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Allergen Risk Assessment template re Raw material suppliers

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BATTY

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Posted 10 February 2014 - 09:22 PM

Hello

 

I have several suppliers whose products contain no allergens however the suppliers state allergens on site used in other products so cross contamination is possible? probable? remote?

 

Wondered if there was a template of some sort for rating or scoring the above allergen risks please.

 

Also any advise on how other companies deal with suppliers who have allergens on site but none in the supplied ingredients or products?

 

All the suppliers I am discussing are BRC or IFS accredited and have allergen policies, HACCP etc in place.

 

 

thank you so much



Charles.C

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Posted 11 February 2014 - 05:39 AM

Hello

 

I have several suppliers whose products contain no allergens however the suppliers state allergens on site used in other products so cross contamination is possible? probable? remote?

Assume the worst case scenario unless you have a risk assessment to convince otherwise. Either way, in practice, precautionary allergen labelling appears a ubiquitous fail-safe result ?.

 

Wondered if there was a template of some sort for rating or scoring the above allergen risks please.

An appropriate, validated-verified, Allergen Program (eg handling/flow organisation/cleaning/testing) theoretically can be classified as a PRP so, by definition, no "significant" (ie allergen detectable) risk. But ^^^^^^.

 

Also any advise on how other companies deal with suppliers who have allergens on site but none in the supplied ingredients or products?

Specific example is suggested but offhand >>> ^^^^^^^^^^

All the suppliers I am discussing are BRC or IFS accredited and have allergen policies, HACCP etc in place.

 

 

thank you so much

Rgds / Charles.C


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C


BATTY

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Posted 13 February 2014 - 09:17 AM

Thank you however assuming the worst and adding to all our products may contain "Everything including PEANUTS" will mean we cannot sell anything in particular to the major multiples. Not really the question I was asking which was how do i rate a large company that does not have allergens in the ingredients they supply to us but do have allergens on thier site. They have BRC/IF accrediation, allergen controls in place. Is this enough to rate the risk of cross contamination as unlikely. After all short of getting rid of all aleergen what more can a compnay do? Ellen



Charles.C

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Posted 13 February 2014 - 12:08 PM

Dear Batty,

 

how do i rate a large company that does not have allergens in the ingredients they supply to us but do have allergens on their site

 

.

I presume “rate” =  how do you qualitatively / quantitatively judge/score ……

You do a risk assessment.

One simple risk assessment might be :BRC certification ? Yes = accept (ie no need to label), No = Not accept.

IMEX, most companies are not quite that easily satisfied but it's ultimately up to you.

A formal risk assessment is, typically, at best semi-quantitative, judgemental and depends on your estimate of the likelihood of the hazard (ie cross-contamination) reaching the consumer and  the severity of consequences (to you)  in the event of a (worst case) subsequent allergen related consumer health incident . i presume these factors in UK involve "due diligence" responsibilities?.

The evaluation/combination/interpretation of the above factors, eg via a risk matrix, requires detailed knowledge of factors such as the product/process/epidemiology and risk expertise. And your choice of decision (acceptance) criteria. A unique formula unfortunately does not exist.

 

They have BRC/IF accrediation, allergen controls in place. Is this enough to rate the risk of cross contamination as unlikely. After all short of getting rid of all aleergen what more can a compnay do?

Well, in UK, the answer is apparently No since in many cases the buyer does further auditing by their own personnel. This implies some lack of confidence in BRC etc but I daresay the severity factor (in UK) referred above may be highly weighted in some risk assessments and the acceptable risk of a wrong (no-labelling) decision correspondingly low. This is where the expertise comes in.

 

The alternative of course is to use precautionary labelling which presumably is a strong due diligence defence.

 

Other UK posters here are are more competent than I to predict  the proportion of labelling / no labelling seen in retail (?) practice.

 

i realise the above is not a very explicit answer but the long-term, on-going global debate over allergen labelling is a reality.

 

Rgds / Charles.C


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C


Tony-C

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Posted 13 February 2014 - 02:59 PM

Hello

 

I have several suppliers whose products contain no allergens however the suppliers state allergens on site used in other products so cross contamination is possible? probable? remote?

 

Wondered if there was a template of some sort for rating or scoring the above allergen risks please.

 

Also any advise on how other companies deal with suppliers who have allergens on site but none in the supplied ingredients or products?

 

All the suppliers I am discussing are BRC or IFS accredited and have allergen policies, HACCP etc in place.

 

 

thank you so much

 

Hi Batty,

 

I ask the supplier for a list of allergens they handle on site, then for each of the materials they supply summarise if there is a risk of cross-contamination or not plus if there is a risk how high the risk of cross-contamination is.

 

Regards,

 

Tony



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Posted 13 February 2014 - 03:07 PM

Ask them if they have an allergen run matrix, what their allergen cleaning policy/procedure is (full clean vs sweep down etc), how they segregate allergens from non allergenic products, if they have product transit paths that prevent allergen cross contamination, how do they test their lines to make sure that there is no allergenic protein left on the lines before they run something else (swabbing), etc.


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BATTY

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Posted 14 February 2014 - 01:21 PM

Thank you all of the advice in what seems to be a very unclear area!

Given that European regulations require allergen RA I had assumed there would be a methodology and question tree as there is in HACCP.

I am inclined to assume low risk of cross contamination where BRC/IFS accreditation with Allergen RAs and HACCP in place and therefore only label where there is an allergen in the products we manufacture with no "may contain" labels.

Otherwise bye bye customers!

Given that we manufacture a product that is eaten in less than 2g portions (cake topper) which has 9 ingredients within it, surely the amount of an allergen from cross contamination from one of the ingredient suppliers would give very little allergen in our finished product and therefore very low risk?



Charles.C

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Posted 14 February 2014 - 02:49 PM

Dear Batty,

 

Your question is concerning  (safety) threshold levels of allergens in foods and has been a  major topic in the FS arena for many  years.

In fact the VITAL group (and others) have proposed such levels and methods of estimation to utilize such levels so as to enable criteria for labeling decisions.

The problem is that the concept/recommended levels have only been regarded as usable in a handful of countries, not including AFAIK the UK.

 

You may find this collection of related threads of interest (especially the first one maybe) –

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...ing/#entry66673

http://www.ifsqn.com...ion/#entry66431

http://www.ifsqn.com...ccp/#entry68712

http://www.ifsqn.com...ens/#entry67286

http://www.ifsqn.com...ing/#entry66306

 

Rgds / Charles.C


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C




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