The Food Industry Hub Blog

IntroductionIn food manufacturing, raw materials form the foundation of your finished products, making their safety, quality, and compliance critical to your operations. A raw material risk assessment is a proactive tool that enables you to identify, evaluate, and...

IntroductionYou're probably aware that ensuring food safety is a complex process. It's not just about selecting the freshest ingredients; it's also about implementing a robust Food Safety and Quality Management System. This system is a comprehensive guide, detailing...

IntroductionHave you ever considered how crucial the Food Safety Plan - HACCP is in preventing foodborne illnesses? By implementing a systematic approach that identifies and controls food safety hazards, it's possible to significantly reduce the risks of biological,...

IntroductionConsider the role of senior management in your organisation's food safety and quality management. Senior management commitment isn't just a formality; it's the backbone of establishing and maintaining a culture of accountability and excellence. They're not...

IntroductionMaintaining strict controls over non-conforming products is crucial for upholding quality standards. Imagine the impact a single oversight could have on your brand's reputation and customer trust. By implementing robust measures to identify, manage, and...

IntroductionWhen looking at the sources of incidents and non-conformities in food manufacturing operations, it's crucial to understand the multifaceted nature of these occurrences - and how the source of the non-conformity can indicate underlying weaknesses in the...

IntroductionAre you looking for a comprehensive guide to conducting a simple and effective vulnerability assessment for raw materials? If so, you’ve come to the right place! This post will provide an overview of why it is important to conduct a vulnerability...

IntroductionDo you ever think about how likely consumers are to switch brands if they experienced a quality or safety issue with a food product? It’s commercially essential for food manufacturers to prioritise brand protection and customer satisfaction. Effective...

IntroductionImagine a scenario where a food manufacturer's reputation is tarnished due to a product tampering incident that could have been prevented. How can you safeguard your company from such threats? By implementing stringent threat mitigation strategies, you can...

IntroductionIn a world where food fraud has become increasingly prevalent, the integrity of our food supply chain hangs in the balance. As a food manufacturer, you hold the power to combat this deception and restore trust in the products you produce. Food authenticity...

IntroductionAs a food manufacturer, you understand the importance of delivering high-quality products to your customers. However, no matter how meticulous your processes are, there will inevitably be instances where complaints arise. In this post, we will explore the...

IntroductionHaving full traceability over food manufacturing and production can be a complex process. Every stage needs special consideration to ensure accurate record-keeping, help manage incidents and understand where things come from. This post looks at...

IntroductionThe quality management system (QMS) is an extensive management structure of key importance to food manufacturing, but is often regarded as being highly technical and inaccessible. In this explanatory guide, we will explore the key components of the QMS and...

IntroductionAll businesses are subject to risk, with categories of risk including competition, reputational risks, financial, economic, and political hazards. The scope of this post is limited to food safety, quality, legality, and authenticity risks, and we’ll look...

IntroductionFor food manufacturers, understanding and properly addressing non-conformance, process deviations, and quality incidents is fundamental to continuous improvement and risk mitigation. In this blog post, we will take a comprehensive look at these quality...

IntroductionPolicies, procedures, and work instructions are all important management documents that are used in food manufacturing to ensure that the production process is safe, efficient, and compliant with relevant regulations. In this post, we will define each type...

IntroductionSupplier assurance processes form an important area of diligence for food manufacturers. The quality and safety or raw materials received from suppliers has a direct impact on the products manufactured from them, so evaluation of suppliers has a marked...

IntroductionMaintaining good records is one of the most important practices for food manufacturing businesses. It is essential to have accurate, legible, and properly formatted records that are in good condition and preserved from loss or damage. In this post, we will...

IntroductionEvery food manufacturer intends to implement the best possible food safety and quality assurance systems and adopt a stance of continuous improvement. The particular ways you achieve that will depend on a massive range of variables – depending on your...

IntroductionEvery food manufacturer has an obligation to maintain an awareness of – and comply with – applicable regulations. To support, we’ve brought together a range of informational resources which either facilitate regulatory awareness or can be used in support...

IntroductionSupplier assurance updates can fairly time-consuming, but maintaining proper oversight of your supply chain is a key mitigation process against raw material processing risks – so well worth the effort. We’ve signposted to a collection of resources that...

IntroductionSubstitution, adulteration, and fraud present a uniquely difficult set of authenticity risks for food manufacturers to manage for. Intentional malicious action is inherently challenging to detect and mitigate, because the malicious actor(s) make deliberate...

IntroductionSupply chain risk monitoring is critical to awareness and control of raw material and supplier risks – which can directly affect the risk profile of your finished products. The purpose of this post is to bring together a range of informational resources,...

The food safety and quality manual represents the documented system of management for a food manufacturer. It is the framework of management that governs all operational processes. In this post, we’ll explore the composition of a food safety and quality manual and how...

This post will address the processes and considerations surrounding version control of documents, management systems, and tips for how to get the most out of your document control system. You’ll learn about what document control is, and how it can be best applied to...

Specifications serve a lot of important purposes in food manufacturing. Most obviously, they’re used to establish quality expectations for suppliers and customers exchanging food products – but more broadly, specifications can be a vehicle for transmitting information...

In the food industry, record completion and maintenance is an essential part of compliance and diligence. Records provide a valuable defence of evidence for companies in the event of a legal dispute. Aside from providing evidence of diligence and process control,...

Internal audits in food manufacturing are a valuable tool when it comes to identifying areas of improvement and increasing efficiency. They can help to identify weaknesses, strengths, and discrepancies in compliance, while also providing an opportunity to discover...