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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 Storage and Handling Requirements within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
Food business Storage and Handling Requirements must be managed properly to ensure food safety and quality standards are maintained. It is important to consider that Storage and Handling Requirements may differ significantly for raw materials, packaging, chemicals, work in progress, and finished products. Appropriate Storage and Handling Requirements must also be managed through transport and other peripheral process steps.
Depending on the nature of the food operations undertaken within any food business, adequate Storage and Handling facilities should be available for cooling, cooking, refrigerating, and freezing food, and for controlling critical process control elements such as humidity and light controls where applicable.
Foods can be placed in two general classes depending on their ability to cause foodborne illness:
It is of utmost importance to identify the Storage and Handling Requirements for both classes of foods, along with ensuring that they are obtained from approved suppliers, then stored and handled appropriately to prevent cross-contamination and the growth of micro-organisms.
A potentially hazardous food is any food or ingredient that will support the rapid growth of harmful bacteria.
Some examples of potentially hazards foods are as follows:
Exceptions to the examples provided may be considered as follows:
Food can be generally broken into three groups, each with its specific Storage and Handling Requirements. These groups include:
Dry goods storage includes a wide range of products such as some varieties of fresh fruit and vegetables, dried foods such as pasta and cereals, dried legumes, oils, chocolate, dried herbs and spices, food ingredients and canned and bottled foods. The majority of dry goods are classified as low risk, as they are stored at ambient temperatures and generally have a long shelf life.
Dry goods must generally be stored and handled in environments free of moisture at all times, as an alteration in water activity may produce an opportunity for bacteria to grow. As with general Storage and Handling Requirements, dry goods must be stored away from potential contaminants such as chemicals or cleaning and sanitation equipment or utensils. Suitable and adequate ventilation should be provided within dry store areas to ensure control of issues such as mold growth. Dry storage shelving should be smooth and non-porous and should be designed for ease of cleaning.
There is generally a long shelf-life expectancy for dry goods, though date markings should be adhered to when ascertaining the suitability and safety of any food item. It is generally considered best practice to request that dry goods are received at times different to when fresh or frozen goods are received where a common receival point is used. This will reduce the risk of slowing the receival, storage, and handling process of refrigerated or frozen items.
All foods stored in refrigerators should be completely wrapped to prevent cross-contamination and to maintain quality. This can be achieved by using lidded containers, plastic film, or food-grade storage bags. Trays or containers used in refrigerators should be large enough to contain any liquid from thawing items, or blood from meat and fish.
Fresh perishables may be divided into classified groups regarding their hazard rating:
Fresh perishable items must be kept moisture-free, and with the exclusion of potential contaminants at all times during storage, handling, and transport. Such items must be stored immediately to exclude the potential for them becoming unsafe.
All foods stored in freezers should be completely wrapped to prevent cross-contamination and to maintain quality. This can be achieved by using lidded containers, plastic film, or food-grade storage bags.
Frozen goods may include:
It is important to control moisture within freezer storage areas, as excess moisture may cause ice formation and frost, which may potentially contribute to product quality issues or damage to the packaging. De-humidifying units are often fitted to freezer storage areas within high-humidity locations. These dry the air within the freezer unit, which in turn reduces excess moisture, which causes icing and frosting.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Storage and Handling Requirements 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 Storage and Handling Requirements:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Storage and Handling Requirements Documentation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Storage and Handling Requirements Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Storage and Handling Requirements 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 Storage and Handling Requirements 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 Storage and Handling Requirements do not negatively impact the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Storage and Handling Requirements 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 Storage and Handling Requirements within 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 Storage and Handling Requirements 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 Storage and Handling 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 Storage and Handling Requirements:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Storage and Handling Requirements Monitoring requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Storage and Handling Requirements Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Storage and Handling Requirements 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, preventive 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 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 Storage and Handling Requirements related non-conformance:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Storage and Handling Requirements 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 Storage and Handling Requirements:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Storage and Handling Requirements 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 the validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Storage and Handling Requirements:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Storage and Handling Requirements Validation requirements in relation to 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.
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 Storage and Handling must be ongoing, including regularly scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Storage and Handling Requirements should have a knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Storage and Handling Requirements should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Storage and Handling Requirements 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 Storage and Handling Requirements 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.