Food Quality Magazine
ISSUE 01 | SUMMER 2014
Foreign Bodies Control
in the IFS Food Standard Version 6
Miroslav Šuška, QUALIFOOD s.r.o.
Risk of Foreign Material, Metal,
Broken Glass and Wood is the title
of chapter 4.4.12 of the IFS Food
Standard version 6.
Foreign material control aims at elimination or minimisation of product
contamination by any type of foreign
material, which may include:
• Glass
• Plastics
• Metal
• Wood
• Bone fragments, shells etc.
The basic requirement of the HACCP
system is analysis of foreign objects
representing a threat to the given
manufacture, technologies used,
equipment, materials and packaging
and create an appropriate and reliable solution to a problem. Since
version 6 IFS standard leaves this
at the discretion of the manufacturer requiring certification. Unlike the
previous versions (and version 6 of
BRC Food), the actual version of the
IFS Food standard does not contain
any requirement for installation of
metal detectors or X-ray detectors
any longer. Thus the standard allows
for individual approach to the issue
based on assessment of the par-
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ticular condition by each individual
company.
Do not use wood, glass and brittle
plastics in areas where open food is
handled. Where this is not possible
these objects should be adequately
checked.
Exclude wood from food handling
areas and store wooden pallets in
places, where there is no longer any
risk of contamination. Pallets must
be checked and damaged pallets
should be rejected. Where wood is
necessary for certain technologies
(mills, traditional methods of cheese
ripening) check it regularly and keep
records. The same applies to glass,
plastics and metals, see below.
Establish a register for glass, brittle
plastics, knives, scissors and similar production blades, needle. The
register should contain information
about their numbers and locations.
According to this register perform
regular checks and record results.
Frequency of these checks must directly correspond to the risk level.
More frequent checks (daily or
weekly) are required where glass is
in close proximity to open products.
Spaces with closed products need
less frequent checks as well as in
corridors, changing rooms etc. Check
knives, scissors and needles daily.
Hand these items over to the individuals responsible at the beginning of
the shift. Make certain they sign for
them. Record their return at the end
of the shift as well.
The company must establish procedures in case of broken glass or
other breakable objects by controlling contaminated products (or raw
materials, packaging) and cleaning
of the affected area. Glass and/
or plastic splinters on the cleaning
tools, work clothes, and shoes of
the cleaning crew can be another
source of contamination. In the case
of bottle filling, these procedures
should also address package damage
in the production line (de-palletisation of glasses or bottles, filling,
closing, palletisation of finished product etc.). A common practice is
to set in advance how many open
packages to dispose of when glass
breaks. This can be done by defining the number of glasses/bottles
or distance from the place of the
incident. Keep records of all cases
of broken glass or other breakable
materials and measures taken. We
recommend keeping a sample of the
broken material.