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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 Product Assessment and Testing within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
Finished product samples must be assessed and tested against the criteria included within the finished product specifications and regulatory requirements to ensure ongoing compliance. The criteria for such assessment and testing may include food safety, food quality, and regulatory parameters.
Product assessment and testing are conducted to confirm that products meet their intended specifications. Whether the specification criteria being tested is from a customer specification or a regulatory standard, the outcomes of the Product and Assessment process must provide evidence that the product is appropriate.
As every food product is different, so are the methods and procedures for Product Assessment and Testing. The differences between Product Assessment and Testing are defined as follows:
It is important to consider that some analytical testing methods are defined by regulatory agencies to ensure appropriate outcomes are maintained. This may also be evident where a particular customer specification may reference certain analytical testing methods to be used for a specified test.
The methods applied to ensure products are conforming to specified parameters are many and varied, so much so that customers often specify the assessment and testing methods to be used. In this context, it is important to consider that all methods applied to confirm a product’s conformance to agreed parameters are reliable and can produce accurate outcomes. The following examples are provided as an indication of generally accepted methods for product assessment and testing:
Microbiological and Chemical criteria for foods are commonly defined within both regulatory and customer standards. Food businesses must conduct validation and verification testing on an ongoing scheduled basis to provide evidence that such Microbiological and Chemical limits are being met.
Microbiological and Chemical assessment and testing is commonly conducted either in-house, within the food business, or by a contracted external service provider. Regardless of whether in-house or external laboratories are used for Microbiological and Chemical assessment and testing, it is important to ensure that the testing methods and results reporting formats meet regulatory and customer requirements.
In-house assessment and testing may include the use of rapid indicator tests, or standardized laboratory techniques. Where in-house Microbiological and Chemical assessment and testing is conducted, it is important to ensure that the methods used and outcomes applied to meet the expectations of regulatory and customer standards. It is important to ensure that Microbiological and Chemical assessment and testing activities are conducted in a manner that meets the prescribed requirements of Good Laboratory Practices, to achieve appropriate outcomes whilst not providing any risk of product contamination.
Contracted external laboratory service providers are often utilized where required Microbiological and Chemical testing can’t be conducted onsite, usually due to the availability of suitable resources. Where an external laboratory service provider is required, the nominated laboratory should be managed through the Approved Supplier Program to ensure appropriate outcomes. The generally accepted minimum requirement for contracted external laboratory service providers is for them to be accredited to the ISO 17025 standard, which provides confidence in the testing methods and results issued by the business. ISO 17025 is a global standard, established by the International Organization for Standardization, for the technical competence of calibration and testing laboratories.
The methods used for testing and reporting are often based upon published and accepted national or international standards. These are commonly given codes to differentiate a specific assessment or testing method from another method. In some cases, where a specified testing method code is nominated against Microbiological and Chemical criteria, it is important to ensure that the results show some correlation between the required testing method, and the actual testing method employed. This is particularly important where external laboratories are used; these laboratories may have their testing code linked to a national or international standard. In such cases, it is common for testing results to reference both internal and external testing method codes, or for the contracted laboratory to provide an equivalence statement, which provides a link between the accepted national or international standards and their internal testing codes.
Examples of Microbiological and Chemical Assessment and Testing include, but are not limited to:
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 Product Assessment and Testing:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Product Assessment and Testing Documentation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Product Assessment and Testing Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Product Assessment and Testing 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 Product Assessment and Testing 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 Product Assessment and Testing do not negatively impact the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Product Assessment and Testing 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 Product Assessment and Testing 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 Product Assessment and Testing 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 HACCP 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 Product Assessment and Testing 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 Product Assessment and Testing:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Product Assessment and Testing Monitoring requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Product Assessment and Testing Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Product Assessment and Testing 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 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 are implemented to ensure identified non-conformance issues are documented, investigated, and rectified within appropriate timeframes. Corrective action is any action applied to regain control over a product, process, policy, or procedure that has been identified as being non-conforming 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 HACCP Plans and the food business certification process.
Below are Corrective Action and Preventative Action examples which may be associated with Product Assessment and Testing related non-conformance:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Product Assessment and Testing 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, HACCP 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 Product Assessment and Testing:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Product Assessment and Testing 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, HACCP 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 apply to validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Product Assessment and Testing:
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 Product Assessment and Testing must be ongoing, including regularly scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Product Assessment and Testing should have knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Product Assessment and Testing should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Product Assessment and Testing 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 Product Assessment and Testing 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.
haccp.com was created to support food businesses and food industry professionals in achieving and maintaining the stringent requirements of food industry compliance.