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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 Smallgoods Processing within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
Because of the heightened risk of smallgoods products, including microbiological, physical, and chemical hazards, persons involved in the preparation, processing, manufacturing, packaging, storage, transportation, and retailing of small goods should be adequately and effectively trained commensurate with their roles.
Smallgoods training should be scheduled, conducted, and recorded for all relevant smallgoods employees to ensure they are competent to perform their required tasks. Outcomes of not appropriately training all relevant employees participating within small goods operations can very realistically result in serious instances of food-borne illness; even death for consumers.
In a similar context, substantial information should be made available to consumers regarding the storage, handling, and use of smallgoods products to ensure their actions do not contribute to instances of food-borne illness.
The term Smallgoods includes, but is not limited to products such as:
As with all food products, the quality of the raw materials used to create a smallgoods product will dictate the quality of the end product. Some smallgoods products are renowned for utilizing parts of animals that are traditionally considered as waste or offal. These waste or offal materials used to produce a high-quality smallgoods product must be handled and stored under suitable conditions to ensure appropriate outcomes.
Preparation processes for smallgoods are important in controlling potential hazards through:
As with any food business, smallgoods manufacturing businesses utilize a range of specialized equipment and utensils. Due to the nature of many smallgoods preparations, particular care should be taken in scheduling appropriate preventative maintenance of such equipment and utensils to ensure they do not contribute to product contamination, especially from physical hazards such as metal. As with other food industry sectors, maintenance procedures should include thorough cleaning and sanitation activities after completion.
A wide variety of equipment and utensils are utilized within the smallgoods industry sector, including:
Allergen and species contamination risks must be considered when using equipment to handle, process, and package smallgoods to ensure the integrity of finished products. These are commonly managed through production scheduling and structured cleaning and sanitation procedures between batches of different formulations and species of raw materials.
Below are examples of points to be considered regarding each nominated group of equipment or utensils:
Knives and hand tools must be constructed of suitable materials. High-grade stainless steel is commonly used for construction knives and hand tools within smallgoods businesses. Care should be taken to ensure knives and hand tools are not damaged during their use, as this may potentially result in the contamination of finished products. Smallgoods manufacturers commonly employ sign-in-sign-out procedures for knives and hand tools to ensure any damage involving missing pieces of metal does not result in product contamination. Another common method employed includes tracing the outline of a knife or hand tool before the start of the working shift; the same knife or hand tool is then compared with the traced image to verify the integrity of the items at the end of the working shift. If in the case at the end of the working shift the knife or hand tool is observed with missing parts, an investigation is conducted to locate the missing piece of the item.
As with all equipment, great care must be taken to ensure devices are regularly maintained as elements of an ongoing preventative maintenance system. The nature of many equipment varieties with moving parts makes them a prime potential contributor to product contamination in instances where the equipment becomes damaged, misaligned, or unlubricated. Equipment parts such as polycarbonate covers and pressure gauge covers should also be considered as potential sources of product contamination in instances where they become damaged.
Computer-operated machinery should be monitored on a regular ongoing basis to ensure the general operation and condition of the machinery does not negatively impact the safety or quality of the products being processed. Computer-operated machinery should also be regularly maintained as elements of an ongoing preventative maintenance system.
Due to the nature of their operation, equipment such as mincers, grinders, and mixers can very realistically introduce physical hazards such as metal, bone, and plastic into finished products. These hazards commonly manifest within smallgoods products as follows:
One of the most important considerations with mincers, grinders, and mixers is that they have the potential to break down any physical hazards into smaller pieces, which may be harder to identify and control at steps further down the process flow.
As with other equipment and machinery with moving parts, forming and filling machines may potentially contribute to product contamination through damage, misalignment, or lack of lubrication. It is also common for such equipment to include a plumbed water source for the release of the items being formed from their forming molds. It is important in this context to ensure that the water sources are potable, and do not permit backflow or pooling which may potentially impact the safety or quality of the end product.
Equipment used for cooking and other forms of heat treatment must be appropriately constructed for their intended purpose and must include adequate calibrated temperature and time control devices where applicable. The time and temperature outcomes from the use of cooking and smoking equipment should be verified and re-validated on an ongoing basis to the nominated process control limits are being met.
Fermentation rooms are commonly used where bulk fermented items such as salami variants are manufactured. Due to the high-risk nature of the products and known outcomes of microbiological non-conformance of such products, fermentation rooms must be appropriately constructed and maintained. These rooms should be segregated from raw processing areas and should have a separately filtered air supply and adequate temperature humidity control. Fermentation rooms are generally fitted with temperature and humidity control systems, including gauges for verification of ongoing status during the fermentation process.
Equipment used for blast chilling or chilled storage must be appropriately constructed for their intended purpose and must include adequate calibrated temperature and time control devices where applicable. The time and temperature outcomes from the use of blast chillers should be verified on an ongoing basis to the nominated process control limits for temperature being met.
Smallgoods often rely on accurate formulations of functional ingredients to achieve finished products that conform to their specifications. It is important to ensure that such formulations are correct. This will provide some confidence that the technological function provided by such ingredients will meet its expectations. In this context, is important to consider that some functional ingredients related to food safety:
Verification and validation of process control within smallgoods manufacturing relies on the appropriate development, documentation, and implementation of HACCP-based food safety, along with a strong product design and development system to ensure products are safe and suitable for consumption when produced according to the specified methods.
Identifying and controlling potential hazards relevant to Smallgoods Processing is the basis upon which HACCP is applied for Smallgoods products. The application of HACCP within a smallgoods food business must consider the method through which the determination of hazard significance is applied. This is particularly important where a rating system is used to define the severity of outcomes for potential microbiological hazards, as they are known to cause death to human consumers from smallgoods products. Likewise, the nature of processing can potentially introduce physical contaminants such as metal swarf or functional chemicals such as nitrites or sulphites in higher than anticipated levels.
Common HACCP control points for smallgoods include:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Smallgoods Processing 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 Smallgoods Processing:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Smallgoods Processing Documentation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Smallgoods Processing Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Smallgoods Processing 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 Smallgoods Processing 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 Smallgoods Processing do not negatively impact the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Smallgoods Processing 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 Smallgoods Processing 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 Smallgoods Processing 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 Smallgoods Processing 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 Smallgoods Processing:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Smallgoods Processing Monitoring requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Smallgoods Processing Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Smallgoods Processing 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 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 Smallgoods Processing related non-conformance:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Smallgoods Processing 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 be applicable to Smallgoods Processing:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Smallgoods Processing 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 be applicable to the validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Smallgoods Processing:
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 specific job-related task.
Training and competency requirements for Smallgoods Processing must be ongoing, including regular scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Smallgoods Processing should have knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Smallgoods Processing should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Smallgoods Processing 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 Smallgoods Processing 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.