“A real doctor first finds the reason for the illness. Then he tried to cure it with food. If that fails; he tries medicine.”
Lin Yutang. (Chinese Author, 15th Century)
Arguably; there is nothing as personal as the food and drink we consume. It sustains us in life, it gives us vitality and pleasure. Food marks special occasions and is used in celebration. It’s part of our culture; it’s a close link to God and nature. Some of our best and most memorable times are spent at the table with those we love and cherish. However; in the modern age of factory produced food and long shelf lives; the stakes are high: modern technology produces large quantities of high quality food very efficiently but there is more opportunity for pathogens (if present) to grow and in the event of an undetected food safety issue; for thousands of people to be affected.
Ham sandwich anyone? Why the food you manufacture could kill.
The UK Food Standards Agency reported that in 2018; there were 2.4 million cases of foodborne illness in the UK; 22,000 GP presentations, 107,667 confirmed laboratory reports, 16,400 hospital admissions and 180 deaths. Those entirely preventable and unnecessary 180 deaths may be a smaller number than deaths from other, also entirely preventable causes of sudden death such as from road traffic accidents or murder; but it’s still a very significant number.
Listeria monocytogenes is a food borne bacterium that is one of the most deadly. Very low levels of the bacteria are required to cause illness and the very young, the very old, pregnant women, their babies and the immuno-compromised are most at risk. Listeria monocytogenes can cause mild gastroenteritis but the invasive or febrile form of listeriosis involves the bacteria entering the bloodstream causing fever, myalgia, meningitis, septicaemia, spontaneous abortion and death. In the UK; between 2008 and 2018; of the 166 people who contracted the febrile or invasive form of listeriosis; 28% or 46 people died.
The Demise of North Country Food Group and the Good Food Chain: In June 2019; ham sandwiches supplied by North Country Foods Group to hospitals of the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and the Aintree University Hospital Foundation Trust caused the death of six people from the invasive form of listeriosis. Three patients died almost immediately in June; three others lingered on and the last of the six died towards the end of August 2019.
The moral of the story is that taking the time to understand the food or drink product you are developing; doing your shelf life validation properly and developing an accurate HACCP Plan together with the implementation of effective CCPs and a comprehensive food safety and quality management system against which staff are trained and which is backed up by monitoring and auditing of your processes is the way to protect your business.
The following is a short video on food safety and how to prevent foodborne illness; from the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Services that we provide in the arena of Food Safety include:
HACCP, Food Safety & Quality Management System Design & Implementation
Having effective pre-requisite programs (PRPs) in place along with the 12 steps in the application of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan are the cornerstone of your Food Safety and Quality system. EU Regulation 2016 / c / 278 is overlaid over regulations EC 178 / 2002, EC 852 / 2004, EC 853 / 2004 and EC 852 / 2004 and takes a more integrated and harmonised approach covering both the PRPs and HACCP within a Food Safety Management System (FSMS). It essentially puts the whole picture together for the Food Business Operator and distills a very detailed process down to none, one or more CCPs. These CCP are simple and easy to remembers and to understand by anyone and; (along with the other elements of your FSMS); they keep those critical control points of your process and your products safe.
If you’d like to; go ahead and talk to us to arrange a free consultation about your needs.
Risk Assessment
“Risk” is a function of the probability of an adverse health effect and the severity of that effect, consequential to a hazard. A Risk Assessment is the identification, evaluation & estimation of the levels of risk involved in a process to determine appropriate control processes. The process considers the likelihood of the occurrence of the hazard, the severity of the effects of the hazard on the health and wellbeing of the consumer if the hazard were to be present in the end product, the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the presence of each hazard and then arrives at a risk rating based on the probability and severity arrived at. Risk assessment (Codex step 6 and HACCP Principle 1) is integral to a HACCP process but there are many occasions when a risk assessment is required outside of a formal HACCP process; for example when visiting a supplier’s premises, when identifying which customer complaints are urgent versus less urgent. A wide experience of many food and drink processes and a deep understanding of food science, technologies and engineering, food business management, negotiation and communication skills, food safety training and access to a wide network of contacts strengthens our ability to advise on risk and an appropriate course of action quickly and efficiently.
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Food Standards Auditing
A Food Safety Management System (FSMS) is described by EU 2016 / c / 278 as “a holistic system of prevention, preparedness and own – check activities to manage food safety and hygiene in a food business”. The legislation is designed so that a FSMS is seen as a practical tool to control the food production environment and process to ensure food products are safe. Being audited by an external party or via internal audit (by someone within the business who is qualified to do an audit but is not responsible for the area being audited) against a standard generated by the legislation or by a global food standard such as BRC v9 is an excellent way to achieve a “snapshot” of where the business is versus the desired or appropriate standard. Finding that some things aren’t up to scratch in an audit in a way is good news; because once identified; the deficiency can be remedied; making the business stronger and safer.
Get in touch via the “Contact Us” page if you’d like to have a free discussion about your needs.
“Quality is not an act; it is a habit.”
Aristotle