Photos courtesy of Bühler.
The law enacted in 2011 has been called the most sweeping reform of U.S. food safety laws in more than 70 years.
The seven pillars of the law aim to have a distinct role to comprehensively regulate and modernize all aspects of the food industry, including the “animal food industry.”
The animal food rule establishes new Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMPs), Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls (HARPC), specifically for the manufacturing, processing, packing and holding of animal food. It includes new preventive control provisions, and applies to domestic and imported animal food, including pet food, animal food, and raw materials and ingredients.
Feed mills with more than 500 full-time employees will need to be in compliance with the Preventive Controls by Sept. 18, 2017. Those same facilities should already be in compliance with the Current Good Manufacturing Practice since Sept. 19, 2016.
Requirements are established for a written food safety plan, a hazard analysis, preventative controls for known or reasonably foreseeable biological, chemical, and physical hazards. It includes process and supply-chain controls, as well as a recall plan.
This area represents the biggest opportunity for customers in this segment. Training takes relevance as a priority to fully understand the breadth and the scope of the regulation requirements. Both the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA) and private companies and industry associations are offering training programs to help on the practical side of a facility’s implementation program.
The expectation to reanalyze the Food Safety Plan at least every three years, and/or when a significant change that creates a new hazard, or it becomes obsolete after an unanticipated food safety problem, is part of the 21 CFR 507.50 (a) federal codes of regulations.
Corresponding validation, monitoring, corrective actions, verification and associated records are also required. Bühler offers Smart Validation Services to help customers that need to have a validation of their biological hazards control step in their process.
Many of these activities must be conducted (or overseen) by a preventive controls qualified individual. A preventive controls qualified individual is a qualified individual who has successfully completed certain training in the development and application of risk-based preventive controls or is otherwise qualified through job experience to develop and apply a food safety system. Records documenting the required training in the principles of animal food hygiene and animal food safety must be established and maintained.
If a manufacturing facility has identified in its raw materials and ingredients a hazard that requires a preventive control, the facility needs to address the how, who and when the control activities happen. Not only that, but those actions need to be properly documented (records) to prove that they happened. Access to records is one of the prescribed actions granted to enforcement agencies. It includes electronic records, which need to be available in the case of a facility inspection.
Bühler’s automation solutions offer a food safety specific solution (WinCoS) to ensure proper process record integrity and traceability capabilities reporting.
In summary, the new regulation creates new CGMPs requirements for animal food facilities. In addition, the regulation creates new requirements for certain animal food producing facilities to establish and implement risk-based preventive controls.
The first stage (year 1) of FSMA compliance involves CGMPs. They are nothing more than the baseline standard in terms of plant and grounds, sanitation, water supply and plumbing, equipment and utensils, plant operations management and raw materials, as well as holding and distribution conditions.
In addition, animal food producing facilities subject to the supply-chain program requirements of this rule are responsible for ensuring that ingredients are only sourced from approved suppliers and it has to be verified through audits, testing of raw materials and review of supplier’s food safety records.
The range of supply chain solutions, offered by the Bühler Sortex platform, to help manage the chemical and physical hazards risk in the grains supply chain have already established a proven track record of performance in many different food-related industries.
In this platform, optical sorting is used to detect and separate grains damaged by mold growth therefore containing high levels of mycotoxins.
Compliance with the supply-chain program is tied to the implementation of the PCAF rule (six months delay).
Bühler has been on the food safety journey for a long time, given its global scope, keeping abreast of the trends all over the world. Translating those trends into new product development and services has been essential to convey practical solutions to customers, which can address the requirements of the FSMA and other countries’ regulations.
These efforts are coupled with extensive, continuous employee training, as well as establishing partnerships with industrial and scientific institutions to offer state-of-the-art food safety solutions.
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Comprehensive food and feed safety management
Everything starts with the concept of comprehensive food and feed safety management in processing.
Hygenic design is an important prerequisite to produce safe feed. It does not only protect consumers from hazards, but also contributes to the longevity of the equipment, more cost-effective cleaning and reduction of waste.
Validating equipment and processes will fulfill a great need to comply with the requirements of the Food Safety Plan, since identifying the hazards is only the first step in a process that requires validation, monitoring and verification procedures.
Bühler is an industry leader that is committed to its customers, providing not only training and information, but also has the capabilities to become a partner in providing valuable equipment validation services, that can enable and support a CCP, in the context of a feed and/or food manufacturing operation.
It is a given that all food and feed manufacturing industries operate different equipment, with different profiles (age, maintenance level, etc.) to manufacture different products, for different markets. Therefore, there is no easy approach when you think of process validation.
In light of this, Bühler is currently developing validation tools, such as the Smart Validation Service, which in essence is a modeling tool that enables the use of big real-time data and by using specialized software. It is capable of modeling process conditions and validates the log reduction that may be achieved by the process.
In order to be able to apply mathematical modeling, a lot of work is done behind the scenes collecting microbial lab analysis to scientifically establish the optimal kill conditions, with focus on Salmonella in poultry formulations and potentially in swine formulations as well. That’s where the Bühler team and its partners’ contribution to get started in this validation service journey starts.
In addition, Bühler’s technology and solutions to address both chemical (mycotoxins) and physical (foreign materials) makes for a comprehensive solutions menu for customers and prospects.
