Food Safety

Now more than ever before, food safety is of paramount importance. Whether one handles food as a manufacturer, processor, shipper, packager, food retailer or consumer, we each have a moral commitment to ensure the safety of our food. Such food safety responsibility stems from ethical, social, industry or personal standpoints.

Food safety compliance is not a competition—it is a collective necessity, regardless of the standards employed, to drive responsibility and accountability to achieve the highest level of food safety. When we succeed in doing so, we ensure peace of mind for both the customer and for those involved in food manufacture and production.

By moving toward food traceability systems which deliver comprehensive supply chain visibility and transparency, we take responsibility for consumer safety and lower our risk of liability and any potential punitive action associated with the occurrence of major food safety deficiencies and food recalls. Additionally, the adoption of these food safety compliance practices enhances market access, and allows the sector to better respond to increasing demands for assurances of food safety. In turn, this strengthens domestic and international consumer confidence in food security in Canada, and acknowledges Canada as a source of safe products.

Based on your industry and business needs, PVC food safety consulting services offer you a deep understanding of the most current food safety schemes. Our health and safety consultants will educate you in food safety compliance, including HACCP. We help you design, develop and implement a food safety management system which ensures company wide buy-in and allows you to undergo, with confidence, a third-party food auditing process prior to certification.

Designing and Building a Food Safety-Oriented Plant

Disruption to the safety of food supply chains is the most pressing concern facing those in the food industry. History shows us, however, that there is no such thing as an accident. Investigations into the causes of food contamination conclude that crises were largely avoidable and often stemmed from faulty designs or inferior construction materials.

Incidents have shown that food safety is the most critical part of any food company’s operations. Its importance to public health, coupled with potentially devastating consequences of a breakdown somewhere in the food safety system, now necessitates that a company plans, designs and builds a food production system that ensures complete food safety coverage from initial concept and start-up to far beyond.  

The Gap Assessment Process 

PVC rigorously analyzes the level of food safety within your organization by first addressing your current food safety management standards. We compare your standards to industry and customer-driven requirements, and provide you with relevant gap reports detailing the operational procedures and sanitation measures which demand your attention. 

Once your food safety gaps have been identified and assessed, PVC provides your management team with a proactive project implementation plan for corrective action to close all gaps and prepare you for certification.

The Global Food Safety Initiative

The Global Food Safety Initiative (the Consumer Goods Forum) was launched in May of 2000. Its guidance document, released in September of 2007, was developed based on four key global food safety schemes—BRC, IFS, Dutch HACCP and SQF—and contains commonly agreed-upon criteria for food safety standards against which any food or farm assurance standard can be benchmarked.

By harmonizing worldwide food safety standards, GFSI has helped to increase transparency and efficiency in the supply chain, manage cost in the global food system by eliminating redundancy and improving operational efficiency, provide assurance for safe food and reliable food labels for consumers worldwide, and reduce the duplication of audits (which, previously, would have been required many times per year, at a high cost and with little added benefit).

Retail quality managers can now accept their suppliers’ products without the need to administer numerous food audits as long as these suppliers meet the requirements of any one of the growing number of GFSI-benchmarked schemes. Suppliers who have adopted a GFSI-recognized standard require only one food audit per year versus several audits to meet different standards. The GFSI’s vision of “once certified, accepted everywhere” has now become a reality. Though the GFSI has driven wide-spread adoption of its benchmarked schemes, please note that the GFSI does not undertake any accreditation or certification activities.

Specific to the Global Food Safety Initiative, PVC can help you adopt and implement any one of the GFSI-recognized schemes.  

To learn how PVC can help you on the road to certification check out our
GFSI Implementation & Training Packages.

HACCP-Based Food Safety Systems

PVC develops, integrates and helps your organization maintain a HACCP-based food safety management system to accomplish a number of positive results:

• Clearly defined procedures
• Improved consumer confidence
• Reduced risk and liability through the use of a preventative (versus reactive) approach to food safety and quality
• Improved relationships throughout your value chain
• Enhanced record keeping, which contributes to more efficient inspections and audits
• Legal protection in the event of a food-related outbreak or of disease
• Ensured protection of your supply chain through the implementation of rigorous standards which must be met by vendors and suppliers
• Simplified integration with other food safety management systems

The implementation of a HACCP-based system is now a globally required prerequisite for certified food safety management systems. Such a system ensures that your food products are handled safely during production, manufacturing, processing, handling, packaging and shipping. The requirement for HACCP-based food safety management systems comes from:

• Consumers
• Regulatory bodies in the industry
• Global market penetration trends
• Shareholders and owners

The collective requirements of the aforementioned groups work to drive the ever-increasing demand for continuous improvement, as well as the need for a higher level of compliance to food safety standards. PVC assists you in the implementation and maintenance of a sustainable HACCP-based food safety management system within your organization.

Food Safety Audits

PVC conducts second- and third-party food safety audits. Our food safety auditing services will assess your internal processes, those of your suppliers, or those of potential clients; they ensure compliance with specific quality and safety standards, whether enforced by your company, clients, suppliers, or a third-party regulatory body. PVC identifies gaps in your current systems versus your desired requirements and allows for productive collaboration between your organization and the PVC team of consultants who are versed in all aspects of food safety compliance and systems.

Our team coaches you through any or all of the following, based on your particular needs, to ensure that all components of your distribution chain are audit-ready:

• Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP)
• Food defense
• Analytical testing
• Recalls
• Good manufacturing practices (GMPs)
• Pest management
• Transportation
• Tracking and traceability
• Crisis management
• Management commitment

For further information, please contact Paul Valder Consulting.