New to site - from packaging industry

Hello,

I am new to this site and relatively new to food safety and quality and now I'm becoming hooked!  I started at a small plastic film company looking to achieve HACCP due an enquiry from suppliers to coles wanting bags for their food products from a HACCP certified company.

New to the plastics industry and new to HACCP I had my work cut out for me and I have learnt alot along the way in the past 7 months.  We now have achieved a desk top audit and are at the stage of implementing the procedures to their full extent. 

One thing I have struggled with all along is finding information relative to packaging for the food industry - from industry specific legislation, standards, clean rooms, product testing etc.  I'm sure the big companies have the people who know all that but for a small business with limited resources it has been quite a process and I am still confused by different standards I have read about including those on Coles sites. It is my understanding that HACCP is like the basic entry level into a food safety program - can anybody enlighten me on this or have any experience in the plastic film industry.  

Penny.

Hi Penny,

I'm in the plastic industry and am a Quality Manager for direct food contact packaging. I would highly recommend first starting with a HACCP Introductory course so you can understand the steps or to save cost, you can youtube everything. 

I would then outline your process, step by step and identify hazards. 

I have my flow chart and haccp plan I can email you. I'm unsure if you want to post your contact info on this site, but I can check back and try to assist you. 

Wish you luck! 

regards,

Dinh

Hi Dinh,

thank you for taking the time to reply to my post :) I am in the process of implementing a HACCP program but i have not ever seen a program put together for the plastics industry, everything I come across seems to be food orientated.  I would be appreciate you emailing me your chart and plan to have something to compare to. We may have different product type (we extrude plastic film, print and convert to bags that have direct contact with food) but at least I will be looking at something directly related to plastics.  Wow I am so excited!     I am not sure about posting a contact email on this site (I hope we are allowed). (EMAIL REMOVED BY ADMIN)

Thank you so much.  I am hoping in the future to achieve being a quality manager like yourself.

Penny.

Hi Penny, welcome to the IFSQN.  Do you already hold certification to as GFSI standard or working towards?  BRC, SQF, FSSC and IFS all have free standards available containing the requirements for a food safety and quality management system for packaging suppliers and those standards outline requirements for HACCP or hazard analysis in a packaging context.

On the site we have some example HACCP manuals which you can find using the search function. This Example HACCP Manual and Procedures for Packaging Company is quite old, but you may still find it a useful reference,

It you have further questions feel free to ask.

P.S. it’s not a good idea to exchange emails on the board as you will get a lot of spam.

Regards,
Simon