SALSA Accreditation changes
New school year, new SALSA Accreditation!
SALSA’s new requirements audited from the 1st September 2022.
Key Updates
There are many changes to the new SALSA Accreditation requirements. Some of the latest updates are in the guidance notes in Version Five. In Version Six, they are now requirements.
A key message with this update is the development of a Food Safety Culture but there are no direct clauses to this.
Some changes are necessary to keep up with the ever changing world we live in now. The major update is the re-numbering structure, which once you sit and read through it makes perfect sense. It isn’t a requirement for your quality management system to match up perfectly to the SALSA numbering system. For a stress free audit for both you and your auditor, it is a good idea to do some reshuffling. This can be a time consuming job which may need guidance from a food safety consultant.
New Allergen Section
The main changes after the re-numbering shuffle is allergen management now has it’s own section. Allergen awareness is on the rise. Some of the top, well-known companies are still making allergen mistakes, so this is a section to focus on.
Allergen management procedure now requires training staff in allergens being handled, potential issues with allergens from bringing food in and the importance of following all controls in place. Knowledge is key to staff doing their jobs to the best of their abilities, therefore, making allergen training a requirement is positive.
Supplier Approval
Section 1.6 is now The Control of Supplier and Raw Materials. Along with a title change a few new requirements. One change is raw material risk assessment regarding adulteration and substitution which now extends to cover food fraud. Review takes places on an annual basis.
These are factors that as a business to consider when deciding on suppliers and the raw materials you are going to handle. Getting this onto paper is challenging and with considering other potential fraud risks, specialist guidance could be the solution.
HACCP
The Haccp section has had a bit of a shake up with a lot of re-numbering of the requirements and some small re-wording changes within these, bringing the wording more in line with CODEX’s wording. Product descriptions and intended use and by whom now needs more attention and details documented. This allows greater thought to the food safety controls in place for those products. It makes you question whether you’re doing enough for the most vulnerable group of your customers?
Another new question for businesses is whether their CCP’s and critical limits on their control measures are enough, understood efficiently and documented correctly? Any control measures that are in place for controlling CCP’s must also be verified by a senior member of staff.
SALSA version 6 has an expanded section 2. A detailed Haccp review is now needed by Haccp teams throughout the industry. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes is not a bad thing whc en reviewing your companies haccp’s, with many years experience building Haccp’s and with our own SALSA auditor and mentor on the team our fresh set of eyes might help bring your Haccp system up to speed in no time.Section Four Changes
Section Four
Another noticeable change to SALSA’s new version has been to section 4, which in previous versions has been the smaller of all the sections. Section 4 now has four of its own sub sections, with most of version 5’s requirements being re-worded slightly and dotted throughout these sections. A couple of big additions to section 4 includes the need for a site plan indicated the methods of working; product intake flow, staff flow, waste flow etc. Which in all fairness creating a site plan with this information on is an invaluable tool as this will help with the implementation and reviewing of control documents in place, don’t worry you don’t need to be a budding artist to achieve this.
Another move in numbering includes the remaining section 1.4. Cross contamination from version 5 migrating to the new section 4.4, which makes perfect sense considering part focus is on glass and brittle plastic structures, any wood used on site etc. No major changes for these requirements, just a relocation of home.
Another change occuring in section 4 and is necessary considering the world we live in. There is now a place to record a system for digital record keeping and what back up is in place.
Food fraud is also considered within this section. Previously, there was only the requirement for site security to be considered. In addition, there is a requirement to consider and record a food security/defence plan. This must take into consideration product security threats.
Guidance on Changes
Overall a lot of changes for new SALSA Accreditation, some simple and some not so simple. If you need any assistance with the changes or an internal systems review once you have made the changes ahead of your audit we can help. This will also assist you in covering of part requirements for section 3.1!
