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FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT

Version 3.4

Key – Those standards which have greater significance (all other standards are normal)

Recommendation – Those which do not affect certification

New – A completely new standard which the member must now adhere to

Revised – A standard that has changed and requires the member to take some different or additional action to before

Upgraded – The standard has been upgraded to a Key standard or from a Recommendation to a full standard

Appendix – Referenced in ‘How you will be measured’. Indicates that additional information is provided in the Appendices, which are available at the end of each section.

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Where to find help – at the end of each section we have indicated where you can get extra guidance if you need it.

Aim:

FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT

AB.FS.a

Standards

A food safety policy is documented and implemented on site

How you will be measured

  • Company-wide documented policy outlining the site’s objectives with regards to achieving and delivering standards of food safety and conforming to the scheme standard and relevant legislation
  • Policy signed off by relevant senior management
  • Policy communicated to relevant persons e.g. through training, posters, work instructions, staff handbook
  • The policy is reviewed annually (demonstrated with a signed and dated review) and kept up-to-date

Food Safety policy

AB.FS.a.1

Standards

An individual must be appointed to hold overall accountability for Food Safety for the site

How you will be measured

  • A documented management structure identifies the role
  • Person holds overall responsibility and sufficient authority to make decisions to safeguard Food Safety

Organogram

AB.FS.a.2

Standards

Reporting systems must be in place to ensure persons with roles of key accountability are kept informed of the site’s compliance position

How you will be measured

  • Persons with the overall accountability for Food Safety are provided with Management reports; information on the site’s compliance position e.g. Customer Complaints, Internal Auditing results

AB.FS.b

Standards

The site must have a documented food safety HACCP plan which complies with all current, relevant EU and UK legislation

How you will be measured

  • The HACCP plan is based on the CODEX principles

HACCP plan

AB.FS.b.1

Standards

A HACCP team leader must be appointed

AB.FS.b.2

Standards

A knowledgeable and experienced team must be in place to manage the HACCP plan

How you will be measured

  • The HACCP team:
    • has accountability for the production, implementation and review of the HACCP plan
    • includes a HACCP team leader
    • includes a HACCP team leader who holds a formal Food Hygiene qualification (that includes training to the HACCP principles) to Level 3 or equivalent, or an external consultant with equivalent qualifications
    • are multi-disciplinary with experience of the site operations and functions

AB.FS.b.3

Standards

The HACCP plan must include a statement clearly outlining its scope

How you will be measured

  • The scope of the plan details what is covered by the plan, including the:
    • species
    • products
    • processes
    • subsequent use/ end-consumers

AB.FS.b.4

Standards

The HACCP plan must include a flow diagram of the production process

How you will be measured

  • Flow diagram (can be one or multiple) details the production process for each species and process (e.g. cutting)

AB.FS.b.5

Standards

The HACCP plan must identify the hazards for each process step

How you will be measured

  • Hazards that need preventing, eliminating or reducing to acceptable levels are identified
  • Hazards are either biological, chemical (including allergens) or physical in characteristics

AB.FS.b.6

Standards

The HACCP plan must identify the Critical Control Point for each hazard

How you will be measured

  • A decision tree that is used to identify the critical control points for all hazards identified as a risk that is not controlled by the pre-requisite programme, may help with this process

AB.FS.b.7

Standards

The HACCP plan must detail the critical limits for each identified CCP

How you will be measured

  • Critical limits established to identify when the hazard is controlled/ at an acceptable level

AB.FS.b.8

Standards

The HACCP plan must detail the monitoring procedures for each CCP

How you will be measured

  • Monitoring procedures detailed include:
    • the responsibility for the process
    • methods of monitoring
    • frequency of monitoring
    • the critical limits and corrective actions to be taken if a CCP is outside of its critical limits
  • Records of monitoring are kept:
    • records include dates, findings and actions

AB.FS.b.9

Standards

The HACCP plan must be validated before implementation and following any significant change to the plan or CCPs

How you will be measured

  • Validation process is documented

AB.FS.b.10

Standards

The HACCP plan must be implemented, kept up-to-date and be effective

How you will be measured

  • CCPs are being monitored, controlled and action taken where necessary
  • The plan is relevant to what is occurring on site

AB.FS.b.11

Standards

The HACCP plan must be reviewed and verified regularly

How you will be measured

  • Review undertaken at least annually or more frequently if there are changes or events that compromise the validity of the HACCP, including: changes to legislation, serious food safety incidents or changes to practices that impact on the processes covered in the HACCP plan
  • The review and verification is controlled by the HACCP team
  • A record of the review and any corrective action or changes made to the HACCP plan is kept
  • The HACCP team signs off the review of the HACCP plan

AB.FS.b.12

Standards

Pre-requisites to the HACCP must be implemented, with control measures and monitoring procedures documented and included within the development and review of the HACCP

How you will be measured

  • Pre-requisites include (but are not limited to) cleaning, maintenance, personnel hygiene, staff training, process controls, allergen management (if allergenic materials used in manufacturing)

AB.FS.c

Standards

A documented plan to the effective management of serious incidents and potential emergency situations must be in place and known to key staff

How you will be measured

  • The risks to the site have been considered and actions to be taken documented
  • Documented procedures have been developed for high risk/ highly likely incidents and include within them the name of the role or position with overall accountability
  • Plan includes relevant contact details (including out of hours' phone numbers) for:
    • the management team
    • key external contacts (including: water supplier, electricity supplier, Government departments, external laboratory, refrigeration engineer, pest control supplier, customers, certification body)
  • Key staff have access to the plan, including staff working out-of-hours
  • The plan is reviewed when a serious incident occurs and at least annually

Emergency plan

AB.FS.c.1

Standards

The emergency management system must be challenged to ensure it is effective

How you will be measured

  • System challenged following a change to the system or at least annually (i.e. a mock challenge)

AB.FS.c.2

Standards

Procedures for product recall and withdrawal must be documented, up-to-date and known by key staff

How you will be measured

  • Procedures outline the steps to be taken to recall and withdraw defective product that has been dispatched from the site

Documented procedures

AB.FS.d

Standards

Systems must be in place for recording, investigating and resolving any complaints that are relevant to the requirements of the Meat Processing standard

How you will be measured

  • Complaints made by customers, general public, Environmental Health Officer or other
  • Complaints related to, but are not limited to, product quality or safety, compliance
  • System includes recording the:
    • complaint
    • investigation result and root cause analysis
    • action taken to reduce the likelihood of the issue happening again
    • the complainant response, where applicable

Complaints records

AB.FS.d.1

Standards

Complaint information must be reviewed by management teams

How you will be measured

  • Complaint data collated and trended to identify recurring issues
  • Information presented in management reports for review by management teams in a timely manner (i.e. timing of reporting is relevant to the size and complexity of the business and the severity of the issue)
  • Corrective actions following reviews documented and implemented

Reporting information

AB.FS.e

Standards

A schedule for internal audits is documented and implemented

How you will be measured

  • Audits undertaken across the site, covering all procedures and practices relevant to the scope of the standard
  • Schedule details:
    • the areas to be audited
    • frequency of auditing
  • Documented procedures are audited at least annually
  • Internal audits undertaken by someone:
    • independent of the process being audited (either somebody in house but independent of the processing activity or somebody external to the company) wherever possible
    • trained in auditing

Audit schedule

AB.FS.e.1

Standards

Where internal audits identify non-compliance, corrective action is implemented

How you will be measured

  • Where applicable the management team are involved in agreeing the appropriate corrective action

AB.FS.e.2

Standards

Results and corrective action for all internal auditing undertaken must be kept and reported to the management team

How you will be measured

  • Record details the date, auditor, results, root cause analysis, corrective and preventative actions to be undertaken

Corrective actions