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When considering the development, documentation, and implementation of Air and Gas Standards within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
Air and Gas Standards must be risk assessed, controlled, and monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure appropriate outcomes are maintained. HACCP Risk Assessments are commonly used to identify specific potential hazards that may result from a lack of control in Air and Gas Standards.
Adequate means of natural or mechanical ventilation should be provided within the food processing and packaging areas to:
Ventilation systems for high-risk or High-Care foods should be designed and constructed so that air does not flow from contaminated areas to clean areas and, where necessary, they can be adequately maintained and cleaned. Condensation caused as a result of poor ventilation can facilitate cross-contamination by transporting micro-organisms into foods. The problem can be controlled by ensuring adequate airflow around food products, evaluating ventilation systems and their types such as air socks, and controlling temperatures in processing, packing and storage areas.
The air and gases used in food production, packaging, or within the food premises, regardless of whether considered as an ingredient or not, should be monitored regularly to ensure they do not present any food safety or quality risks. It is important to prioritize the scheduled testing of air and gas sources to ensure they are not impacting the safety or quality of the foods being produced.
The Microorganisms of concern with Air and Gas Management are many and varied and differ from site to site based on their site and the processes and products facilitated. Both pathogens and spoilage organisms may be nominated as micro-organisms of concern.
In conjunction with the risk of micro-organisms being directly present within air flows or gas flows, the additional presence of fine moisture particles within such air or gas flows may exponentially increase the risk of microbiological contamination.
Documented HACCP Plans and their risk assessments should be used to identify and manage related risk at the process steps where contamination may occur from air or gas flows.
As with other site utilities such as potable hot and cold water, wastewater, and effluent, site Air and Gas Utilities must be adequately identified to ensure they don’t become a source of contamination. The general best practice is for all Air and Gas lines and systems to be identified as their intended scope and purpose of usage, both physically within the site and within site plans and schematics. Related delivery points, filtration points, and treatments should also be clearly defined.
It is important to consider Air and Gas Systems commissioning and validation processes to ensure they don’t introduce risk to related products or processes.
Environmental Air Filtration is an important factor in the management of airborne microorganisms and other contaminants that may enter foods from the available environmental air. Where Environmental Air Filtration is required, the related systems should be selected and implemented in alignment with the outcomes of HACCP risk assessments.
Air management systems for High Risk and High-Care food production areas should be implemented and verified on an ongoing basis to ensure the ingress of unfiltered air into the High-Risk area is minimized.
High-Efficiency Particulate Air or HEPA, also referred to as high-efficiency particulate absorber, high-efficiency particulate arresting, or high-efficiency particulate arrestance is a type of air filter. Filters meeting the HEPA standard have many applications within the food sector, including direct and indirect applications.
Where HEPA Filtration of Environmental Air is facilitated within a food site, the sizing and operational efficiency ratings of related filtration units must be selected based on considered operational parameters. Filter management must be scheduled and managed as part of Preventative Maintenance routines commensurate with the risk status of related HEPA applications. This is regardless of whether related HEPA filtration is applied for direct or indirect applications.
Standards for the Monitoring and Verification of Environmental Air Standards rely heavily on the risk status of the relevant food site and the products/processes facilitated. For the most effective management of Environmental Air Standards, the outcomes of any Monitoring and Verification activities should be ratified in conjunction with a strong understanding of applicable air filtration and air delivery systems.
Where new or amended Air and Gas fixtures or fittings are applied, these should be reviewed and verified as part of Common Environmental Air Monitoring and Verification Activities include:
As with any targeted Microbiological Verification Activity, the testing and assessment of Air should be based on a logical risk-based methodology to ensure sampling points and methods and microbiological testing methods provide outcomes that genuinely allow for the ratification of risk.
Where Positive Environmental Air Pressure is facilitated within a food site, a significant volume of considerations needs to be processed to ensure the best outcomes. These considerations may include:
Positive pressure airflow systems should be considered for high-risk and high-care areas to control the intake of airborne microorganisms which may potentially contaminate foods. Air being provided into high-risk or high-care areas, particularly for ready-to-eat products, should also be filtered to decrease the content and viability of airborne microorganisms which may contaminate foods. Within High Risk and High-Care Scenarios, air introduction and reticulation systems should be filtered to an appropriate standard based on risk assessment outcomes. Related positive pressure air systems should be implemented and verified on an ongoing basis to ensure the ingress of unfiltered air into controlled areas is minimized.
As with any targeted Microbiological Verification Activity, the testing and assessment of Air should be based on a logical risk-based methodology to ensure sampling points and methods and microbiological testing methods provide outcomes that genuinely allow for the ratification of risk. Standards for the Monitoring and Verification of Positive Environmental Air Pressure rely heavily on the risk status of the relevant food site and the products/processes facilitated. For the most effective management of Positive Environmental Air Pressure Standards, the outcomes of any Monitoring and Verification activities should be ratified in conjunction with a strong understanding of applicable air filtration and air delivery systems.
Common Environmental Air Pressure Monitoring and Verification Activities include:
As with any targeted Microbiological Verification Activity, the testing and assessment of Air should be based on a logical risk-based methodology to ensure sampling points and methods and microbiological testing methods provide outcomes which genuinely allow for the ratification of risk.
Where Compressed Air is used for product or product contact surface applications it needs to be managed to ensure it does not introduce any Food Safety Hazards. General requirements include the use of suitable Compressed Air sources for any applications where the product or product contact surface contacts are relevant. Where Compressed Air is used within sealed systems that do not facilitate the product or product contact surfaces, safety and suitability parameters should still be risk assessed and considered for monitoring and verification activities where peripheral risks may be present.
Filtration of Product Contact or Product Surface Contact Compressed Air
Best practice food industry usage of Product Contact or Product Surface Contact Compressed Air requires consideration and application of filtration systems to ensure moisture, chemical, physical and microbiological contaminants don’t impact the safety or suitability of foodstuffs produced. The types of filters implemented should be based upon product risk status and the related processing methods applied.
Where the Filtration of Product Contact or Product Surface Contact Compressed Air is facilitated within a food site, the sizing and operational efficiency ratings of related filtration units must be selected based on considered operational parameters. Filter management must be scheduled and managed as part of Preventative Maintenance routines commensurate with the risk status of related Product Contact or Product Surface Contact Compressed Air applications.
Standards for the Monitoring and Verification of Product Contact or Product Surface Contact Compressed Air rely heavily on the risk status of the relevant food site and the products/processes facilitated. For the most effective management of Product Contact or Product, Surface Contact Compressed Air the outcomes of any Monitoring and Verification activities should be ratified in conjunction with a strong understanding of applicable air filtration and air delivery systems.
Common Product Contact or Product Surface Contact Compressed Air Monitoring and Verification Activities include:
As with any targeted Microbiological or Chemical Verification Activity, the testing and assessment of Air should be based on a logical risk-based methodology to ensure sampling points and methods and microbiological/chemical testing methods provide outcomes that genuinely allow for the ratification of risk.
Where steam is used for product or product contact surface applications it needs to be managed to ensure it does not introduce any Food Safety Hazards. General requirements include the use of suitable potable water sources for any applications where the product or product contact surface contacts are relevant. Where Steam is used within sealed systems that don’t facilitate product or product contact surface contacts, safety and suitability parameters should still be risk assessed and considered for monitoring and verification activities where peripheral risks may be present.
Best practice food industry usage of Product Contact or Product Surface Contact Steam requires consideration and application of filtration systems to ensure moisture, chemical, physical and microbiological contaminants don’t impact the safety or suitability of foodstuffs produced. The types of filters implemented should be based upon product risk status and the related processing methods applied.
Where the Filtration of Product Contact or Product Surface Contact Steam is facilitated within a food site, the sizing and operational efficiency ratings of related filtration units must be selected based on considered operational parameters. Filter management must be scheduled and managed as part of Preventative Maintenance routines commensurate with the risk status of related Product Contact or Product Surface Contact Steam applications.
Standards for the Monitoring and Verification of Product Contact or Product Surface Contact Steam rely heavily on the risk status of the relevant food site and the products/processes facilitated. For the most effective management of Product Contact or Product, Surface Contact Compressed Air the outcomes of any Monitoring and Verification activities should be ratified in conjunction with a strong understanding of applicable air filtration and air delivery systems.
Common Product Contact or Product Surface Contact Steam Monitoring and Verification Activities include:
Common Usage of Gases within the Food Sector
Many different types of gases are commonly used within Food Processing and Manufacturing businesses, including individual and mixed variants of:
Gases may be used as Additives or Processing aids, and are commonly used in scenarios such as:
Modified Atmosphere Packaging or MAP relies on altering the composition of gases in contact with the food by replacing air with a single gas, or a mixture of gases. The general aim of MAP is to exclude or greatly reduce oxygen levels, retain the moisture content of the food, and inhibit aerobic microbiological growth. The choice of packaging material used for MAP depends on the recommended storage temperature for the food, the relative humidity of the package, and the effect of light, if any, on the contents. Food Grade Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, and Nitrogen are commonly used within the MAP processing of foodstuffs. These gases generally have no adverse effect on the safety or quality of the foods being packaged but do have the potential to increase the shelf life of products when applied appropriately.
It is important to note that some gases (for example Carbon Dioxide or Carbon Monoxide) are prohibited from use within some packaging scenarios as they potentially mask product spoilage.
Chilling and freezing processes can benefit from the use of liquified gases such as Nitrogen that swiftly promote a cryonic state. Processes using gases in this way offer an increased chilling or freezing rate that far surpasses the efficiencies offered by most purely mechanical units. Freezing scenarios can also benefit from reduced product dehydration and increased shelf life. The immediate nature of Gases for chilling and freezing processes can also dramatically decrease microbiological activity within foodstuffs being processed.
Many gases offer substantial benefits through their use in controlled environments within the food processing and storage scenarios:
Sterilization Processes
Reactive gases are often used to kill microorganisms that may be present in foods or water as an essential part of food manufacturing processes. Common sterilizing gas usage within the Food Sector includes:
Many gases used in Sterilization Processes have fallen out of favor due to their toxicity to human health, both within impacted foodstuffs and to staff working with such chemicals.
Gases such as Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen are commonly used to pressurize lines for the dispensing of liquids. These not only propel the liquid but also assist in the prevention of oxidation. Nitrous oxide is a common propellant for use within pressurized aerosol packaging formats.
In all cases of gas usage within the scope of food processing and production, it is important to ensure the type of gas and method of application you choose to use is acceptable within the country of processing and sale for related food items.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Air and Gas Standards Development requirements with 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 Air and Gas Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Air and Gas Standards Documentation requirements with their items.
You may wish to visit the Air and Gas Standards Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Air and Gas Standards 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 Air and Gas Standards 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 Air and Gas Standards do not negatively impact the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Air and Gas Standards 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 Air and Gas Standards within food safety and quality system, you may wish to consider the following requirements before completion:
Once the Air and Gas Standards plan has been developed for each relevant food business process, it has to be effectively implemented and validated.
Common points will need to be considered to facilitate this:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Air and Gas Standards Implementation requirements with 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 Air and Gas Standards 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 Air and Gas Standards 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 apply to Air and Gas Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Air and Gas Standards Monitoring requirements with their items.
You may wish to visit the Air and Gas Standards Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Air and Gas Standards 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 with 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 are 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 Air and Gas Standards Plans and the food business certification process.
Below are Corrective Action and Preventative Action examples which may be associated with Air and Gas Standards related non-conformance:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Air and Gas Standards Corrective Action requirements with 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, Air and Gas Standards 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 apply to Air and Gas Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Air and Gas Standards Verification requirements with 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.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Air and Gas Standards Validation requirements with their items.
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.
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 apply to validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Air and Gas Standards:
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, Air and Gas Standards 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.
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 Air and Gas Standards must be ongoing, including regularly scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Air and Gas Standards should have a knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Air and Gas Standards should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Air and Gas Standards 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 Air and Gas Standards Training, Competency, and Resources requirements with 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.
haccp.com was created to support food businesses and food industry professionals in achieving and maintaining the stringent requirements of food industry compliance.