for vomitoxin everytime or at all if the wheat supplier can provide you with the "health" history of the crops. Vomitoxin is a mycotoxin associated primarily with Fusarium fungal strains, so if the crops have been affected during the cultivation period and no measures were taken then it could be subject to the presence of said toxin. I don't suggest to cut off entirely your testing, but it can be from time to time, according to a sampling plan, just for further verification and furthermore I would start with a microbial testing for fungi. If this is positive then you can test further for vomitoxin.
This way you can save a lot of time.
2) Yes it is advisable, but the frequency can be subject to risk assessment. eg if you consistently have no findings then you can do it every other day or weekly. Same goes for pathogens as far as frequency goes, taking into account also that the product doesn't really favor bacterial growth (low aw).
Disclaimer, these are suggestions and you need to approach this considering every aspect of your case.
3) What exactly do you mean with "deep water cleaning"? For equipment parts? Otherwise if you mean the production line, silos etc you need highly pressurized potable water.
Regards!
Thank you for your response! :)
-Yes we are talking about the silo and how frequent we need to the deep cleaning?
I work at a flour mill too.
Grain (ingredient) testing for doxynivalenol (DON) / vomitoxin is not part of our EMP, it is part of our HACCP ... we used to have suppliers provide copies of laboratory test results (supply chain program) on the grain (annual / each harvest LOT), but we recently switched to doing in-house vomitoxin testing via Envirologix quickscan. We also submit an annual sample to a certified lab to verify / calibrate the testing equipment. We also do organoleptic inspection of each grain delivery.
For EMP we do annual salmonella & coliforms.
Hello! Thank you for your response.
can you share information if you have any deep cleaning schedule for the silos and line?