Foreign Material

Foreign Material

This morning I am drinking my coffee and thinking about foreign material. I know, who would be thinking about a foreign material first thing in the morning? Both you and I know foreign material should not be in food. We believe that foreign material can be defined as the presence of pieces of metal, wood, plastic, stones, or glass in the food. Or at least, we limit ourselves just to those types of foreign materials. Sometimes, foreign material is not foreign material. The foreign material may be too small to be a food safety concern, but still big enough to be a concern to specific groups of people. Babies could be choked by some larger pieces of foreign material or choked by pieces of food that are too large to swallow. Sometimes, size really does matter.

Sometimes, the foreign material is big enough to be a food safety hazard but it is expected to be in the food. Chicken bones are expected to be in chicken meat, but you will still have customer complaints that there are bones in their chicken. Have you ever found clam shells in clam chowder? Wonder where the clam shells came from? Clams? You can expect some customer complaints about shells. In some cases, foreign material may be present, but if you can remove it with further processing, then the food will be acceptable. It is always easier to prevent foreign material then try to remove the foreign material later with further processing.

Foreign material hazard analyses and risk assessments can be confusing and be challenging for food safety managers. Especially when you are evaluating a multiple ingredient finished goods. I have seen processing lines exposing the food to more foreign material risk than the ingredients. Then I have to rethink that position because each of the ingredients is processed in a manufacturing facility that I have not seen. An audit report can only give you a view of the facility through words on a paper. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a video of the facility’s processes included with the audit report?

There are processors that use magnets and metal detectors as their last line of defense for foreign material which is great to prevent metal contamination. You need to take a close look at what is being done to prevent nonmetal foreign materials. The prevention of glass in a product has been extremely high on my list of foreign materials to eliminate from the ingredients and the process. Glass or Brittle plastic inspection lists are great. I just wish the inspection frequency was more often than monthly. I love x-ray units, but I love trained personnel, operational and maintenance inspection programs more. Your maintenance personnel and maintenance records can be your facility’s great strength in foreign material prevention. They know where and how often equipment could shed foreign material into the process because of extended usage. I wonder if the maintenance budget is included in the food safety program development.

The FDA’s Documents CPG Sec. 555.425 Foods, Adulteration Involving hard or Sharp Foreign Objects and CFR Part 110.110 Defect Levels Handbook are great reads when you are conducting your Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessments or Annual Reassessments. But your own customer complaints and your foreign material investigation results can reap even more insight. Educating the factory personnel with the exhibits from the foreign material investigations can yield even more insight into preventive programs.

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