0.6 Food safety: introduction to incident management  (Page 2/4)

Any system will have to be clearly and concisely documented and communicated effectively to appropriate employees within the company.

It is important to work closely with key company employees and managers so that they clearly understand the importance of such systems and their roles in achieving effective compliance.

Since the responsibility for food safety rests with you, direct verification of all matters is extremely important for Basic Level requirements. You should personally and frequently monitor activities and record your findings.

Evaluation of incidents

Incident

Any event where, based on the information available, there are concerns about actual or suspected threats to the safety or quality of a product that could require intervention to protect consumers’ interests.

As a person responsible for food safety management, it is imperative that you have a system in place to

• identify when an incident is or has occurred
• assess and analyse the significance of the incident and the potential risk to the consumer
• decide upon the appropriate action to take to protect consumer safety and your customer’s reputation.

In any working day, information about potential problems with food products is continually entering and transferred around a company; for example, raw materials are outside agreed specification; the wrong ingredients are placed in a batch of products; or a piece of equipment has broken down or malfunctions. There must be good and quick internal communication to make sure that information about product problems, and more importantly incidents, are collected and quickly assessed by you and your colleagues to understand their significance and impact.

Identification

You will have to analyze and make judgments about what to do when issues or incidents occur. You will have to decide what action to take, if any.

The process of identifying incidents is based on your knowledge of the likelihood of something occurring and its possible severity or effect. It is very much linked into the understanding of hazards in the workplace and knowing your raw materials, the manufacturing process, product, suppliers, and people working with the product.

The keys to quickly indentifying an incident are knowledge, communication, training, and vigilance.

Since you will be responsible for deciding upon and coordinating actions when a problem occurs, communication between you and your colleagues is essential to keep all informed about what is going on or has been revealed. Their cooperation is vital in maintaining control a situation.

Handling complaints and analyzing them correctly are key factors in the relationship between you and your customers. There should be accurate and timely transfer of information.

Analysis

To ensure a correct judgment is made on the action to be taken to safeguard consumer safety, you must carefully screen the information you have. Accurate information and data is necessary, but on some occasions information may not always be readily available. Then your knowledge and experience as the food safety specialist within your company becomes vital.