All Posts Tagged: Quality Management

Banoffee tart box. New York Cheesecake inside.

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Richard Mallett

I guess it’s no wonder that extremely stringent packaging check procedures are demanded by Issue 6 of the BRC Global Food Standard when you read this article from the Food Standards Agency. This is a fairly basic and avoidable error. Let’s hope that the Issue 6 BRC Standard requirement to look at root cause when things like this happen will help.

What could be the root causes of packing the food into the wrong packaging? A number of potential scenarios reveal themselves here including:

  • Not removing old packaging before a new production run.
  • Good old fashioned human error and carelessness.
  • Failure to exercise product release procedures to check that everything is as expected before food leaves the factory.
  • Lack of training and real staff involvement in food safety and quality procedures.

China gets tough on food safety

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Richard Mallett

Some may say that, at last, and after the recent incidents that have damaged its food industry’s reputation with food incidents such as the melamine in powdered milk debacle, China is getting tough on food safety! Food Quality News.com reports that the food authorities have been inspecting 5.9 million businesses and that local police departments have been investigating 1200 criminal cases where non edible substances have been added deliberately to foodstuffs. This has been a source of good revenue income for the criminals, since some of the non edible additions in recent incidents have been demonstrated to fool food composition analytical instruments into thinking that foods are of a very high quality and consequently of higher value.

Does this Chinese crackdown have consequences for Western importers of food ingredients? In the long term, and subject to a successful campaign, it can only serve to improve safety of food produced from Chinese sourced ingredients. In the short term however the mere fact that this level of incidents has been seen through this recent investigation by the Chinese Authorities underlines most sincerely the importance of paying heed to the need to assure the quality of supplier and of supplied materials through a risk assessment process. This approach is mandatory in the GFSI Food Standards such as the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety. Ignore this important food safety control at your peril! And remember that, for now at least, the cheapest imports are not always the best in terms of food safety!

BRC Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 6

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Richard Mallett

Issue 6 is now published and audits will commence from January 2012.

The emphasis has shifted somewhat from the emphasis in Issue 5 to audit paperwork (systems and procedures) to more time spent on site assessment of GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice), including assessment of facility and structure, as well as the hygienic behaviour of food handlers. There is a reduction of some 25% of clauses, which have either been rolled together or taken out where they were deemed not to add benefit in terms of food safety and quality management.

We are finding that the approach is meeting with approval – some sites saying that, in many ways, it represents a welcome return to the grass roots level of food safety auditing.

More on the new issue can be found here - http://www.brcglobalstandards.com/standards/food/

A Guide to the BRC

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Richard Mallett

For those who would like to learn a little of what the BRC (British Retail Consortium) Global Food Safety Standard is all about…..

It was the first technical food safety standard to be approved by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). It was implemented to ensure that those within the supply chain to the retailers followed a common food safety management approach, thus ending the need for each retailer to separately audit each food manufacturer or processor. It is now in its fifth issue and there are currently over 9700 certificated sites worldwide with acquisition of the BRC Global Food Safety Standard increasing by some 15-20% year on year.

It is comprised of 7 sections, each containing mandatory clauses, that ensure control of each aspect of food safety and quality management at the food processor. Many parts of the Standard are closely allied to general quality standards such as ISO 9001 but with a much greater technical emphasis. Those 7 sections are:

1. Senior Management Commitment

2. HACCP food safety management system

3. Quality Management

4. Site Standards

5. Product Control

6. Process Control

7. Personnel

The BRC Global Food Safety Standard is now one of 4, recognised by the GFSI and accepted as a certificated standard, demonstrating suitability to supply, by the major retailers worldwide. It is commonly accepted as one key supplier approval criterian too by the major foodservice companies and hotel groups worldwide. Indeed one of the key benefits of achieving BRC certification is one of marketing – a food supplier is simply more likely to be approved as a supplier, easily, within the retailer supply chain and amongst the blue chip food service and hotel groups.

If you are considering seeking certification to the BRC Global Food Safety Standard or simply want an independent expert to challenge your existing BRC based systems with continual improvement in mind then please contact MQM Consulting. It is something we can definitely help you with, working with you to create and implement simple, practical procedures that you will truly own and understand.

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