Downloading a resource will add this resource to your resource subscriptions. You will be notified of future updates to this resource via email (you may unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the email notification, or to unsubscribe immediately from all update notifications, click here)
Downloading a resource will add this resource to your resource subscriptions. You will be notified of future updates to this resource via email (you may unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the email notification, or to unsubscribe immediately from all update notifications, click here)
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 Waste and Recyclables Management within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
The food industry produces a large number of by-products or waste, which must be disposed of or recycled. Food businesses create several types of waste; the appropriate handling and management of which is essential to prevent cross-contamination of the foodstuffs being handled by the business.
Suitable provision must be made for the removal and storage of all waste variants that occur as a consequence of operating any food business. Waste and Recyclable materials must not be allowed to accumulate in food handling, storage, or other operational working areas and the adjoining environment except so far as is unavoidable for the proper functioning of the food business. Waste storage, processing, and handling areas must be kept appropriately clean and sanitized. Waste and Recyclables Management systems should be monitored for effectiveness and periodically verified by methods such as pre-operational inspections or, where appropriate, microbiological sampling of the operational environment.
It is important to consider that “waste” by definition may also include items such as out-of-specification products, which may need to be held until a decision is made regarding their disposal.
The incorrect application of Waste and Recyclables Management within any food business may pose a risk of cross-contamination and compromise the production of safe food. It is also important to consider that the lack of appropriate applications of Waste and Recyclables Management within a food business can also negatively impact the effectiveness of other business systems such as pest and vermin control. Inappropriately handled and managed waste and recyclables, particularly around the exterior of food premises can harbor and sustain pest presence, which may lead to issues within the site.
Containers for waste, by-products, and inedible or dangerous substances, should be specifically identifiable, suitably constructed, and, where appropriate, made of impervious material. Containers used to hold dangerous substances should be identified and where appropriate, be lockable to prevent malicious or accidental contamination of food.
It is common for food businesses to nominate a specified color, signage, or “coding” for waste containers to ensure they are not mistaken for food containers. In such instances, documented procedures must include clarifications of these. Induction and ongoing training activities should also include requirements for the storage, handling, and usage of waste containers.
Waste containers are commonly the only such items to be allowable for floor storage within food businesses; all other containers and items should not generally be stored directly on the floor.
In a modern age where resource management has social and economic implications, recycling of materials has become an important requirement for many foods business sectors. Recycling usually involves the temporary segregated storage of specified items such as plastics and cardboard. These items are then commonly removed from the food business by a contracted service provider who will make the materials available for re-processing into other items.
Where recycling is conducted by a food business, the general rules of waste management must be followed to ensure products do not become contaminated through the actions associated with the recycling process.
Good housekeeping practices aim to reduce potential threats to the safety and quality of foods during all stages of processing, storage, and handling. The advantages of good housekeeping practices include team building and reliance, conservation of time and effort whilst working, improvement of workplace safety, minimized risk of product or process contamination, improved effectiveness of pest control programs, and the protection of machines and equipment used in processing.
The requirements of Good Housekeeping Practices include:
Proper sanitary controls for water supply systems and sewage and liquid waste disposal systems are necessary for all types of food businesses to prevent the contamination of food and the creation of public health hazards. Water sources within food businesses are so commonplace that it is often overlooked, and not given much thought as to their availability, purity, and safety.
Most water supply systems must generally comply with two important requirements:
Despite the protection initially provided through compliance to these two regulations, hazards may potentially occur through repairs, emergencies, changes, or alterations in the water delivery and distribution system within a food business. Custom water systems, potable water systems, and recycled water systems present special challenges which must be identified and managed to ensure the production of safe foods.
Food business owners, operators, and supervisors must ensure that:
Sewage and liquid waste disposal are strongly regulated because many disease organisms are found in human and animal excrement. Improper disposal of sewerage and liquid waste contributes to insect, rodent, and other pest problems and water pollution; all of which may potentially contribute to the production of unsafe foods. The “static” septic tank of on-site sewage disposal systems must be pumped regularly to ensure adequate performance. Failure to do so will result in system malfunction that contributes to sewage backup, pooling at the disposal site, or drainage into a nearby watercourse. Plumbing for sewage and liquid waste in all types of food establishments must be sized, installed, and maintained as per the applicable plumbing regulations, and all installations, repairs, and alterations must be facilitated by a licensed plumber.
Liquid waste must be hygienically disposed of to ensure contamination of foods does not occur. Liquid waste sources such as mop bucket water, equipment cleaning, and sanitation water, and food preparation must not be poured onto the external premises at a food business, or otherwise, be disposed of in any manner other than through the sewage disposal system. Utility sinks, floor sinks, and the occasional use of the toilet should be used for the disposal of liquid waste. The disposal of mop water and similar liquid waste in food preparation sinks, hand-washing facilities, and ware-washing facilities is not acceptable, as it may contribute to the contamination of foods.
One of the greatest problems with sewage and liquid waste disposal in food establishments is direct connections between the sewage plumbing systems and drains originating from equipment. All such equipment must have an indirect connection consisting of a physical break in the drain line.
Cross connections are of major public health concern in all types of food operations as these are situations that contribute to backflow and back-siphonage of contaminated water into the safe water supply system. Hoses connected to water outlets without a backflow prevention device are one of the most common cross-connections found in food establishments. Units such as, manual or mechanical sprays, injecting units, dishwashing pre-rinse spray units, wash-down stations, power spray cleaning units, that are connected to the water supply system without a back-siphonage device are potential cross-connections. Submerged inlets in garbage grinders and other equipment are also cross-connections.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Waste and Recyclables Management 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 Waste and Recyclables Management:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Waste and Recyclables Management Documentation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Waste and Recyclables Management Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Waste and Recyclables Management 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 Waste and Recyclables Management 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 Waste and Recyclables Management do not negatively impact the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Waste and Recyclables Management 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 Waste and Recyclables Management 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 Waste and Recyclables Management 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 Waste and Recyclables Management 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 be applicable to Waste and Recyclables Management:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Waste and Recyclables Management Monitoring requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Waste and Recyclables Management Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Waste and Recyclables Management 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 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 to the food business certification process.
Below are Corrective Action and Preventative Action examples which may be associated with Waste and Recyclables Management related non-conformances:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Waste and Recyclables Management 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 be applicable to Waste and Recyclables Management:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Waste and Recyclables Management 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 system 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 be applicable to the validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Waste and Recyclables Management:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Waste and Recyclables Management 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 Waste and Recyclables Management must be ongoing, including regular scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Waste and Recyclables Management should have knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Waste and Recyclables Management should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Waste and Recyclables Management 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 Waste and Recyclables Management 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.