Someone on your side who knows the answers before you need them.
No matter what you are trying to accomplish regarding food safety and processing, having someone with the knowledge and the ability to find the best answers is critical for success — and cost savings. We’re a group of people dedicated to excellence, and we’ll go beyond your expectations, period.
Are you located outside the United States? Not a problem — many of our clients are, and we travel worldwide. We speak English and Spanish.
AuditAssist
Have you gone through an audit and have questions about the non-conformities raised by the auditor? You're not alone! We can help you and your team with the necessary background to properly address the non-conformities.
Food Safety On-Demand
Do you have someone you can ask any food safety or regulatory question at any time? Open an account for access to answers from experienced professionals, document review, compliance audits, and support during second- or third-party audits.
Hazard Analysis and Preventive Controls Program, or Farm Food Safety Plan
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the most sweeping reform of our food safety laws in more than 70 years, was signed into law by the President of the United States on January 4, 2011. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it. About 48 million people (1 in 6 Americans) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die each year from foodborne diseases, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a significant public health burden that is largely preventable. The law also provides FDA with new enforcement authorities designed to achieve higher rates of compliance with prevention- and risk-based food safety standards, and gives FDA important new tools to hold imported foods to the same standards as domestic foods.
Are you ready for the new requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act? We have trained and knowledgeable personnel who are current on the most recent information regarding implementation of FSMA’s rules. We can help you from scratch, help you improve your current HACCP-based program, and help with the validation and verification requirements of the regulation.
Facilities with sales of less than one million dollars.
Facilities with less than 500 employees.
All other facilities.
- Preventive Controls for Human Food
- Preventive Controls for Food for Animals
- Produce Safety Rule
- Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP)
- Accreditation of Third-Party Certification Bodies
- Sanitary Transportation Rule
- Intentional Adulteration Rule
Every way we support your food safety program.
Tap a topic to read the details.
The proper identification of hazards at each step of your process(es) and the effective evaluation of their risks is critical to the implementation of any food safety management program. We can provide you with the necessary support from qualified personnel on the proper way to identify hazards and their risks by using reliable and scientifically supported documentation/regulation. This is the minimum requirement for the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP).
Are you looking to develop and implement a food safety system following any of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked Standards? You just arrived at the right place!
We have been helping companies in the food and beverage industry with the development and implementation of GFSI benchmarked Standards’ specific requirements. The key here, based on our experience, is to understand the hazards associated with each of the clauses, develop a program or procedure to manage the hazard(s), and look for the best way to implement it. We can help with the training of the personnel, or you can take care of it. We can help you developing and implementing:
- FSSC 22000 Food Safety Management Systems
- SQF Food Safety Systems
- BRC Global Standard for Food Safety Systems
- Any other GFSI benchmarked standards/scheme
There are companies that may need to have just the foundation programs required for food and food packaging processing and manufacturing. In those cases, what is required is to develop a program covering the current Good Manufacturing Practices topics like: personnel training, personnel practices, conditions and location of the facility and equipment, pest control program, cleaning and sanitation, etc. We have the required expertise to identify and analyze the hazards and their risks and develop the required documentation to manage them, including the validation.
This can be done under the requirements for human or animal food regulations.
Do you have your program up and running and you just need help in developing, implementing and/or improving one or a couple programs? We can help you with this as well. Let us know what your needs are and we’ll provide a solution. Following are examples of some of the pre-requisite programs we can help you with:
- Cleaning and sanitation
- Allergen control
- Maintenance of plant and equipment
- Shipping, receiving and transportation
- Personnel practices during processing or manufacturing
- Personnel training
- Approved suppliers
- Control of chemicals
- Product specifications
- Research and development program
- Approved contractors
- Approved co-packers (Contract manufacturing)
- Program for maintaining the identity of certain ingredients/products
- Calibration program
- Waste program
Due to the strong knowledge and understanding of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) System’s requirements, you can benefit in having us helping you with the development, review, verification and validation of a HACCP System for your specific needs.
HACCP is required on all food and beverage processing industries to prevent, eliminate or reduce hazards during the process, storage, loading and unloading, and transportation. Our experience in different fields allows us to have a very wide perception of hazards and how to deal with them. Feel free to contact us to check how we can help you.
Keep in mind that, no matter if your food safety system is based on HACCP (like Codex Alimentarius, FDA’s Seafood HACCP or Juice HACCP, or USDA-FSIS HACCP for meat, poultry or egg products) or on the new FDA’s Preventive Controls, your system must be based on and show evidence that the seven (7) principles are being followed.
Due to the strong knowledge and understanding of the HACCP System’s requirements, you can benefit in having us helping with the development, review, verification and validation of a HACCP System for your specific needs.
Implementation of a HACCP System is required on all food and beverage processing industries to prevent, eliminate or reduce hazards during receiving, processing, storage, loading, and transportation. A fundamental part of the HACCP System is the review of the program every time there is a change and at least on an annual basis. This review shall be performed by qualified and knowledgeable individuals. Validation must be performed at least on an annual basis and by qualified personnel.
What is a qualified individual? Based on FSMA’s Proposed Rule for Preventive Controls for Human Food, to be qualified, an individual would be required to successfully complete training in accordance with a standardized curriculum or be otherwise qualified through job experience to develop and apply a food safety system. This person would be required to prepare the food safety plan, develop the hazard analysis, validate the preventive controls, review records and conduct a reanalysis of the food safety plan.
Our experience in different fields allows us to have a wide perception of hazards and how to deal with them. Our consultants are versed in the application of the HACCP Method. Feel free to contact us to check how we can help you.
How do you know your cleaning and sanitation program is working? We can perform on-site pre-operations inspections to verify if your program is working. Any deviation observed will be highlighted in a report so you can complete a corrective action. We can even help you by recommending corrective actions. Should you wish, we can develop from scratch or revise your cleaning and sanitation program, with the goal of providing evidence that the control measures implemented are effective.
Environmental monitoring provides a solid foundation about the conditions of your facility and the effectiveness of your cleaning procedures. We can help you identify the hazards applicable to your operations and develop an environmental program tailored to your organization. This program is a must for those companies processing or manufacturing high-risk products.
We can support you in the development and implementation of a hygienic zoning map. Facilities where high-risk products are processed will benefit from implementing a hygienic zoning map, as it helps control cross-contact or cross-contamination between the different areas of the facility.
By using our experience working in the development and implementation of systems based on the risks of food safety hazards, we can support legal departments or law firms in understanding the law from a practical side.
We can also testify in depositions or trials related to food or beverages.
Are you looking to open a new facility in the food and beverage or drugs manufacturing or importing business? Based on current regulations, it is mandatory that you register the company with the Food and Drug Administration. We can help you go through that process and then provide you with all necessary information so you can access it. Remember that you are required to re-register every even year between October 1st and December 31st. We can maintain your registration current as part of our services. Contact us and we’ll provide solutions!
Are you looking to test your recall plan? (This is not the same as performing a trace exercise!) Do you need to train the employees who will be involved in a recall situation? Are you in a recall right now and need help? In most cases, we can provide support to the industry with an actual recall.
Testing your ability to trace your products is what is called a trace exercise; it is basically an accountability exercise — how much you received and from whom, and how much you produced and where it is. This looks, in concept, quite simple. Is it simple when performing it? Sometimes. It depends on the characteristics of the product being traced. It is not the same to trace units — say, boxes or bags of something — as to trace oil, vinegar or powders. How do you account for the loss of powders during handling and processing? This is part of your trace exercise! How do you account when mixing shipments of vinegar or oil? This is also part of your trace exercise!
We can help you go through a mock recall — testing the whole recall program by simulating a real situation. When performing this service, we’ll have a meeting so we can understand your recall program and your products’ identification system. Then we’ll plan a mock recall and perform it. You’ll be surprised not only by the outcome of such an exercise, but by the changes you could implement to make your program stronger and help people feel more comfortable with the process.
Product inspections can be performed to check if a product conforms to its specifications. We can do this anywhere your product is arriving (Port of Entry), or as a service when, for example, a co-packer is producing a product for you and you need someone to oversee the production. Call us to discuss your inspection needs.
It doesn't matter how many resources you have. If you don't know how to use them, it will never be enough.
Sabal Food Safety Consulting
