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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 Verification Activities within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
Many processes within the food safety system require both validation and verification. The verification of a process is an ongoing check after the product is made and the processing is complete to ensure that those values that were initially validated are still being met.
The key defining difference between validation and verification is that verification takes place after the validated control measures have been implemented through a food safety system. Verification is the tool used to assess the effectiveness of the validated control measures and to ensure that the validated control measures are controlling potential hazards as anticipated.
Verification activities are applied during or after the food operation to determine that the validated control measures have been effectively implemented to achieve ongoing control of the relevant identified hazards. Common verification methods include a review of records to ensure the applied control measures have been applied according to the defined critical limits or procedures. This differs from the act of completing the monitoring activities and records themselves, in that the verification element is to confirm that the control measures were monitored and recorded at the specified frequency according to the nominated procedures.
Verification activities can target single or multiple control measures in their application. Examples of this are provided as follows:
– A single control measure verification activity may include a review of a specific monitoring record to ensure that a control measure has been monitored and recorded at the specified frequency according to the nominated procedures;
– A multiple control measure verification activity may include a review of microbiological testing outcomes to ensure the product is microbiologically safe and meets the specified microbiological criteria.
In instances where the validation activity demonstrates a high level of control over a generally invariable control measure, the requirement to verify the safety of the product may be scheduled at lesser intervals. An example of this may be where an applied cooking step reduces potential microbiological pathogens well below the safe level. In this case, based upon the process validation, microbiological verification testing would not be expected to be conducted for each batch of product produced. In an instance where the validation activity shows that the process meets the microbiological requirements, but not consistently by large margins, more frequent microbiological verification testing should be considered.
Most Food Safety and Quality Programs will have a documented verification schedule that lists all the activities of verification for a year. Commonly among those activities are the following:
Shelf-Life testing is often required where food products are likely to become microbiologically unsafe, mainly due to their composition, packaging, and intended use. The primary concern for such testing is to define the length of time parameters, under which a particular item of food will remain microbiologically safe under its intended storage conditions. Other relevant factors may also include water activity and acidity as pH.
The important factor to consider in this regard is how consumers may store the foods, and whether or not this factor may have some impact on the food that they will eventually consume. This is where consumer education, and in particular, product labeling are most important. Labeling specifications for storage not only provide an indicator for consumers to abide by but also provide a due diligence approach to ensuring the foods consumed are safe when they are consumed.
Revalidation of the shelf life of a product should take place whenever an input ingredient or production process is changed.
Shelf-life testing is usually broken into two components:
Microbiological Shelf-Life testing is usually conducted in a controlled laboratory environment, where the food items being tested are subject to a variety of tests covering a spectrum of applicable pathogenic bacteria and spoilage organisms, usually nominated by legislative and industry guidelines. A certain number of specific types of bacteria may be acceptable in a product at the end of its life. The testing is conducted throughout the product’s designated shelf life, whilst the product is being stored under the nominated storage conditions. If the amounts of identified nominated bacteria are within the acceptable parameters of the guidelines, this provides a validation that the shelf life that has been given to the food product. When testing a product for its shelf life, testing should carry on past the shelf life to collect data that will enable an assessment on whether the shelf life may be extended.
If there are detections of specified micro-organisms above the specified levels, corrective actions are generally required. These may include:
Organoleptic or sensory shelf-life testing includes an assessment of the food’s parameters including look, smell, texture, taste, weight, and size, to anticipate and define the customers’ perception of an acceptable and unacceptable product. This type of activity is predominantly driven by quality aspects, which assume that the product is already safe and that the sensory testing will provide information regarding how the product will perform in the marketplace, and whether or not it will be accepted by the customers who consume it. Finished product specifications are an important component of this process, and are usually referred to during testing.
Organoleptic testing provides a wealth of information regarding a food product, and how it will perform until its Use By or Best Before date arrives, especially when combined with microbiological shelf-life testing as previously mentioned. It is important, to ensure that any food undergoing organoleptic testing is safe before initiating such testing, particularly within the context of research and development for new products.
Some food businesses use taste panels to facilitate this kind of testing, where many people from different employment and social backgrounds give their opinions regarding elements such as look, smell, texture, and taste, and whether or not the finished product specification is truly reflected in the product being tested. The items being tested should remain anonymous for the testers until the testing has been completed. Testers should be honest in their approach to testing and rely on all of their senses to create a valued judgment regarding all samples being tested.
Retention samples are often required for manufactured foods to ensure proof of safety and quality aspects. These are generally samples of finished products that can be accessed if product assessments or testing is required after the product has been released to customers. Retention samples are often used to provide validation of product safety or quality after an issue with a product has been identified, either through testing conducted after the product has been released to consumers or through an incident linked to a particular food product.
Some regulatory and industry standards require that a specified sample of food products are retained up until the defined expiry of shelf life of the product, or until the product is reasonably likely to have been used or disposed of by consumers.
In many circumstances, it is advantageous for businesses producing high-volume high-risk foodstuffs to take samples of products periodically. The holding of samples can provide evidence where an alleged food-borne illness has occurred, and your business has been implicated.
The following may be considered where retention sampling is initiated:
Internal audits are scheduled, conducted, and recorded to ensure a food business has the stimulus to maintain its food safety and quality programs. Internal audits should be scheduled to include all elements of the food safety and quality systems and should be conducted by competent internal auditors at a frequency relevant to the risk of the processes and products involved. Outcomes of the internal auditing process should be communicated to senior management and should include a formalized corrective action process for any identified non-conformances. The Internal Auditing processes within leading food businesses are strongly linked to the Continuous Improvement Process.
The consideration of the Worst-Case Scenario is of utmost importance for any Verification Activity, as this provides a framework through which Verification outcomes can provide a high degree of confidence in the control of potential hazards. When considering Verification for Worst-Case Scenario, it is important to be aware of the relevant potential hazard, and any associated Critical Limits and Control Measures applied to that potential hazard at any step within the process flow. The ultimate goal is to ensure that your Verification Activity is conducted in a manner that demonstrates the effectiveness of your implemented process controls to ensure any potential hazard does not occur.
Examples of applications of Worst-Case Scenario considerations may include:
– Conducting testing and assessments on products produced against the Validated Worst-Case Scenario conditions;
– Conducting testing and assessments on food products immediately after processing.
Details of the Worst-Case Scenario considerations should be referenced within related Verification documentation to support product and process compliance outcomes.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Verification Activities 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 Verification Activities:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Verification Activities Documentation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Verification Activities Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Verification Activities 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 Verification Activities 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 Verification Activities do not negatively impact the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Verification Activities 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 Verification Activities within the 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 Verification Activities 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 Verification Activities 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 Verification Activities:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Verification Activities Monitoring requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Verification Activities Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Verification Activities 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 are implemented to ensure identified non-conformances 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 put a stop to 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 Verification Activities related to non-conformances:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Verification Activities 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-conformances are identified and rectified within an appropriate timeframe. When non-conformances 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 Verification Activities:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Verification Activities 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 inappropriate limits of control or acceptability are identified and rectified within an appropriate timeframe. When non-conformances are identified through the validation 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 Verification Activities:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Verification Activities 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 Verification Activities must be ongoing, including regularly scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Verification Activities should have a knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Verification Activities should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Verification Activities 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 Verification Activities 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.