Elsevier

Food Control

Volume 111, May 2020, 107071
Food Control

Study on the risks of metal detection in food solid seasoning powder and liquid sauce to meet the core concepts of ISO 22000:2018 based on the Taiwanese experience

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2019.107071Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The Metal Detection step is as CCPs and HACCP plan control measures or combinations are provided.

  • The outer packaging material of the solid powder can be changed to a metal basket that meets standard metal composition.

  • The metal detector can be set after packaging the inner package and before plastic basket is packaged.

  • After the implementation of the ISO 22000: 2018 standard, the number of abnormal processes has been significantly reduced.

Abstract

Foreign objects in food threaten food safety. For the food industry, incidents involving these objects can tarnish a company's reputation, reduce sales, and may even lead to customer distrust towards the company. There have been no studies to correctly establish an operational prerequisite program (OPRP) and hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) plan in the premixed powder and liquid sauces of the small and medium-sized food enterprises (SMFEs) industry according to the ISO 22000: 2018 standard. Our research aims to propose an ISO 22000: 2018 method for risk assessment and control of hazard assessments, and to establish and implement HACCP and traceability systems. In this study, the solid premixed powder (Italian panna cotta powder) and liquid sauce (white sauce) products were taken as an example. The food safety standard management system (FSMS) ISO 22000: 2018 was introduced to investigate the influence of the metal detector on the process. The proposed methodology combines risk analysis to identify physical significant hazards and then combines decision trees to determine hazard analysis control points (CCPs). It can be found from the research that the metal detector is extremely important and effective for the control damage of the solid premix powder, and the metal detector has a supplementary effect on the liquid sauce because of its complicated composition. These significant hazards can be managed through the HACCP program and OPRP. After the implementation of the ISO 22000: 2018 standard, the number of abnormal processes has been significantly reduced, and the number of complaints has been significantly reduced.

Introduction

The hazards in food are classified into biological, chemical and physical. Among them, the problem of residue in food has always been a project of the food industry (European commission, 2015, Zhao et al., 2004). In many food safety cases, the range of foreign objects is very diverse, such as hair, insects, glass, metal, etc., often the largest source of customer complaints received by many food manufacturers, retailers or law enforcement agencies (Edwards and Stringer, 2007, Ok et al., 2014). Depending on the type, size and structure, foreign materials can cause damage to the throat and mouth, damage to the digestive tissue, suffocation, swallowing pain, tooth damage, internal bleeding, throat discomfort and reflux, and death (European commission, 2015). In all foreign materials with physical hazards, the hazard of metal is serious, which will greatly reduce the safety of food (Trafialek, Kaczmarek, & Kolanowski, 2016). Metal objects pose a great risk of perforation of gastrointestinal tissues and require surgical resection. In addition, these metal fragments can damage valuable machines and cause the production line to shut down, causing significant economic losses. Some reasons why food manufacturers consider metal detectors are: product safety, equipment protection, contract (customer) requirements, regulatory compliance etc. Among these reasons, the Federal Register (Vol. 51, No. 118) also mentioned: “Effective measures should be taken to prevent the incorporation of metals or other foreign substances into food. This requirement can be met by using screens, traps, electronic metal detectors or suitable methods. Metal detectors cannot guarantee that the food must be free of metal, but the design is reasonable, the equipment for installation and maintenance, and the metal pollution control program can be effectively controlled”.

At present, the inspection of metallic foreign matter in food can be performed by using a metal detector to detect metal foreign materials. The metal detector is of great help to the food industry. It can screen out metal foreign objects and avoid metal residue in food which would cause harm to human body (Graves et al., 1998, He and Yoshizawa, 2002). Most metal detectors use a balanced three-coil system to detect small and non-ferrous metals in stainless steel. When a metal particle is passed through the coil of a metal detector, the high frequency field is disturbed under one coil, and the voltage is changed by a few microvolts. The detection of this change is the principle (Bowser, 2003). Other very complex detection methods can be pulsed terahertz spectroscopy or more sophisticated X-ray inspection instruments. The advantage is that in addition to metal, glass, high-density plastics and calcified bones can be detected, and the application is more extensive, but there are still difficulties in detecting foreign objects, such as paper, hair, etc. when buried.

However, mainly because of the high price of its precision instruments, it is still difficult to use in the production line of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which accounts for a very high proportion in the world. Currently, metal detectors commonly used can be divided into two types: magnetic and electromagnetic waves. The magnetic method is mainly for iron, and the electromagnetic wave method is applied to all metals (such as iron, non-ferrous metals etc.), and its detection. Sensitivity is affected by foreign metal objects and surrounding media (Choi, 2018). The principle of the electromagnetic metal detector is that when the product contains metal foreign matter enters the sensing channel of the metal detector, it will affect the electromagnetic field. The center coil is connected to the high frequency radio transmitter, and the coils on both sides of the transmitter coil are receivers. Since the two coils are identical and the same distance from the transmitter, they receive the same signal and produce the same output voltage. When the coils are connected in opposite directions, the output is cancelled, resulting in a zero value. When the metal particles pass through the coil of the metal detector, the high frequency field is disturbed under one coil, the voltage is changed by a few microvolt, the equilibrium state is lost, and the coil output is no longer zero. This phenomenon is used to detect the metal. Further warning of the discovery of metallic foreign bodies, but in the mixture of foods more or less contain conductive metal elements, such as sodium ions, iron ions, electrolytes, moisture content and product thickness, etc., will interfere with electromagnetic metal detectors accuracy. In addition, the size of the detector sensing channel, the shape and material of the metal foreign object, the temperature of the product, the angle and position of the product entering the channel, etc., also affect the accuracy of the metal detector. Based on our experience, the sensitivity of a metal detector is influenced by the following factors: product composition (the presence of salt and iron in the product may cause the detector to produce false responses), product characteristics (the product's viscosity may influence the detection results), product temperature (a product temperature that is higher than room temperature may cause detection errors), and packaging material (metal packaging may lead to abnormal detections).

On June 19, 2018, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) announced the requirements of the revised version of ISO 22000. Pay more attention to risk-oriented thinking, integrate the concept of risk assessment into the original ISO 22000 system, and enhance the participation and commitment of the highest management in formulating, implementing and communicating food safety policies. And more emphasis on the plan do check act (PDCA) cycle, and a clearer definition of critical control points (CCPs), operational prerequisite programs (OPRPs) and prerequisite programs (PRPs). Risk managers should understand the public's focus on food safety, as this must be the basis of a risk management strategy (Frewer, 2004). Risk management and risk communication are good tools for food safety and can be used in many food processing companies (Trafialek et al., 2016). Process prevention controls play an important role in the facility's food safety program because they are considered critical to food safety (Kottapalli & Ledenbach, 2018). Article 8.2 of ISO 22000: 2018 emphasizes that after the hazard analysis, the prerequisite program (PRP) should be designed and established, and the new PRP design and establishment should be made because Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) does not currently recognize ISO 22000 as a reference standard for food manufacturers because there is not enough detailed information about the PRP, and the new version has been reinforced (Pop, Dracea, & Vlădulescu, 2018). Contains compliance with the Codex Committee's Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (Codex HACCP), this is a food safety management system (Al-Kandari and Jukes, 2011), a global guideline for controlling food safety hazards in the international food safety community (Kafetzopoulos, Psomas, & Kafetzopoulos, 2013). The HACCP/Food Safety Program is the basic document for each structured food safety management system (FSMS) (Dzwolak, 2019). Emphasis on process control rather than final product control, it centralizes the systematic approach to hazard identification, assessment and control in the steps that are critical to consumer health in the processing system (Arvanitoyannis and Tzouros, 2006, Ropkins and Beck, 2000). While HACCP is a key element of modern food safety management practices, designing, implementing, controlling and managing HACCP systems is critical to the production of food safety (Wallace, Holyoak, Powell, & Dykes, 2014). Some studies have also pointed out that enterprises which have been verified by ISO 22000 have better HACCP than those that hasn't been verified. (Psomas & Kafetzopoulos, 2015).

Food companies have made large-scale investments in processing machinery and inspection equipment, so as to ensure the high quality of their products. Despite the utilization of advanced technologies and processes, food contamination still occurs from time to time (Ginesu, Giusto, Margner, & Meinlschmidt, 2004). Therefore, the implementation of ISO 22000 is crucial for reducing food safety hazards (Chen, Liu, Chen, Chen, Yang, & Chen, 2019). In different cultural contexts, the consumption of condiments and seasonings happens frequently and on a large scale (de Mejia, Aguilera-Gutí errez, Martin-Cabrejas, & Mejia, 2015). Certain ingredients of condiments and seasonings may be sourced from plants. The traditional processing of these plant-based ingredients may pose hygiene and safety problems. Condiments and seasonings that contain such plant-based ingredients pose a safety risk to customers (Engle-Stone et al., 2012, Schweiggert et al., 2007). Thus, this study focuses on the metal hazards that may be present in condiments and seasonings. There is currently very little information on how to implement the ISO 22000, 2018 food safety management system in this industry. This study proposes methodologies to conduct identify significant hazards, risk assessment and control measures in order to properly establish ISO22000: 2018 HACCP plans in this industry, and explore the application of metal detectors for solid premixed powder and liquid sauce in the manufacturing process. This case follows Chapter 8 of ISO 22000: 2018 and develops a HACCP plan based on the seven principles of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Although ISO 22000: 2018 does not mandate that the decision tree should be used to determine the CCP, the decision tree method is still well-organized, with contexts and a visual and easy-to-understand method for determining the CCP's hazard analysis. Therefore, this study proposes a procedure for significant hazard analysis related to the prerequisite program and a new methodology for using the CCP decision tree.

Section snippets

Company description and scope

The study is about a small and medium-sized enterprises in central Taiwan that serves restaurants from a large chain food group in the world and in Taiwan (with more than 20 brands). The company was founded in 2007. The main products are divided into two categories: solid ready-mixed powder and liquid sauce, more than 20 kinds of products. The ISO 22000: 2005 standard has been fully implemented on all production lines in 2016. In 2018, a new metal detector was purchased. This study introduced

Production and process control flow chart

This study confirmed the production and process control flow chart in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 for the preparation of solid premixed powder (italian cheese powder) and liquid sauce (white sauce).

Identify significant hazards and establish CCP and operational prerequisite programs (OPRPs)

The metal significant hazards of each processing step in the two process cases were identified and graded, and CCP and OPRPs were distinguished. PRP is officially known as the Support Program, providing the basis for HACCP's overall food safety management program (da Cruz, Cenci, & Maia, 2006). Prerequisite

Conclusion

The methodology of the significant hazard analysis proposed in this study found that code 9 and 8 steps in the solid-form Italian panna cotta powder and liquid sauce respectively may cause physical hazards. After evaluating the control measures, the “Metal Detection” step is determined as CCPs and HACCP plan control measures or combinations are provided, and the remaining hazards are managed by establishing an OPRP. The test results show that the powder products have good detection ability, and

Author contribution section

Hsinjung Chen: Conceptualization, Writing - original draft, Study conception and design, Acquisition of data, Drafting of manuscript. Pei-Ting Chuang: Conceptualization, Writing - original draft, Study conception and design, Drafting of manuscript, Critical revision. Chin-Shuh Chen: Conceptualization, Study conception and design, Critical revision. Bo-Kang Liou: Formal analysis, Writing - original draft, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting of manuscript. Fan-Jhen

References (29)

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