Vetting Your Packaging Vendor’s Food-Safety Practices

Food safety in packaging operations is more important than ever. Food product manufacturers are focused on staying compliant with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), ensuring that every part of their production process, including packaging, follows industry-standard best practices for food safety. As part of your own efforts to ensure your company adheres to the highest food-safety standards, you must vet your packaging vendor’s food safety practices.

Evaluating your packaging vendor’s food-safety compliance

Any packaging vendor you entrust with handling and packaging your food product must meet the following criteria:

• Quality and food safety certified — The vendor should possess up-to-date certifications in quality assurance and food safety standards, such as those outlined in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) standards, and Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP) certification.

• Routine environmental monitoring — The vendor should perform routine testing of equipment and surfaces for contaminants, such as swab-testing surfaces that come in contact with food. Relevant environmental tests, such as water and air testing, should also be performed.

• Hygiene and sanitation requirements — The vendor should follow optimum hygiene and sanitation requirements to minimize risk of contamination during the packaging process. These requirements should include proper equipment and facility sanitation practices, correct use of cleaning solutions, and ensuring employees follow personal hygiene best practices.

• Customer auditing — The vendor must permit auditing by the customer to evaluate the packaging vendor’s food safety compliance.

Combined Technologies, Inc. (CTI) makes food safety practices the top priority in our food-packaging operations. We do this with in-house quality assurance (QA) programs, routine environmental and equipment monitoring, comprehensive training for employees on proper sanitation and hygiene practices, and through our FDA and third-party QA and food safety certifications. CTI adheres to a number of government and industry quality and QA programs to ensure the safety of your products and your consumers.

[cta]Package your product the right way. Contact your CTI representative today to find out how we can create a custom fulfillment program for your product. Reach us online, by email, or by phone at 847-968-4855.[/cta]