4 minute read
Food safety elements in practice
f BY outsourcing his coolroom maintenance services, he can get a ‘before and after maintenance report’ and reduce the risk of a major breakdown.
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Food safety elements in practice delivering outcomes for growers
BY JOEL DINSDALE QUALITY ASSURANCE COORDINATOR, VEGETABLESWA
Irecently spoke with vegetablesWA committee member Paul Glavocich about how Freshcare delivers extras for his business, Glavocich Produce. Exploring opportunities for how he can achieve positive practical outcomes while also ticking off the food safety and regulatory requirements demanded by markets and customers at the same time.
This is a somewhat hidden component of Freshcare that further adds value to the scheme for growers like Paul (beyond the food safety elements). It’s another great reason to adopt a thirdparty certification program into your horticulture business — not just for food safety alone.
Business partners Paul and Crystal recently invested in a coolroom to give them storage and delivery flexibility as the addition allows for best practice storage for his vegetable lines.
The setup initially required a capital investment, and it also requires ongoing maintenance and cleaning resources to ensure that it is running efficiently. Paul and Crystal wanted to maximise their return on investment, so they have looked to their certification program (QA system) to assist in the delivery of positive outcomes. They know they must do the following to maintain their Freshcare certification: • Document the coolroom into their
F8 Preventative maintenance plan (which requires them to maintain it as documented); • Document the coolroom into their
F8 Cleaning plan (which requires ongoing cleaning as per the plan); • Calibration as documented in the F8
Measuring/Monitoring Register and
Calibration Records; They want to streamline this process to remain efficient so, Paul wanted a method to determine if the coolroom is functioning as programmed. To achieve this, he has installed a datalogger that captures the inside temperature at intervals of time. This allows him to quickly access temperature versus time details. If the temperature is too high or too low at a time when it has been closed for a prolonged period, then he knows he needs to get onsite to verify the numbers and potentially make changes/repairs.
The data captured is then documented evidence that the cool room is functioning and maintained when it comes to demonstrating this at his audit. Being a vegetable grower, Paul is handy on the tools, but by no means a ‘fridgie by trade’, so he has outsourced the documented maintenance and scheduled annual checks and services to be completed by an expert (one of his documented F11 Approved suppliers). By outsourcing, he can get a ‘before and after maintenance report’. The way Paul sees it — “it might cost me to get the expert out…but that somewhat lowers the risk of a major breakdown” (something he is managing as part of his F14 Incident management plan), “potentially reducing my costs overall as big breakdowns tend to cost me more to repair”. Paul has also moved to outsourcing the deep cleaning of his coolroom. Paul understands the importance of quality, effective cleaning. It is critical that the coolroom remains clean to minimise the risk of contamination while it is in storage, so Paul has called in the experts to get the job done (also documented in his F11 Approved Suppliers list). “The way I see it, I can do the job myself, erode a load of my time and still not complete the job properly, so I’ve decided to get the experts to do the job for me. All I need to do is retain the invoice and I’ve got documented evidence of cleaning activities for my Freshcare as per the F8 cleaning plan.” By conducting regular cleaning events, he is reducing the pathogen load while also removing dust, dirt etc. from the fans, walls, doors, seals and other working parts. This returns a dividend in that the parts function better for longer and there is anecdotal evidence that suggests some savings via reduced runtime as well as less wear and tear.
This doesn’t mean that we should all rush out, get geared up and start outsourcing everything in relation to our coolroms, but there are some take home messages: 1 What gets measured, gets managed (a cornerstone principle of food safety culture). 2 Preventative maintenance programs can lead to overall savings and machinery longevity. 3 Regular cleaning can lead to reduced maintenance, operational savings It is critical that the coolroom remains clean to minimise the risk of contamination. while at the same time delivering better food safety outcomes. Paul’s story only addresses one part of one of the five management elements and fourteen food safety elements covered in the Freshcare FSQ4.2 On-farm Standard. There’s so much more to be unlocked if you think critically about the compliance criteria and find practical ways to deliver positive outcomes while maintaining food safety compliance. f PAUL has also moved to outsourcing the deep cleaning of his coolroom. Paul understands the importance of quality, effective cleaning.
MORE INFORMATION
Do you want to unlock your QA system’s potential further? Contact Joel Dinsdale (joel.dinsdale@vegetableswa.com.au or 0417 857 675) for support and Freshcare training.
