Product Identification and Traceability - haccp.com

Описание: The primary reason for having a functional traceability system in place is to ensure safe food and to aid in the removal of unsafe food from the marketplace. A logical and systematic form of product identification is integral in such a system. Such a program must allow trace back and trace forward of all finished products, ingredients and other raw materials. This system must be validated, and verified, to ensure it is effective.

All raw materials and finished products must be identifiable and traceable at all stages of the process from receipt to finished products, including process steps where process deviations such as work in progress and re-working occur.

A food business should have documented policies and procedures that details how products are identified at all stages of the process including the following aspects:
All foods and ingredients should be labelled at the end of production and prior to storage. Items must also be re-labelled where they have been removed from their previous container. As a minimum, the product label should include the product name and a best before or use by date;
All foods should be covered before labelling, and must not be compromised by the action of covering or labelling;
A physical description of how waste, rework, raw materials, work in progress and, where applicable, allergenic materials should be defined;
A first in first out policy should be applied to all products in storage;
Raw ingredients are to be stored in original packaging or in sealed containers to prevent the risk of allergen cross contact or foreign body cross-contamination;
Pre-existing labels should be removed to reduce confusion and to allow sufficient cleaning and sanitising of the container they were adhered to;
If day type labels of differing colours are used, dates and descriptions should also be used to provide sufficient information about the item;
If an item is to be frozen, it should contain sufficient details including the date of freezing and any special instructions;
If coloured utensils, containers, cleaning equipment or chopping boards are used for specific product types or tasks, this should also be outlined in the policy;
A description of how raw materials and finished products are batch and date coded;
Frozen items should also be dated when they are removed from frozen storage for defrost;
The shelf life of perishable products invariably alters from the manufacturers original Use By or Best Before date once the original container or pack has been opened. Appropriate labelling will be used to indicate the new Use By or Best Before date.

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