RSS News feed. http://www.thefsc.co.uk// 2012-05-19T14:41:13+00:00 text/html 2012-05-17T23:00:00+00:00 http://www.thefsc.co.uk/ MY http://www.thefsc.co.uk//the-fsc-says-keep-your-machine-clean/ Since the introduction of the Sixth Edition of the British Retail Consortium’s Global Standard for food safety, there has been a much greater emphasis placed on the importance of keeping food factories and equipment clean. This can be easier said than done, because equipment involved in large scale food manufacture can often be large and complex. This can make it extremely difficult (not to say dangerous), to get into all the nooks and crannies and thoroughly clean every piece of kit. Don Meredith, Technical Director at The Food Safety Consortium (FSC), has recently discussed this problem, saying: “You look at a piece of kit and try to establish where the main problems are from a cleaning point of view and how easy it is to get into that machine and clean it properly. “One of the problems is that in many food factories, the equipment isn’t brand new. Quite a lot of equipment is ‘well established’ – it’s old. And many cleaning issues are inherited from the equipment that was bought in the past. “I’d like to hope that in five years time, I can walk up to a piece of equipment and have it stripped down within five minutes, rather than having to get engineers in to strip it down. It’s all about better design.” The solution to this problem is to get better training. This can help businesses recognise key inspection points, and to ensure that ongoing monitoring of cleaning takes place and make sure that the hygiene regime remains effective. The Food Safety Consortium delivers a range of tailor made consultative training courses that meet your specific priorities and business needs. Our experience shows that generic courses fail to identify and address the fundamental issues on food manufacturing sites and we believe that it is essential to understand and apply real world solutions to individual site requirements. The Food Safety Consortium courses are tailored to your specific needs by ensuring our training staff are fully briefed in advance and have gathered real world examples from your factory to illustrate and support the training material. The following 1 Day on-site training courses are offered based on this principle: Metal Detection Control and Verification of Packaging, Labeling and Coding Allergen Segregation and Practical Factory Management Management of Water Quality and Safety Internal Auditing Pest Prevention Foreign Body Prevention, Control and Detection Cleaning Standards text/html 2012-05-15T23:00:00+00:00 http://www.thefsc.co.uk/ MY http://www.thefsc.co.uk//call-for-feedback-from-small-businesses-in-food-manufacturing/ The Government’s Focus on Enforcement campaign is now up and running, and until 5th June 2012 the campaign will be looking at enforcement that affects small businesses in food manufacturing. They are seeking views from those who work in the sector in order to improve the way regulators work with businesses. They are particularly interested to hear opinions on whether these enforcement activities might be better delivered by others, such as trade associations or other businesses; or whether there is scope for better coordination between regulators who currently enforce the law. The website for the scheme can be found here. Business and Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk said: “Focus on Enforcement gives small businesses in food manufacturing the chance to make a real difference to the way regulators visit, inspect and advise and enforce the law. “I want all small businesses involved in food manufacture, and those that advise and assist them, to visit the site and tell us their views.” They are also welcoming suggestions from businesses in other sectors on how enforcement could be improved. According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the best suggestions will guide Ministers in prioritising a series of reviews to identify the source of the problem and propose action. Melanie Leech, Director General of the Food and Drink Federation said: “I welcome this review. Effective regulation is vital for consumers to have confidence in our food and drink. But our smaller members consistently tell us that Government action to reduce the burden of regulation not only by making necessary regulation smarter but through a better enforcement and inspection regime could make a real difference to their ability to compete." Santia Food Safety Services delivers a range of its own tailor made consultative training courses that meet your specific priorities and business needs. Our experience shows that generic courses fail to identify and address the fundamental issues on food manufacturing sites and we believe that it is essential to understand and apply real world solutions to individual site requirements. Santia Food Safety Services courses are tailored to your specific needs by ensuring our training staff are fully briefed in advance and have gathered real world examples from your factory to illustrate and support the training material. The following 1 Day on-site training courses are offered based on this principle: Metal Detection Control and Verification of Packaging, Labeling and Coding Allergen Segregation and Practical Factory Management Management of Water Quality and Safety Internal Auditing Pest Prevention Foreign Body Prevention, Control and Detection Cleaning Standards With erisk, Santia’s online health and safety management system, the full range of disciplines relating to health and safety, including fire safety through to the management of asbestos, environmental control and occupational health are clearly presented on one screen. text/html 2012-05-10T23:00:00+00:00 http://www.thefsc.co.uk/ MY http://www.thefsc.co.uk//the-queens-diamond-jubilee-how-has-the-workplace-changed-in-60-years/ Just as today’s workplace is undergoing a revolution, great changes were taking place in the post-war austerity Britain of 60 years ago. At the start of the Queen’s reign, only 1 in 5 households had a washing machine, 1 in 10 a telephone, 1 in 20 a fridge. Almost nobody had central heating. Fewer than half of all households had a television with many people crowding around a shared set to watch the coronation. In the 1950’s there were 6 million fewer people in employment than there are today, and the number of women at work was 20% less. Although Great Britain has a tradition of health and safety regulation going back over 150 years (HM Factory Inspectorate was formed in 1833), as far as health and safety is concerned, the landmark event of the last 60 years is surely the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act. Even so, when Elizabeth II became Queen 60 years ago, it would be a further 22 years before the Act came into force. According to HSE statistics, fatal injuries to employees have fallen by 82% since 1974 with reported non-fatal injuries dropping by 76%. These figures are balanced with the fact that deaths from asbestos-related diseases continue to increase to this day, with today’s cases arising mainly from exposure to asbestos 30-40 years ago. Today, rapid technological advances have increased the scope to do more work from home, but this has had the effect of blurring the boundaries between work and non-work, and enabled more sophisticated monitoring and surveillance of employees. Although working conditions have generally improved in 60 years, the rates of work-related stress (and stress awareness) have increased in the latter decades of the Queen’s reign. This has led Dr John Philpott, Chief Economic Adviser at the Charted Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), to comment: “Whatever the future of work, the lesson of the past six decades is that increased productivity and prosperity isn’t enough to enhance the common good in the workplace or society in general. “With the threat of unemployment an underlying concern even during good times, people do not seem much happier about their working lives and many exhibit the symptoms of work-related stress.” Although general working conditions may have improved, do changes to personal and employer expectations (and an altered workload) mean that we are any better off overall? Let us know your thoughts. Santia Consulting Limited aims to be your partner of choice for health, safety & environmental risk management consultancy. We believe that our business is built on developing and maintaining valued relationships with you, our customers. We do this based on the belief that we deliver best in class solutions for all your risk management needs. text/html 2012-01-30T00:00:00+00:00 http://www.thefsc.co.uk/ JS http://www.thefsc.co.uk//advice-on-new-food-labelling-law/ The Food Standards Agency has produced a new factsheet to help caterers and people who have an intolerance to gluten (a protein found in cereals) understand a new food labelling law, which came into force on 1 January 2012. Intolerance to gluten can be a serious illness that can potentially result in damage to the digestive system preventing foods from being absorbed properly, which can lead to poor growth, anaemia and bone disease. The new law has introduced rules on how food can be labelled with claims about gluten. The law covers all food on sale, whether it’s in a packet on a supermarket shelf, on a menu, in a restaurant, or at a deli counter. Any business making a claim about gluten content must ensure that food is labelled accurately and clearly, and must stick to the defined strict low levels. This is aimed at making it easier for people with an intolerance to gluten (coeliacs) to be sure of what foods are safe for them. The new food labelling regulation means that food can be labelled as: Gluten-free – Suitable for people with coeliac disease. These foods cannot have more than 20 parts of gluten per million. Very low gluten – Must contain no more than 100 parts of gluten per million, and must contain ingredients that have been specially processed to reduce their gluten content, so will be mostly found on specialist products. Coeliacs can eat small amounts of these foods but they should get advice from a dietitian or health professional about how often they can eat them. The new rules mean the phrase ‘suitable for coeliacs’, can only be used alongside the terms ‘gluten-free’ or ‘very low gluten’ and can’t be used on its own. The term ‘No gluten-containing ingredients’ may be used on food where gluten has not been intentionally added, but a small amount may be present from contact with other food. This phrase is not controlled by the law, and it cannot be guaranteed that this food is gluten-free. Some coeliacs may choose to eat small amounts occasionally, but again, should seek advice from a dietitian or health professional before they do. The new caterers guide can be found at: http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/glutenfactsheet.pdf