Consulting

No matter what you are trying to accomplish regarding food safety and processing, having someone on your side with the knowledge and the ability to find the best answers is of critical importance for success…and cost savings! So, what is “consulting”? Consulting is “providing professional or expert advice”, and that is exactly what you are going to receive from us! We are a group of people dedicated to excellence and we’ll go beyond your expectations, period!

Are you located outside the United States of America? Not a problem! Many of our clients are and we travel worldwide. We speak English and Spanish. See on any of the topics of your interest below to look for detailed information and feel free to contact us should you not find posted here what you need.

AuditAssist NEW!

Have you gone through an audit and have questions about the non-conformities raised by the auditor? You're not alone! We can help you and your team with the necessary background to properly address the non-conformities. Get in touch with us to receive more information.

Food Safety On-Demand NEW!

Do you need to ask a question about food safety? Do you have someone you can ask any question related with regulations or food safety systems at any time? Contact us to open your account and have access to: ask questions and receive answers from experienced professionals, review/revise documents/procedures, audit documents to verify compliance with requirements, support with questions during second or third party audits and many other topics.

Contact us to open your account and start getting answers!

Hazard Analysis and "Preventive Controls Program" or "Farm Food Safety Plan", Development and Implementation

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the most sweeping reform of our food safety laws in more than 70 years, was signed into law by the President of the United States of America on January 4, 2011. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it. About 48 million people (1 in 6 Americans) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die each year from foodborne diseases, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  This is a significant public health burden that is largely preventable. The law also provides FDA with new enforcement authorities designed to achieve higher rates of compliance with prevention- and risk-based food safety standards and to better respond to and contain problems when they do occur.  The law also gives FDA important new tools to hold imported foods to the same standards as domestic foods and directs FDA to build an integrated national food safety system in partnership with state and local authorities. 

Are you ready for the new requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act? We have trained and knowledgeable personnel that is also current in the most recent information regarding the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act's rules.

We can help you from scratch, we can help you to improve your current HACCP based program and we can also help with the validation and verification requirements of the regulation.

When compliance with the Preventive Controls for Human Food regulation is expected?

• Facilities with sales of less than one million dollars will have until September 18th of 2018 to comply. 
• Facilities with less than 500 employees will have until September 18th of 2017 to comply.
• All other facilities will need to comply by September 18th, 2016.

In total, there are seven new rules that will affect in one way or another the operations of companies in the human and animal food & beverage industry. Below we are listing them for your convenience.

• Preventive Controls for Human Food
• Preventive Control for Food for Animals
• Produce Safety Rule
• Foreign Supplier Verification Program (& the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program)
• Accreditation of Third-Party Certification Bodies/Auditors
• Sanitary Transportation Rule
• Intentional Adulteration Rule

Access to the text of the rules is available in our home page.

Contact us a to see how we can help you!

Hazards Identification and Risk Assessment

The proper identification of hazards at each step of your process(es) and the effective evaluation of their risks is critical to the implementation of any food safety management program. We can provide you with the necessary support from qualified personnel on the proper way to identify hazards and their risks by using reliable and scientifically supported documentation/regulation. This is the minimum requirement for the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP).

Development and implementation of a GFSI based Standard

Are you looking to develop and implement a food safety system following any of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked Standards? You just arrived to the right place!

We have been helping companies in the food and beverage industry with the development and implementation of GFSI benchmarked Standards' specific requirements. The key here, based on our experience, is to understand the hazards associated with each of the clauses, develop a program or procedure to manage the hazard(s) and look for the best way to implement it. We can help with the training of the personnel or you can take care of it. We can help you developing and implementing:

• FSSC 22000 Food Safety Management Systems
• SQF Food Safety Systems
• BRC Global Standard for Food Safety Systems
• Any other GFSI benchmarked standards/scheme

Development and implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices Program

There are companies that may need to have just the foundation programs required for food and food packaging processing and manufacturing. In those cases, what is required is to develop a program covering the current Good Manufacturing Practices topics like: personnel training, personnel practices, conditions and location of the facility and equipment, pest control program, cleaning and sanitation, etc. We have the required expertise to identify and analyze the hazards and their risks and develop the required documentation to manage them including the validation.

This can be done under the requirements for human or animal food regulations.

Development and implementation of a specific program within your food safety management system.

Due to the strong knowledge and understanding of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) System’s requirements, you can benefit in having us helping you with the development, review, verification and validation of a HACCP System for your specific needs.

HACCP is required on all food and beverage processing industries to prevent, eliminate or reduce hazards during the process, storage, loading and unloading, and transportation. Our experience in different fields allows us to have a very wide perception of hazards and how to deal with them. Feel free to contact us to check how we can help you.

Keep in mind that, no matter if your food safety system is based on HACCP (Like Codex Alimentarius, FDA's Seafood HACCP or Juice HACCP or USDA-FSIS HACCP-meat, poultry or egg products) or in new FDA's Preventive Controls, your system must be based and show evidence that the seven (7) principles are being followed.

Validation and Verification

Due to the strong knowledge and understanding of the HACCP System’s requirements, you can benefit in having us helping with the development, review, verification and validation of a HACCP System for your specific needs.

Implementation of a HACCP System is required on all food and beverage processing industries to prevent, eliminate or reduce hazards during receiving processing, storage, loading, and transportation. A fundamental part of the HACCP System is the review of the program every time there is a change and at least on an annual basis. This review shall be performed by qualified and knowledgeable individuals. "Validation must be performed at least on an annual basis and by qualified personnel" and, what is a qualified individual? Based on FSMA's "Proposed Rule for Preventive Controls for Human Food", to be qualified, an individual would be required to successfully complete training in accordance with a standardized curriculum or be otherwise qualified through job experience to develop and apply a food safety system. This person would be required to prepare the food safety plan, develop the hazard analysis, validate the preventive controls, review records and conduct a reanalysis of the food safety plan.

Our experience in different fields allows us to have a wide perception of hazards and how to deal with them. Our consultants are versed in the application of the HACCP Method. Feel free to contact us to check how we can help you.

Sanitation Inspections

How do you know your cleaning and sanitation program is working? We can perform on-site pre-operation’s inspections to verify if your program is working. Any deviation observed will be highlighted in a report so you can complete a corrective action. We can even help you recommending corrective actions. Should you wish, we can develop from scratch or revise your cleaning and sanitation program, having as a goal to provide evidence that the control measures implemented are effective.

Environmental Monitoring

Environmental monitoring provides a solid foundation about the conditions of your facility and the effectiveness of your cleaning procedures. We can help you identifying the hazards applicable to your operations and develop an environmental program tailored to your organization. This program is a must for those companies processing or manufacturing high risk products.

Hygienic Zoning Map

We can support you on the development and impementation of a hygienic zoning map. Facilities were high risk products are processed will benefit from implementing a hygienic zoning map as it will help in the control of cross-contact or cross-contamination between the different areas of the facility.

Support to Law Firms and Legal Departments

By using our experience working in the development and implementation of systems based on risks of food safety hazards, we can support legal departments or law firms understanding the law from a practical side.

We can also testify in depositions or trials related with food or beverages.

Registration of Food Facilities and Renewal

Are you looking to open a new facility in the food and beverage or drugs manufacturing or importing any of those products? Based on current regulations, it is mandatory that you register the company with the Food and Drug Administration. We can help you going through that process and then, provide you with all necessary information so you can access it. Remember that you are required to re-register every even year between October 1st and December 31st. We can maintain your registration current as part of our services. Contact us and we'll provide solutions!

Recall Support

Are you looking to test your recall plan? (This is not the same as performing a trace exercise!) Do you need to train those employees that will be involved in a recall situation? Are you in a recall right now and need help? In most cases, we can provide support to the industry with an actual recall.

Testing your ability to trace your products is what is called a trace exercise; it is basically an accountability exercise...how much we received and from whom and, how much  we produced and where it is. This looks, in concept, quite simple. Is it simple when performing it? Sometimes. It depends on the characterisitcs of the product being traced. It is not the same to trace units, lets say boxes or bags of something, than to trace oil, vinegar or powders. How do you account for the lose of powders during handling and processing? This is part of your trace exercise! How do you account when mixing shipments of vinegar or oil? This is also part of your trace exercise!

We can help you going through a mock recall. This means, testing the whole recall program simulating a real situation. When doing this type of service, we will have a meeting so we can understand your recall program and the products' identification system. Then, we will plan a mock recall and perform it. You will be surprised not only with the outcome of such exercise but with the changes you could implement to make your probram stronger and make people feeling more confortable with the process.

Product Inspections

Product inspections can be performed to check if it conforms to its specifications. We can do this anywhere your product is arriving (Port of Entry) or as a service when, for example, a copacker is producing a product for you and you need someone to oversee the production. Call us to discuss your inspection needs.

Contact us to schedule an phone call or meeting!

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