SQF Finding 11.5.5.2 - CO2 Micro Testing Requirement for Low-Risk Bakery
Started by FoodsafetyQA, Apr 14 2025 06:20 PM
Hello,
We received following SQF NC :
" 11.5.5.2 Facility has not done the microbiological testing of carbon dioxide used for dough temperature control"
My question is has anyone tested for CO2 before? If yes for what kind of micro risk you considered? and How would you test for it?
We use CO2 as processing aid and until last year I guess it was never ask by BRC auditor, this is first SQF audit for us.
We are low risk bakery and CO2 only used in dough mixing.
Thank you,
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11.5.5 Air and Other Gases
11.5.5.1 Compressed air or other gases (e.g., nitrogen or carbon dioxide) that contact food or
food contact surfaces shall be clean and present no risk to food safety.
11.5.5.2 Compressed air systems and systems used to store or dispense other gases that
come into contact with food or food contact surfaces shall be maintained and
regularly monitored for quality and applicable food safety hazards. The frequency of
analysis shall be risk-based and at a minimum annually.
SQF requires the testing to ensure the delivery method (lines, tanks, etc) are clean (for instance no oily residue, etc)
You can either run the tests yourself or avail yourself of a self-testing kit where you pay for the kit (thru an air testing lab) and then once a sampling is done you send the entire "kit" back to the lab and receive the results.
Based on risk, you may need to do this more than once a year especially if this is a continuous add-in direct the dough.
I have a bakery as a client and they use an outside company and they test every quarter.
1 Thank
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