In a perfect world we would just have one food safety standard for compliance. Unfortunately, there are a myriad of standards ranging from local and export food law, GFSI recognised standards and additional customer requirements. So how do you manage the policies, procedures, documents and records of all these requirements?
Implementing an integrated food safety system can save you both time and money when it comes to managing your overall food safety compliance requirements. In this post find out what it is, why it is beneficial to your food business and how to get started.
What is an integrated food safety system?
An integrated food safety system is one management system that covers multiple food safety legal and customer requirements. You can then develop standard specific ‘mapping’ documents to help you locate where certain requirements are documented in your overall system.
Benefits of an integrated food safety system
There are many benefits to implementing an integrated food safety system within your food business. These can include:
- Reducing complexity by minimising business documentation.
- Employees only need to refer to one single system therefore making implementation, maintenance and improvement easier.
- Better performance of the entire system due to a single focus.
- Saves valuable internal human resources by avoiding duplication or triplication required to manage multiple systems.
- Cost reductions in employee training, internal review and external certification auditing.
Getting Started
It may be over-whelming to think how you would achieve implementing an integrated food safety system within your food business. Taking baby steps along with having a good understanding of your food safety requirements is key.
Identifying common requirements between all your compliance standards is the first step in this process. You can then assess the compliance of your current document, policy, procedure or form against each requirement.
One document, multiple standards
The overall goal is to have one document that covers the requirements of multiple standards or requirements. For example, food safety standard ‘x’ requires your business to have a map of where all of your pest baits are located and food safety standard ‘y’ requires you to have the same plus a list of all pest chemicals used onsite. Instead of having two separate systems, you would have the one integrated food safety system that covers the pest control requirements for both standards.
Have your say!
Do you currently have an integrated food safety system in your food business? Share your insights and experience with the HACCP Mentor community by leaving a comment below.
