Organic Processing Vo1.6 #6 - November/December 2009

most facilities that rely solely on Quality Assurance employees to handle such matters, Venus trains several of its staff at each stage on organic tracking documentation, as well as organic handling procedures.

According to Fran Haddix, quality assurance manager, “The most important part of record keeping is making sure everyone is properly trained on all the programs, from shipping and receiving to mixing and production. It is also important to check your supply chain, from ingredients to packaging materials, for NOP compliance.”

Here are a few of the tracking programs used by Venus Wafers:

Record Keeping: The distribution records should contain sufficient information to permit traceability to a particular code or lot number.

Raw Material Tracking:

• The receiving records should be accurate and maintained on a daily basis.

• Receivers must record the product received, the amount received and the product lot code.

• Receivers should monitor the raw materials such that proper stock rotation is maintained.

• If any of the raw materials are damaged and must be destroyed, the amount of product destroyed must be recorded for proper reconciliation.

• Mixers should accurately record the lot numbers used in each batch.

• Mixers who store minor ingredients in white ingredient bins must record the lot number of the replacement product.

Product Code Identification:

• Each pre-packaged food has permanent, legible code marks or lot numbers on the packages.

• The code identifies the day on which the food was produced or an expiry date which can be traced back to the manufacturing date.

• Code marks used and the exact meaning of the code should be available.

• Where used, case codes should be legible and represent the container code within.

In Closing

The companies discussed here are shining examples of enthusiasm and respect for the organic industry. Incorporating these types of best practices can make an inspector’s job much easier and help your company avoid confusion and obstacles that can draw out the inspection process—leading to fewer headaches, less wasted time and oftentimes a better product. ;

Lori Wyman is the certification and outreach manager for Control

Union Certification, a logistics, quality, certification and risk management company. She works with many organic food processing operations as well as organic textile manufactuers—inspecting mills, spinneries, bleacheries and dye houses according to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). Lori has worked in the natural products industry for over 25 years, most recently in the role of education and outreach specialist for the Organic Trade Association. Contact Lori at lwyman@controlunion.com.