How to Correct Critical Violations

Against this background a tool is needed to deliver the control for managing these different aspects of food safety management. Moreover, according to the PDCA, the corrective action is likely to drive improvement through new or improved related procedures to achieve the following effectively:

• Reduction of unexpected critical violations based on internal QC;
• Cost Reductions by way of continual improvements on the reduction of product dispositions;
• Reduction of out of compliance issues (‘violations’), when checked by the regulatory authorities;
• Moves the Food Safety exercise from inspection focus to continual improvement management.

Achieving the described level of effectiveness means an integrated workflow, which can be effectively introduced through technology. The objective and configuration of the software should be the application of an appropriate format, to wean organizations off the violation/ fix cycle

On Site Management

The question is; how to facilitate the management of these issues in a simple control format for operators in non-technical work situations. In fast and mega food chains, the challenge is ensuring that the employees stay focused on the food safety parameters to move from critical violations/fix cycle to continual improvement. Generally, regional managers inspect by geography the areas under their control of franchisees or in the case of supermarkets, corrective action records based on the Sonoma format is uploaded to corporate.

What if it was possible via a single handheld—without an on-site desktop computer—to control and maintain the prescribed parameters of the Sonoma corrective action or HACCP scientific data. This means that the problems experienced by the fast foods corporations at the beginning of this article, may be eliminated.

Critical violations can be eliminated because the handheld software provides the following management control:

• Identifies who is responsible for executing the handheld preventive and monitoring checklists to avoid the violation;
• Specifies a time for execution and more importantly a bar code trigger, to ensure that the right information is applicable at the Critical Control Point (CCP);
• Supports the QC function as electronic records provide evidence of execution;
• Allows access on the handheld to only trained personnel;
• Informs management when checklists are incomplete or there are readings in the violation zone.

There is strict control on the activities to ensure that there is compliance to the food safety parameters. A corrective action is triggered on the handheld when the parameters are not met. The root cause analysis is meant to provide greater control via an improved checklists or frequency management to avoid critical violation reoccurrence. Seemingly then, the corrective action with root cause drives improvements.

Lending the characteristics of quality management systems per corrective action / root cause, together with the convenience of control at the point of application by the handheld, will enable the elimination of critical violations.

References:

1. http://cbs2chicago.com/eatrisk/local_story_ 265222919.html
2. http://food.sonoma-county.org/explanations.asp

Jeffrey Lewis is the founder of Safety In Your Hand. Reach him at [email protected].