With an estimated two million people in the UK living with a food allergy, and many more suffering from food intolerances or choosing to cut or reduce certain things from their diet, it is essential food manufacturers have robust segregation and full traceability for all their products.
This responsibility for segregation and traceability starts at the farm and continues all the way to a product being on the shelves.
At Silvery Tweed, the main allergens that we handle are soya, gluten, (from wheat, rye, barley) and sesame. So, how do we give our customers confidence in the products that we supply?
Full traceability
We often talk about traceability and its importance, but what does it mean and how do we achieve it?
Control starts a long time before a product arrives at our processing facility in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Before we start working with a supplier, we look at their processes, how they handle raw materials and how they segregate allergens from the other products. If these controls and handling processes aren’t correct, then we cannot approve them as a supplier and cannot bring materials from them onto our site for processing.
Once we have a product on-site, we have a duty of care for the allergens. Retailers must be sure that the supply chain is doing everything correctly to ensure that there isn’t any cross-contamination that could potentially cause someone to fall seriously, potentially fatally, ill. It is this that has led us to build two seed plants, one dedicated to sesame, and the other allergen-free.
On-site, we keep everything separate. There are dedicated delivery areas and specific trailers and forklifts used for allergens. Testing, storage, staff workwear and cleaning tools such as hoovers are also individual to the specific plant that they are being used for.
Testing and audits
Testing is an important part of our on-site controls to prevent any cross-contamination from occurring.
We use our own testing facilities to routinely monitor our equipment and environment. These results are then augmented with product tests carried out with UKAS accredited laboratories.
At Silvery Tweed, we regularly welcome customers to our facilities so that they can carry out their own audits and see for themselves all the practices and procedures that we have in place. We know that this gives them the reassurance that they need when using products that we supply them for their own products.
For more information on our quality and traceability standards, and to find out how we can help you with your requirements, please contact us today.