Product Recall

The recall team from Store-for-long Pte Ltd was called upon immediately. The first action the recall team took was to inform the HSA’s Enforcement Branch on the receipt of the product defect information within the 24 hours starting from the first complaint. The team then finalised the classification, level and strategy they should carry out for the recall with HSA.

The assessment of recall for this product is classified under Class 2 Recall as there were complaints from the Army Force that the soldiers suffered from diarrhoea and vomiting. This case of food poisoning was not to the extent of being in the Class 1 Recall category where a life-threatening situation is posed. For the level of recall, it has been grouped under consumer level as the complaints came from the Army Force who was the direct consumers.

After finalisation and agreement among the two parties (HSA and Store-For-Long Pte Ltd), the recall team then traced back the distribution of the products delivered to the army camp and to the soldiers. Under investigation, it was found out that the defective production batch number is 60277B. All the remaining pastas under the same production batch that have yet to be consumed were collected back to prevent more people from getting food poisoning by consumption of this defective product. Some of the collected product was sent for lab testing to find out the actual cause of food poisoning.

From the lab testing report, it was found out that a handful of the chicken in the pasta pack were uncooked on the inside and there was a positive count of salmonella It was concluded that this is a salmonella food poisoning case. The entire HACCP plan was reviewed; the time and temperature for blanching and retorting were reconsidered. It was found out that the temperature on the temperature-time log for the production batch did not coincide with the ones for blanching and retorting. The temperature-time log showed that the chicken cubes were retorted at a lower temperature. This caused the chicken to be cooked only on the surface and not the inner parts.

The recall team came together to brainstorm for corrective action to be done to improve the safety of this product. It was decided that the temperature-time log of the blanching and retorting step must be checked each time and also incorporate stirring during blanching and rotating function during retorting. It is compulsory that all staffs should undergo a basic or refresher workshop to familiarize themselves with the process of preparing this new product and reinforcement of the importance of good personal hygiene (appropriate time, temperature, Standard Operating Procedures [SOP] and Good Manufacturing Practices [GMP]). Before this new product is re-launched into the market, sufficient lab tests should be conducted to ensure that it is absolutely safe for consumption in order to reassure the Army Force that such incident will not repeat.

Retort Packaging

What is Retort Packaging?
Retort is a process that uses heat and pressure to cook food in a strong, sealed package. Because the packaging is less bulky than traditional cans and jars, foods cook more quickly, providing a better tasting product for your customer.

Advantages of Flexible Retort Packaging:•Shelf-stable and requires no refrigeration
•Larger surface area for marketing information
•More appetizing package presentation
•Better merchandising options throughout the store
•Reduced storage space
•Lighter and less expensive to ship
•Easier for customer to open, heat and use product

http://retortpackaging.com/index.html

Other resources
http://www.idspackaging.com/Common/exhib_11961/Case_File_26.pdf

Creamy Cheese Chicken Pasta

Ingredients
1. Butter
2. Full cream milk
3. Grated Cheddar Cheese
4. Water
5. Chicken Breast
6. Twisted Pasta
7. Canned Button Mushroom

Process Flow
S1,2,3. Store butter, full cream milk and cheddar cheese at 1 to 4˚C.
S4. Store chicken at -18˚C.
S5. Store twisted pasta at room temperature 27˚C.

SP1. Melt butter in jacketed vessel
SP2. Add full cream milk, cheese and water to form sauce.
SP3. Transfer into filling
SP4. Pump (ready to fill the pouch)
*sauce process step

P1. Thaw chicken at 1 to 4˚C.
P2. Wash chicken.
P3. Cut chicken into cubes.
P4. Cut chicken into cubes.
P5. Cooking using ice water bath.
P6. Weigh 160g of chicken in plastic cup.
P7. Weigh 20g of twisted pasta in plastic cup.
P8. Open the can of mushroom.
P9. Drain away the water in the mushroom.
P10. Weigh 70g of mushroom in plastic cup.
P11. Combine the chicken, twisted pasta and canned button mushroom to form pasta pre-mix.
P12. Run food through metal detector. (CCP 1)
P13. Fill in sauce into pouch.
P14. Seal pouch. (CCP 2)
P15. Retort at 121˚C for 15 minutes. (CCP 3)
P16. Cool the pouch.
P17. Store at room temperature.

Process flow chart

Combat Ration Food

Strengths of our production include:

•Extended shelf life (3 years minimum, up to 10 depending on storage)
•Lightweight and flexible, easy transport
•Easily heated for consumption
•Most competitive prices
•Flexible, customisable contents

Food to choose!

These are the following food we can choose.

Dessert
1) Barley milk dessert
2) Barley nata de coco
3) Bubur Terigu
4) Bubur Terigu with corn
5) Cocoa Red Bean With Corn Dessert
6) Green Bean Sweet Potato Dessert
7) Soya Peanut Dessert

Side dish
1) Black Pepper Mashed Potato (chicken)
2) BBQ Baked Bean with Corn (chicken sausage)
3) Chicken Ham and Potato in Smoke Sauce
4) Creamy Black Pepper Potato Chicken Stew
5) Mashed Potato with Bean (chicken stew)
6) Spicy Tomato Bean Stew
7) Portugese Potato Curry with Chicken Sausage

Rice
1) Beriani Rice wit Rendang Chicken
2) Black Sesame Chicken Glutinous Rice
3) Braised Chicken with Mushroom
4) Cabbage Rice with Chicken
5) Chicken Dumpling
6) Dried Shrimp Glutinous Rice (Chicken Sausage)
7) Green Curry Rice (Chicken)
8) Mushroom Rice with Chicken
9) Mutton Rice with Chicken
10) Nonya Curry Rice
11) Tomato Rice (Surimi Crabstick and Chicken)
12) Yellow Rice with Chicken
13) Hainanese Chicken Rice
14) Tomato Seafood Rice (Surimi Crabstick and Chicken)
15) Chili Cheese Rice (Chicken Sausage)

Package 1 problem statement on HACCP

Problem statement:

The food company that you are working for has received many complaints from customers claiming that they had fallen ill after consuming the first production batch of a new product recently launched by your company. The Mangaging Director has deemed this incident as a serious issue that has to be address immediately. He has tasked the technical team to put up a proposal on how to prevent future occurence of such problem; and to look into all potential hazards associated with the product.

As the QA cum Food Hygiene Office, you have to submit a complete report including a product recall procedure and a HACCP plan for the product to the Managing Director's Digital Drop Box by 17th May 2010.

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Templates 1,2,3,4
Part 3: Discussion on HACCP
Part 4: Discussion on product recall
Part 5: Conclusions & Recommendations