Food manufacturing, processing, repacking and storage comes with responsibility. People engaged in food operations must be qualified to conduct their assigned responsibilities and avoid cross contamination and allergen cross contact to the food they are handling.
Qualifications come with training. There are variety of food operations and variety of standards a food facility must follow. Regardless of the nature of food operations, all facilities must train people in food safety and food hygiene. This training is commonly known as Good Manufacturing Practices Training or GMP Training. Regulatory agencies FDA and USDA have no specific requirement for GMP training, and it is up to the facility to determine the level of instructions they provide to the employees. It is expected that supervisory staff will receive additional training as they manage food operations on the floor.
Facilities operating under GFSI certification schemes such as SQF or BRC must follow audit codes that are more specific to the topics the “GMP Training” includes. GFSI schemes require that in addition to personnel GMPs, your training program includes allergen management, food defense, HACCP overview and GFSI awareness. Private audit standards also require job specific training in activities that relate to food safety such as temperature controls, pre-operational inspections or calibration activities for instruments used to conduct food safety checks.
Another level of training within food industry is “certificate training”. Here regulatory agencies (FDA, USDA or State) require either HACCP Certificate or PCQI (Preventive Controls Qualified Individual). This training is for personnel responsible for managing food safety systems or senior management that oversees food operations.
When selecting certificate training provider, it is important to ensure that training curricula you are about to take are recognized or accredited. Keep in mind that not all training offered by private firms is standardized and meets regulatory requirements. When taking HACCP course, you want to take curriculum that is accredited by the International HACCP Alliance. This will give you confidence that your training certificate will be accepted by government inspectors or 3rd party certification auditors.
For PCQI training FDA recognizes certificates only from FSPCA (Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance). Their curriculum is officially recognized as adequate to become preventive controls qualified individuals and FDA participated in curriculum development process. Other training outside of FSPCA will not be accepted during FDA regulatory inspection.
The US regulatory system is a lot more complex and requires far more as far as training beyond HACCP and PCQI. All FDA registered facilities must also have FDQI (Food Defense Qualified Individual) that is responsible for the development, implementation and maintenance of a risk – based food defense plan. This applies to all FDA facilities (unless exempt) under HACCP and Preventive Controls for Human Food regulations. Just like with PCQI training, FDA will only recognize certificates from FSPCA curricula that is standardized and was co-developed and recognized by the agency.
Food importers are required to comply with FSVP (Foreign Supplier Verification Program) regulation under FSMA and be qualified individuals to conduct certain activities required by the regulation. Although the FSPCA’s FSVP Training is not required to become qualified individuals, it is a great resource to learn about the regulation itself and get ready for FDA regulatory inspection. Food importers often take HACCP and PCQI certificate courses to gain necessary qualifications to approve and verify their foreign suppliers.
Lastly, GFSI certification schemes such as SQF and BRC require trained internal auditors that will ensure their food safety system is up to date and operating as intended. During GFSI audits the auditor will verify that the training was adequate. Guidance documents to GFSI certification schemes recommend ISO 19011 based training as the one covering the needs.
BD Food Safety Consultants LLC is a one stop shop for all your consulting and training needs. Not only do we offer an online learning management system that covers basic and GFSI required GMP training, but all required accredited and recognized certificate training courses. All training courses are offered in our Training Center in Naperville, IL or online in real time via zoom. To learn more about our training offer and to register, please visit our website at https://bdfoodsafety.com/training-programs/