What Happens at Receiving Does Not Stay at Receiving
Receiving is a critical operation within your company with great responsibilities.
- Receiving of raw materials potentially contaminated with pathogens
- Receiving of ingredients with known allergens
- Receiving of ingredients or packaging with a supply chain preventive control
- Prevention of intentional adulteration
Receiving personnel need access to records at Receiving. Do Receiving personnel have a tablet or computer to look up approved suppliers, specifications and other information? Stickers and placards should be readily available to label totes or pallets with QA hold, allergen, or other warnings. Receiving personnel must be properly trained in the receipt, labeling and handling of raw materials potentially contaminated with pathogens, ingredients with allergens, and ingredients or packaging with a supply chain preventive control.
Written procedures are required for Receiving for ingredients with a supply chain preventive control.
The Preventive Controls for Human Food rule Subpart G details the requirements for supply chain preventive controls. With every receipt of an ingredient with a supply chain preventive control, bill of lading should be checked, along with the receipt of documentation of the absence of the hazard. The latter is needed, regardless of the same lot being repeated.
Receiving should have written SOPs for the inspection of vehicles for sanitary transport and receipt of materials in intact totes or on intact pallets. Not only are you concerned about determining if pests have accessed the ingredient, you are also preventing cross-contamination of pathogens and cross-contact of allergens. Within the written SOP, address the refusal of goods where the truck is unsanitary or when the packaging is compromised.
The Intentional Adulteration rule is effective in 2019, and Receiving plays a more direct role. Many of the steps taken now, like sealing of gaskets, will be documented to comply with the rule. The focus of the rule is on liquid ingredients and ingredients with the potential to cause widespread harm to public health. As you are implementing your food safety plans, consider incorporating measures designed to prevent intentional adulteration at Receiving.
Once an ingredient is accepted and properly labeled, Receiving may be responsible for notifying QA of a QA hold or for proper moving of ingredients to storage. Proper handling does not compromise the ingredient through cross-contamination or cross-contact. Another part of the Intentional Adulteration rule addresses the disgruntled employee. Start at Receiving and walk through the potential for an employee to have access to an ingredient or process, with the intent of widespread harm.
Receiving personnel play a key role in the safety of food. By providing the training and resources necessary for them to do their job well, you create a culture of food safety from the beginning.
Paperwork! Paperwork! And more paperwork! Still have questions? The ConnectFood website has free resources, and the folks at ConnectFood are here to help! Contact us.
Kathy Knutson, Ph.D., Lead Instructor for Preventive Controls for Human Food (PCHF), Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI), and trained in prevention of Intentional Adulteration (IA). She has food safety expertise in microbiology, hazard analysis, and risk assessment. As a recovering academic, she resides in Green Bay home-of-the-Packers, Wisconsin with her brilliant husband and two handsome sons. Learn more about her consulting services at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyknutsonphd.
