Glass, ceramic and brittle container control

Contents

• The standards
• The requirements
• BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9

The standards

This article is written to meet the following sections of the Standards:

The requirements

Procedure

Glass, ceramic and brittle materials used in the make-up of the finished product, must be controlled to ensure that they don’t contaminate the final consumer product. The aim of the procedures is to ensure that the area is kept clear of broken glass, ceramics and brittle containers.

Storage

There must be dedicated storage area for empty containers which is segregated from the storage of other materials, by either:

• A separate storage room.
• Segregated storage locations.

The segregated storage area must be located to minimise the risk of broken fragments being carried into other areas, by the movement of equipment.

Breakages

A procedure must be in place to manage container breakages, which details:

• The identification of steps in the process where the product is at-risk.
• The removal and disposal of at-risk products from the at-risk area.
• Review of the best ways to clean, ensuring that the method minimises the dispersal of fragments.
• The effective cleaning of the at-risk area and equipment, using dedicated, identifiable cleaning equipment and waste collection containers.
• An inspection process prior to formal approval to re-start, from an authorised member of staff.
• Recording breakages and positive confirmation at a set frequency, that there has been no breakages within the at-risk area.
• Recording of the location of the breakage, date, time, action taken and inspection prior to restart.
• Trending and review of breakages to identify improvements.