SSOP's - Temperature Checks and Dismantling / Disassembling

1. The BRC interpretation guide talks about the cleaning procedures / SSOP's  as a minimum include the: method of cleaning, including dismantling equipment for cleaning purposes where required. The question I ask is how much detail do we need to go into? Our Sanitation manager argues that no one ever writes in a cleaning procedure as how to dismantle or disassemble any piece of equipment. I disagree with him but this is my first time conducting a BRC internal audit and so I need your input please.

2. The SSOP's we have shows the detergent solution, sanitiser solution and rinse water temperature ranges but they do not check the temperatures nor record them. What are the methods used to check the temperature to ensure we are in the correct range and am assuming they need to record the temperatures once every shift.

I appreciate your help.

Thank you.

RTP

Forgot to ask the last question. 3. The contact time of detergent / cleaning chemicals should also be mentioned in the SSOP, isn't that the normal industry practice? Our guy disagrees with that too.

Ok, do you have a sanitation master equipment list, a chemical list, and generic SSOP's for the steps (not by piece of equipment)?   I can't speak specifically to BRC, buy every program that comes from basic HACCP should follow the same basic principles; your sanitation manager is NOT correct on either count. The SSOP for the piece of equipment requiring disassembly should include those instructions or at least where to locate them and the contact time and concentration should be listed as well

Here's is an excerpt from a Canadian publication that may be of some assistance.

Thank you Scampi for your input.

I don't think we have a master sanitation equipment list. I am assuming that we have a chemical list and generic SSOP, nope. we have SSOP's for different tools and equipment.

Are you using an outside contracted sanitation company or in house?

In house.

Thats good news (if it was a contracted company you'd need to find a new one ASAP)............if you are using a reputable sanitation chemical company, they should be able to assist you with basic SSOP's and then you need to produce your own that include all the required information. IMHO, your sanitation manager should not be telling you what the SSOP should or should not include.

Hold your ground!!!  

Are you new to that role at that company or are you newly certified?

I am new to this role and the company. We use ZEP as our sanitation chemical company. The person from ZEP has helped the sanitation manager to have the basic SSOP with the format and information however our sanitation manager  is not able to understand the requirements to meet the BRC standard. He argues with me saying in his 20 years experience no one has ever asked him to check the temperature of the water / detergent / sanitizing solutions nor to have the chemical contact time mentioned on the SSOP's. He has copied and pasted the same information provided by the chemical company by just changing the title and picture of the equipment or tool on the SSOP.

I truly appreciate your information.

Maybe the best route to go for improvement is quote out other companys (not a personnel fan of zep products) and/or sanitation manager needs a basic BRC course to bring him up to speed.....no one likes change and the longer in a role, the less willing to change (first thing I changed when I joined my current employer and the new company was also cheaper!)

Other company's may be able to provide better/more detailed support

Good Luck!

Let me be frank...your sanitation manager/supervisor does not know what he is doing.  Let me guess, he has worked in the industry "forever" and has been promoted through the ranks because he has been in sanitation "forever"?

At any rate...your SSOP needs to have all of that information.  Basically look at it from how a person would know how to properly clean the equipment if they have never cleaned that piece of equipment before.   Can someone clean it with your SSOP effectively in this case?  If not, then the SSOP is insufficient.  Sanitation is a critical pre-requisite program for any food safety plan in food manufacturing.  Unfortunately, this is one area that regularly gets glossed over and doesn't have the resources put into it as it should by upper management.

Hello Ryan, 

I appreciate your honesty. Your feedback is extremely helpful.

RTP

Not sure why need to routinely check the temperature of the detergent/water unless there is some critical feature, eg hot water X degC (?) ? Auditors hv never queried this for our ambient system.

I hv never included dissasembling details in my haccp PRPS although the Cleaning Team maybe did in their own documents. Auditors hv never queried.

Afraid i agree with yr Sanitation Manager regarding above from a PRP POV.

addendum

Just as an illustration, here is an extract from a set of  (informal) HACCP Alliance  SSOPs previously designed for the FDA’s 8 key Seafood Sanitation requirements. Obviously the content would need to be adjusted to comply with specific requirements of the BRC7 Standard.

 Cleaning SSOP.pdf   358.39KB   152 downloads

Charles,

Thank you for you input, appreciate it.

Since we have the rinse water temperature, detergent solution and sanitizer solution temperatures mentioned on the SSOP I was using my logic to question how would one know if the temperature range of the water and other solutions mentioned above will fall in the range that is mentioned on the SSOP?

As far as disassembly goes, it is mentioned on the SSOP for certain equipment to disassemble and clean. How would one know to what extent an equipment or machine needs to be disassembled for cleaning purposes. 

Also, if it is of any help we make cheesecakes and cakes and then pack them frozen.

RTP

When I am preparing SSOP's, I use the manufacturers recommendation for cleaning/maintenance/operations etc. If you don't have the paperwork, the equipment should have a serial number you can then email the manufacturer (if they still exist) and request the information. 

Then, once you are sure that is being followed, you can take enviro swabs and have them tested for bacteria etc that you would expect, but don't want, in your plant.

I would assume, that since you're working with dairy ingredients and product is RTE, you most certainly want to test for salmonella

Found this  http://onlinelibrary...999578.app1/pdf example of frozen cheesecake HACCP plan....hope it helps

If you designate a minimum or maximum temperature in your SSOP be ready to show evidence you are meeting that temperature during CIP.  This can be with temperature charts, a manual temperature check at the beginning and end of the cycle, etc.  It has come up in EVERY SQF audit I have been involved in.  If auditors are not bringing this up, I think it is an oversight.  With sanitation you have four critical factors: time, temperature, concentration, force.  You should be able to provide evidence that you are meeting all four factors for every equipment cleaning.  There are a myriad of ways to show evidence for each factor.

Ryan M knows his business. 

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but temperatures (where applicable) on SSOPs do not come from out of nowhere.  Chemical manufacturers provide usage temperatures for their products.  Those temperatures, presumably, have been tested to show a particular product is effective at a given temperature range.  This must be validated within your specific application.

Example:  A chlorinated alkaline is needed to CIP your equipment.  You have established that at 75 gallons per minute for fifteen minutes at 145°-160°F at 2 ounces per gallon is effective.  However, at 165°F, the chlorine breaks down and is less effective.  At 130°F, this process is not adequate to clean in your application. 

It goes without saying what problems you can face if you run your cleaning process out of range.  A little out of range you might get away with it, you might not but as the envelope is exceeded, so risk increases.  As Ryan M pointed out, Time-Temperature-Concentration-Mechanical Action must be conserved.  You prove this happens by taking temperatures, monitoring flow, monitoring chemical concentration, and watching the clock against your validated cleaning process.  The same goes for COP applications, btw.

Charles,

 

Thank you for you input, appreciate it.

 

Since we have the rinse water temperature, detergent solution and sanitizer solution temperatures mentioned on the SSOP I was using my logic to question how would one know if the temperature range of the water and other solutions mentioned above will fall in the range that is mentioned on the SSOP?

 

As far as disassembly goes, it is mentioned on the SSOP for certain equipment to disassemble and clean. How would one know to what extent an equipment or machine needs to be disassembled for cleaning purposes. 

 

Also, if it is of any help we make cheesecakes and cakes and then pack them frozen.

 

RTP

Hi RTP,

I deduce you are preparing to be audited to the BRC7 Standard.

IMO, apart from BRC's specific requirements,  there are 2 aspects to yr queries – (a) the operational side (b) the documentation side. Yr OP Pts 1,3 seem to be (b) while Pt 2 is (a). My "trivial" answers would be 1 - see below, 2 - "thermometers" if manual recording is necesary/feasible, 3 - Yes if significant.

(a) The actual cleaning steps involved / their monitoring etc need to be resolved between yourself and the Sanitation Manager. Meaningful answers to the operational queries in yr OP, Part 2  likely depend on what you are cleaning, with what, and how. All these are so far unknown. Can you clarify ?

(b) Technically writing an SSOP or a SOP simply comes down to how you define a "Procedure". This is of course arbitrary and basically BRC leave it up to you from a format POV. The most frequently referenced format source is ISO. The latter’s format uses "Procedures" to summarise the overall methodology(s) and Work Instructions (WIs) for the nitty-gritty. But if you look over the Literature of SOPs and SSOPs, there is a myriad of writing variations/interpretations. For example some people prefer a combined (Procedure + WI), ie an all-in-one document. This can sometimes get manual-sized though.

Personally I created a matrix of Factory Areas/Machines vs Frequencies with the cells linked to (ISO-type) Procedures (a few). I then constructed WIs (many) based on existing operational methods/manufacturer's manuals and cross-referenced them in the Procedures.

One important point as mentioned in Post 15 is that BRC may require evidence that yr actual Cleaning  “Procedure” matches yr written one. Hence the necessity to match (a, b).

@scampi - yr link is also attached here -

http://www.ifsqn.com...407-cake-haccp/

But 2 is always better than 1.

I am so thankful and glad at the same time to see so many helpful responses.

Might not mean much to you all but means a lot to me.

Thank you again.

RTP