Rigorous, specialized hazard analysis is crucial for food safety, and it requires a systematic approach that brings in the expertise and experience of your entire team.
“Accurate hazard analysis is fundamental to achieving food safety. And here is the place where my experience says that people get it wrong. Hazard Analysis activity is turned over to a PCQI (Preventive Controls Qualified Individual), or a Quality Assurance Team Leader or a Quality Assurance Manager, when in reality you need specialist skills. You need a cross-functional team to be able to do this correctly,” Larry Keener, President and CEO of International Product Safety Consultants Inc, said.
Keener called hazard analysis “the hard work of food safety” and the “bedrock upon which food safety is built. And it is product and process specific, not one-size-fits-all.”
Keener’s comments came during his appearance on “Systematic Approach to Hazard Analysis: Considering Product- and Process-Specific Risks,” a recent Food Safety Magazine expert webinar. Featuring Keener and industry experts Sharon Beals, Founder of SKKB LLC, and Gretchen Wall, M.S., Senior Director, Food Safety, Food Safety Strategy LLC, the webinar presented viewers with a systematic overview of the importance of hazard analysis, why it is product and process-specific, and how and why hazard analysis can fail.
Sharon Beals echoed Larry Keener’s comments on the importance of cross-functional teams and why the people who are out on the floor in the thick of it must be part of the hazard analysis process.
“Cross functionality cannot be stressed enough. Everybody's got different opinions, everybody views things differently. Make sure your maintenance people are in there, your operations people, food safety, quality production, and hourly employees. They know the equipment better than anybody. Ask them, they will tell you where the bodies are buried, so to speak.”
A critical error many food manufacturing companies make is treating hazard analysis as a paperwork burden to knock out as needed before returning to the workflow. These companies often carry out a general hazard analysis that doesn’t take into account the specific nuances of their product, how it’s used or consumed, and the specifics of the manufacturing facility and equipment.
Instead, a food safety plan must be a living, breathing document that reflects the realities of the workday at the facility.
“It should be pretty obvious that you shouldn't just copy and paste to complete something, but you should actually provide the justification for these actions….not just putting something in every box just to fill out the box is absolutely critical,” Gretchen Wall told viewers.
Wall used the example of metal hazard detection and why hazard analysis should take into account whether or not these measures are practical.
“Think about the process and the realities of doing that [strict metal detection measures]. Is it actually going to be practical? Is it actually going to reduce the risk or maintain the safety of the product? Is there a way that you can streamline these processes and also still maintain the safety?”
In the question and answer section of the webinar, Larry Keener stressed that companies and management must ensure that “the people who are assigned this responsibility for conducting the hazard analysis have adequate, comprehensive training and the proper techniques to conduct a hazard analysis.”
And like his colleagues on the panel, he emphasized that for food safety plans and hazard analysis, nothing should be one-size-fits-all.
“Food safety hazard analysis is product and process-specific. It is not something that can be taken off the shelf. It's not a box that's ticked on a spreadsheet. It has to be real. It has to reflect the nuances of your manufacturing process from the field to the finished product.”
To learn more about the demands of proper hazard analysis, make sure to check out the rest of the webinar, “Systematic Approach to Hazard Analysis: Considering Product- and Process-Specific Risks,” streaming on-demand here.