All posts by Carolina Hernández

The scope of the management system

Quality

The scope of registration and certification will need to reflect precisely and clearly the activities covered by your organization’s management system; any exclusion to non-applicable requirements of the standards should be documented and justified in the manual. No single business-related activity should exist outside of the scope. You should discuss the scope of registration prior to, during the early stages of contact with the registrar, or during the selection process.

 

From a review of the nature of your business’s operations, products and services, the scope of the management system should be apparent by the extent of the processes and controls that your organization has already established.

 

Look for confirmation that your organization has determined the boundaries and applicability of the management system to establish its scope with reference to any external and internal issues, the requirements of relevant interested parties, and the nature of your organization’s products and services. Consideration of the boundaries and applicability of the management system can include:

 

  1. The range of products and services;
  2. Different sites and activities;
  3. External provision of processes, products and services;
  4. Common support provided by centralised functions;
  5. Processes, procedures, instructions, or site-specific requirements.

 

The scope of your management system may include the whole of the organization, specific and identified functions within the organization, specific sections of the organization, or one or more functions across a group of organizations. Auditors will challenge your organization if any activities, products, and services that would likely have a significant impact on the environment or those that impact health and safety are omitted from the scope. Your organization’s scope determinations should be reasonable and consistently applied.

 

Ensure that your organization has considered its degree of control and influence over its activities, products, and services from a life cycle perspective. The degree of control needs to be determined for environmental aspects associated with such things as procured goods and services, outsourced processes, product performance requirements, end of life treatment (recycling, disposal, etc.).

 

The management system scope must be retained as documented information in accordance with, usually within the management system manual. The scope statement is normally shown on the certificate, for most registrars. You may not design your products because your customers supply product specifications and drawings. In which case you can exclude the product design processes and requirements.

 

ISO codes daily use

News

Since 1947, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has been creating quality control standards to ensure the safety of products and services worldwide. With more than 22,000 quality standards in industries ranging from healthcare to food and beverages, ISO is committed to creating a safe and consistent user experience across countries and cultures. In addition, ISO standards are reviewed every five years to adapt to changes in technology and consumer needs, ensuring nothing is out-of-date.

 

Although ISO’s goal is to encourage uniformity in systems and products, some of the codes that ISO covers may surprise you. Here’s a brief overview of how ISO standards are used to improve the user experience, and how some ISO standards still have an impact on everyday life.

 

ISO 639 – LANGUAGE CODES

 

Internationally recognized codes for the representation of more than 500 languages or language families, with ISO 639.

 

This ISO standard can be applied across many types of organizations and situations. It’s invaluable for bibliographic purposes, in libraries or information management, including computerized systems, and for the representation of different language versions on Websites.

 

ISO 639 IS COMPOSED OF FIVE DIFFERENT PARTS:

 

Part 1: ISO 639-1:2002 provides a 2-letter code that has been designed to represent most of the major languages of the world.

Part 2: ISO 639-2:1998 provides a 3-letter code, which gives more possible combinations, so ISO 639-2:1998 can cover more languages.

Part 3: ISO 639-3:2007 provides a 3-letter code and aims to give as complete a listing of languages as possible, including living, extinct and ancient languages.

Part 4: ISO 639-4:2010 gives the general principles of language coding and lays down guidelines for the use of ISO 639.

Part 5: ISO 639-5:2008 provides a 3-letter code for language families and groups (living and extinct).

 

ISO 3166 – COUNTRY CODES

 

The International Standard for country codes and codes for their subdivisions

 

The purpose of ISO 3166 is to define internationally recognized codes of letters and/or numbers that we can use when we refer to countries and their subdivisions. However, it does not define the names of countries – this information comes from the United Nations sources (Terminology Bulletin Country Names and the Country and Region Codes for Statistical Use maintained by the United Nations Statistics Divisions).

 

Using codes saves time, avoids errors and instead of using a country’s name (which will change depending on the language being used), we can use a combination of letters and/or numbers that are understood all over the world.

 

ISO 4217 – CURRENCY CODES

 

People around the world rely on almost 300 different currencies to do business with each other, which is why it pays to use ISO 4217.

 

This standard establishes internationally recognized codes for the representation of currencies that enable clarity and reduce errors. Currencies are represented both numerically and alphabetically, using either three digits or three letters. Some of the alphabetic codes for major currencies are familiar, such as “EUR” for Euros. Fortunately, ISO 4217 covers everything from Afghanis to Zambian Kwacha as well.

 

ALPHABETIC CODE

The alphabetic code is based on another ISO standard, ISO 3166, which lists the codes for country names. The first two letters of the ISO 4217 three-letter code are the same as the code for the country name, and, where possible, the third letter corresponds to the first letter of the currency name.

 

For example:

The US dollar is represented as USD – the US coming from the ISO 3166 country code and the D for dollar.

The Swiss franc is represented by CHF – the CH being the code for Switzerland in the ISO 3166 code and F for franc.

 

NUMERIC CODE

The three-digit numeric code is useful when currency codes need to be understood in countries that do not use Latin scripts and for computerized systems. Where possible, the three-digit numeric code is the same as the numeric country code.

 

For currencies having minor units, ISO 4217:2015 also shows the relationship between the minor unit and the currency itself (i.e. whether it divides into 100 or 1000).

 

ISO 4217:2015 also describes historical codes in List 3, as well as the codes representing certain funds in List 2.

 

MAINTAINING ISO 4217

Periodically, amendments must be made to ISO 4217:2015 and these are managed by the Secretariat of the Maintenance Agency, in this case the SIX Financial Information AG on behalf of the Swiss Association for Standardization, SNV.

 

ISO 8601 – DATE AND TIME FORMAT

 

This ISO standard helps remove doubts that can result from the various days–date conventions, cultures and time zones that impact a global operation. It provides a way of presenting dates and times that is clearly defined and understandable to both people and machines.

 

When dates are represented by numbers they can be interpreted in different ways. For example, 01/05/12 could mean January 5, 2012, or May 1, 2012. On an individual level this uncertainty can be very frustrating, in a business context it can be very expensive. Organizing meetings and deliveries, writing contracts, and buying airplane tickets can be very difficult when the date is unclear.

 

ISO 8601 tackles this uncertainty by setting out an internationally agreed way to represent dates:

 

YYYY-MM-DD

 

For example, September 27, 2012 is represented as 2012-09-27.

 

ISO 8601 can be used by anyone who wants to use a standardized way of presenting:

 

Date

Time of day

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)

Local time with offset to UTC

Date and time

Time intervals

Recurring time intervals

SQF Edition 9 Code Amendments

Food Safety

SQFI has introduced four code amendments to be implemented and audited with the applicable Edition 9 codes:

 

  1. Medical screening applies to Personnel Hygiene and Welfare, 3.3.1.1; 4.3.1.1; 9.3.1.1; 10.4.1.1; 11.3.1.1; 12.4.1.1; 13.3.1.1; 17.3.1.1. These elements shall include a medical screening procedure for all employees, visitors and contractors who handle exposed product or food contact surfaces.

 

  1. Approved Suppliers applies to 2.3.3 in the primary food safety codes and 2.3.4 in all other codes except Storage & Distribution. Approved supplier registers shall include supplier contact details.  All approved and emergency suppliers shall be registered.

 

  1. Multi-site program. Sub-sites within an SQF multi-site program can only operate in one or more of these food sector categories – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 26.

 

  1. Application of Agricultural Chemicals. The requirements of 7.7.3.2, 5.7.3.2, 8.7.3.2, and 18.8.4.2 shall apply to the person(s) applying chemicals as well as the person making decisions on chemical application.

 

To those who upgrade to Edition 9. Should apply the following requirements:

 

  • 7.3.2
  • 7.3.2
  • 7.3.2
  • 8.4.2

 

 

The implementation date is October 4, 2021. All Edition 9 Code Amendments are available in the following link: https://www.sqfi.com/resource-center/edition-9-code-amendments

PrimusGFS Version 3.2 Documents

Farming

Azzule Systems has made its new version of PrimusGFS – v3.2 – currently available to auditees, it will be the mandatory version for audits scheduled after March 1, 2022.

 

PrimusGFS v3.2 aligns with the GFSI’s v2020.1 benchmarking requirements and offers both GAP (Farm, Indoor Agriculture, and Harvest Crew) and GMP (Cooling & Cold Storage, Packinghouse, Processing, Storage & Distribution) audits.

 

The GFSI scopes covered by the standard include:

  • Farming of Plants
  • Farming of Grains and Pulses
  • Pre-processing Handling of Plant Products
  • Processing of Plant Perishable Products
  • Processing of Animal and Plant Perishable Products (Mixed Products)
  • Processing of Ambient Stable Products
  • Provision of Storage and Distribution Services.

 

Version 3.2 brings updates to address:

  • The GFSI v2020.1 benchmarking requirements
  • stakeholder feedback
  • continued focus on FDA FSMA’s Produce Safety
  • Preventive Control for Human Food

 

As well as relevant recent best practice updates from commodity specific guidance documents, updates to GMP Applicability Charts, the addition of new corrective action closure requirements, updated scientific research metrics (e.g. mitigation buffer distances, produce wash water anti-microbial metrics), refined and improved GAP pesticide questions, and updates to question flow concerns where necessary (e.g., harvest practice questions).

 

All Version 3.2 Documents are available in the following link:

http://primusgfs.com/pgfs-v3-2/

ISO 22000:2018 – Food Safety Management Systems – Extra guidance on food safety

Food Safety

Keeping food safe involves the combined effort of every single player in the food production chain, from farm to fork. This means everyone needs to speak the same language and adhere to the same rules. ISO 22000 is an internationally recognized scheme in the food industry, and now a new guidance has just been published to help users get the most out of it. 

 

Published jointly by ISO and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the new handbook ISO 22000:2018 – Food safety management systems – A practical guide provides in-depth and practical information to help organizations more effectively implement a food safety management system (FSMS) in accordance with ISO 22000:2018.

 

Having such a system can bring enormous benefits to any organization involved in food production, as it can help to reduce the risk of contamination and harm to the end consumer. However, putting it in place is not always a simple task and can involves significant amount of time and effort.

 

This new handbook is designed to help the food sector prepare and implement an FSMS according to the ISO 22000:2018 requirements and guide them through the various tasks, thus making the process smoother and more effective.

 

ISO 22000:2018 – Food safety management systems – A practical guide also provides information about the certification process, which will be helpful to any organization seeking to obtain certification or wanting to learn about the ISO 22000 certification process. It is available for purchase from your national ISO member or the ISO Store.

 

References:

Extra guidance on food safety. (2021, March 9). ISO. https://www.iso.org/news/ref2639.html

The importance of prerequisite programs to implement HACCP

Food Safety

HACCP is a management system in which food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution, and consumption of the finished product. For the successful implementation of a HACCP plan, management must be strongly committed to the HACCP concept. A firm commitment to HACCP by top management provides company employees with a sense of the importance of producing safe food.

 

HACCP is designed for use in all segments of the food industry from growing, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, distributing, and merchandising to preparing food for consumption. Prerequisite programs such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) are an essential foundation for the development and implementation of successful HACCP plans. Food safety systems based on the HACCP principles have been successfully applied in food processing plants, retail food stores, and food service operations. The seven principles of HACCP have been universally accepted by government agencies, trade associations and the food industry around the world.

 

 

Prerequisite Programs

 

The production of safe food products requires that the HACCP system to be built upon a solid foundation of prerequisite programs. Each segment of the food industry must provide the conditions necessary to protect food while it is under their control. This has traditionally been accomplished through the application of GMPs. These conditions and practices are now considered to be prerequisite to the development and implementation of effective HACCP plans.

 

Prerequisite programs provide the basic environmental and operating conditions that are necessary to produce safe, wholesome food. Many of the conditions and practices are specified in federal, state, and local regulations and guidelines (e.g., GMPs and Food Code). The Codex Alimentarius General Principles of Food Hygiene describe the basic conditions and practices expected for foods intended for international trade. In addition to the requirements specified in the regulations, the industry often adopts policies and procedures that are specific to their operations. Many of these are proprietary. While prerequisite programs may impact upon the safety of a food, they also are concerned with ensuring that foods are wholesome and suitable for consumption. HACCP plans are narrower in scope, being limited to ensuring food is safe to consume.

 

The existence and effectiveness of prerequisite programs should be assessed during the design and implementation of each HACCP plan. All prerequisite programs should be documented and regularly audited. Prerequisite programs are established and managed separately from the HACCP plan. Certain aspects, however, of a prerequisite program may be incorporated into a HACCP plan. For example, many establishments have preventive maintenance procedures for processing equipment to avoid unexpected equipment failure and loss of production. During the development of a HACCP plan, the HACCP team may decide that the routine maintenance and calibration of an oven should be included in the plan as an activity of verification. This would further ensure that all the food in the oven is cooked to the minimum internal temperature that is necessary for food safety.

 

For a successful HACCP program to be properly implemented, management must be committed to a HACCP approach. A commitment by management will indicate an awareness of the benefits and costs of HACCP and include education and training of employees. Benefits, in addition to enhanced assurance of food safety, are better use of resources and timely response to problems. Before developing and implementing an effective HACCP plan, prerequisites and training need to be established first.

 

Many of the conditions and practices are specified in federal and provincial regulations and guidelines. All prerequisite programs should be documented and regularly audited and are established and maintained separately from the HACCP plan.

 

 

References:

Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. (2017, December 19). HACCP Principles & Application Guidelines. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/food/hazard-analysis-critical-control-point-haccp/haccp-principles-application-guidelines

Scott, V. N., & Stevenson, K. E., PhD. (2006). HACCP, a Systematic Approach to Food Safety (4th ed.). FPA Food Products Association.