Understanding the operational implications of the recently enacted rules and requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act is not an easy task. With a compliance deadline for large companies (more than 500 employees) set for September 19, 2016, food industry professionals are doing a deep dive into the nitty, gritty of these new mandates.
Tom Roche of Frito-Lay helped food processing industry professionals attending the Clark Pest Control and RK Pest Management IPM for Food Plants Seminar clear the muddy waters and identify nine key elements the food industry needs to do to achieve FSMA compliance:
- Have a written food safety plan in place
- Perform a hazard analysis
- Establish preventive controls after completion of the hazard analysis
- Have a monitoring program in place
- Take corrective actions and document them
- Document verification and validation of your plan
- Establish a supply chain program (ingredient supplier program)
- Must have a recall plan in place
- Have associated records readily available
Four Keys to Successfully
Passing Third-Party Audits
The successful passage of an independent, third-party audit (i.e. GFSI, BRC, etc.) is the ultimate goal of quality assurance and facility managers in food processing facilities. Without it, facilities cannot sell product into the supply chain, and the ensuing damage to the company’s financial health, production operations, and brand image can be significant.
Many elements go into successfully passing a third-party audit and Al St. Cyr, head of education and food safety for Clark Pest Control, shared with attendees four key prerequisite IPM programs food processing facilities need to address to insure its pest prevention programs runs smoothly and to successfully pass an audit.
- Sanitation – If you clean it, they limit available food for pests.
- Maintenance – If you repair the leaks, holes and peeling floors they eliminate pest harborages.
- Sanitary Design – If you make things easier to clean, they reduce the pest potential.
- Self-inspection – If you keep looking, hopefully you will find and fix it.
“There must be cooperation between management, maintenance and pest management contractors in order to get the job done,” says St. Cyr. “Seeking alternative methods that can help end the food safety or pest problem is what IPM is all about.”
Read the Clark Pest Control commercial blog www.clarkpest.com/blog/commercial-services-blog for more coverage of the seminar.