HACCP
software enables complete cycle control, says NWA
By Jane Byrne, 12-Dec-2008
Source of Article: http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Quality-Safety/HACCP-software-enables-complete-cycle-control-says-NWA
A new
software programme manages the complete Hazard Analysis Critical Control
Point (HACCP) operational cycle to provide a powerful food safety and quality
control system, claims its US
developer.
Northwest Analytical
(NWA) said that its new eHACCP programme, which is
now being released onto the European market, expands on its established NWA
Quality Information System (QIS) by encompassing compliant data collation,
secure electronic signatures as well as management and reporting
capabilities.
Quality control
HACCP is a food safety
management system designed to ensure the safe production and packaging of
food.
The HACCP
process provides a systematic and effective method to analyze a process, and
identifies potential biological, chemical and physical hazards that can occur
in food. In addition, HACCP requires the development of strategies to prevent
the inclusion or reduction of these hazards to an acceptable level in the
food.
Cycle management
Jeffery Cawley, vice president of marketing development at NWA,
said that while there are categories of manufacturing information management
systems that supply part of the functionality required, until now there has
not been a commercial product that manages the complete HACCP operational
cycle.
He told
FoodProductionDaily.com that the eHACCP system also
includes consultation on the process of converting from a paper-based to a
paperless system, with, he claims, 90 per cent of food processing facilities
still running paper-based HACCP operational programmes.
Food industry
partnership
The development of the
eHACCP was informed by collaboration with leading
food manufacturers, continued Cawley.
“Food processors have
been using various NWA Quality components for the past several years for
quality control and compliance. This includes the application of the NWA
Quality Monitor for controlling workflow and collecting data for both food
quality and food safety parameters.
“With recent
expansions to the underlying NWA QIS, it became reasonable to meet HACCP
requirements with a few extensions. We were able to identify these as a
result of our long term food industry customer relationships and professional
involvement with the food industry,” he explained.
Enhanced reporting
According to Cawley, the new software package improves HACCP
compliance and reporting through the elimination of transcription errors,
better data handling and retrieval as well as alerts based on statistical
process control (SPC) trends to indicate process deterioration.
Extended reporting
templates to meet HACCP based requirements are also included, he added.
“With no manual data
handling, analysis and reporting, our quality information system (QIS)
customers typically report being able to reallocate one to two professionals
to more productive process management and improvement operations, as a result
of installing the eHACCP system,” said Cawley.
NWA said that it
teamed up with leading food safety expert, Dr John Surak,
to develop a conversion plan that includes the training, validation and
verification steps need to properly implement the system:
“These steps are
critical to assure regulatory agencies, customers and third party auditors
that eHACCP is an effective food safety system.”
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