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This information can be used to develop food safety and quality programs that meet the requirements of modern Regulatory, Customer and Industry Standards:
When considering the development, documentation, and implementation of Warehousing and Distribution within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
Warehousing is the act or status of facilitation of specified storage and handling of items. The key activities generally covered by Warehousing include receiving, identifying, holding, assembling, dispatching, and distributing foodstuffs or related materials. Warehousing and Distribution must be managed appropriately to ensure Food Safety and Quality standards are maintained. It is important to consider that Warehousing and Distribution requirements may differ significantly for raw materials, packaging, chemicals, work in progress, and finished products. In alignment with the Storage and Handling Requirements defined for relevant food products and materials, the maintenance of well-implemented Warehousing and Distribution standards promotes compliance and lessens the risk of Food Safety or Quality issues arising from mishandling.
You may also find further Warehousing and Distribution-related information within the Storage and Handling element at haccp.com.
It is important that Food Safety and Quality Systems, and the personnel working with them deeply acknowledge the correct Storage and Handling parameters for relevant food products or related materials. Key information is commonly included within documented finished product specifications and must be used to correctly develop and document HACCP-based Food Safety Plans.
It is not uncommon to find that entities participating within the Food Warehousing and Distribution sector are unaware of the specific conditions under which food products or materials are being Stored and Handled against, including Food Safety related parameters including Temperature, Humidity, and Sensitivities. Leading Warehousing and Distribution sector participants implement and maintain detailed systems regarding the Food Safety and Quality risk profiles for the products are materials they handle.
The term Good Warehousing Practices is often used in conjunction with related terms such as Good Manufacturing Practices and Good Hygiene Practices; all of which are bound by the requirement to facilitate safe and suitable outcomes against legislative requirements, industry guidelines, and recognized best practices. Like related terminologies, Good Warehousing Practices cover a range of expected elements, including:
In addressing the legislative requirements or industry codes of practice or food laws, the two primary concerns of Good Warehousing Practices are:
In addressing these requirements, The Good Warehousing Practices Policy and Procedures should provide the basis of what food handlers and associated people need to follow in meeting the legislative requirements.
The following sections provide examples of key considerations of standards related to the implementation of best practice Good Warehousing Practices:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs according to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Warehousing and Distribution Development requirements in relation to their items.
Document: A document provides guidance and/or direction for performing work, making decisions, or rendering judgments that affect the safety or quality of the products or services that customers receive.
Documented policies, procedures, work instructions, and schedules form the basis of any food safety and quality management system. The following documentation formats may be considered to ensure ongoing compliance with specified requirements for Warehousing and Distribution:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Warehousing and Distribution Documentation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Warehousing and Distribution Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Warehousing and Distribution documentation, record, and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Implementation: Implementation is the application of documented food safety and quality system elements into the actual business operation.
The implementation of Warehousing and Distribution within any food business requires genuine commitment from senior management, staff, and visitors to ensure the nominated goals of implementation are achievable on an ongoing basis. It is a step that requires significant planning and consideration of general and specific food business circumstances to ensure the outcomes of Warehousing and Distribution do not negatively impact the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Warehousing and Distribution must include a clear definition of responsibilities and authorities for all levels of participation by senior management, staff, and visitors to the site.
When implementing Warehousing and Distribution within a food safety and quality system, you may wish to consider the following requirements before completion:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Warehousing and Distribution Implementation requirements in relation to their items.
Monitoring: Monitoring is the act of reviewing and confirming measurable parameters of a defined process or product status.
Monitoring requirements within food industry sectors are generally identified against limits of acceptability defined within Warehousing and Distribution plans, implementation procedures, and work instructions. Monitoring usually includes some element of record-keeping, which may be maintained manually or through digital systems. It is important to consider that advancements in technology have spawned many systems and processes which are self-monitored and or self-adjusted when variances are identified. Regardless of the system used; The goal of any monitoring activity is to provide sufficient evidence that any limit of acceptability has been met.
Traditional Warehousing and Distribution monitoring requirements include manual recording and the application of corrective actions when the results of monitoring are found to be outside acceptable limits. Corrective Actions should also generally be strongly linked to the monitoring process where applied to ensure full traceability of the applied actions.
Common monitoring activities and record formats may be applicable to Warehousing and Distribution:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Warehousing and Distribution Monitoring requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Warehousing and Distribution Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Warehousing and Distribution documentation, record, and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Corrective Action: Corrective action is mandatory action to be taken when a deviation to the Quality System occurs, particularly in relation to a Critical Control Point.
Preventative Action: At any step in the process where a hazard has been identified, preventative action must be put into place to prevent re-occurrence.
Corrective Action and Preventative Action is implemented to ensure that any identified non-conformance issues are documented, investigated, and rectified within appropriate time-frames. Corrective action is any action applied to regain control over a product, process, policy, or procedure that has been identified as being non-conforming or outside nominated limits of acceptability. Preventative action is any action applied to prevent any identified non-conformance from reoccurring.
The outcomes of corrective and preventative actions should result in regained process control after effective application. Specified corrective actions are commonly linked to the Warehousing and Distribution Plans and the food business certification process.
Below are Corrective Action and Preventative Action examples which may be associated with Warehousing and Distribution related non-conformance:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Warehousing and Distribution Corrective Action requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Corrective Action and Preventative Action section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Verification: The act of reviewing, inspecting, testing, checking, auditing, or otherwise establishing and documenting whether items, processes, services, or documents conform to specified requirements.
Verification is the detailed review of all food safety and quality system elements to confirm that they are effectively developed, documented, implemented, monitored, and reviewed. All food safety and quality system elements, including documented policies, procedures, training, Warehousing and Distribution plans and their operational applications must be verified on an ongoing scheduled basis. The verification process commonly includes a defined schedule for which verification activities are required, how often they are conducted, who is responsible, and detailed documented procedures for each nominated verification activity.
The general goal of an established verification process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
The following examples of verification activities may be applicable to Warehousing and Distribution:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Warehousing and Distribution Verification requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Verification Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Validation: The process of gathering evidence to provide a scientific basis for the documented act of demonstrating that a procedure, process, and activity will consistently lead to the expected results. It often includes the qualification of systems and equipment.
Validation is the provision of evidence to support the limits of control or acceptability for food safety or quality parameters nominated within systemic elements. Limits of control or acceptability are commonly included within documented food safety and quality systems elements such as procedures, Warehousing, and Distribution plans and specifications.
Common sources of validation include regulatory and legislative standards, finished product specifications and customer requirements, industry codes of practice and guidelines, verified and validated research, historical product, and process control outcomes, and analytical testing.
The general goal of an established validation process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
Validation activities are commonly defined within the verification schedules and procedures of established food safety and quality management systems.
The following examples may be applicable to the validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Warehousing and Distribution:
You may wish to visit the Validation Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Skills and Knowledge: Skills and knowledge are attributes of human interactions commonly linked to competency within any specified job-related task.
Training and competency requirements for Warehousing and Distribution must be ongoing, including regular scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Warehousing and Distribution should have knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Warehousing and Distribution should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Warehousing and Distribution should have access to resources including:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Warehousing and Distribution Training, Competency, and Resources requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Training, Competency, and Resources section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
