This document describes the quality checks performed for potato chips production. 

Recipe - The document defining the ingoing material as well as specification requirements for a specific product or SKU. 

Quality Check - Checks performed by the personnel to ensure that the product is manufactured correctly and within specification

Production Protocol - Document used to start or end a production run

Food Safety Group - The quality governing group in the company

Quality checks is required for all potato chips products produced for sale. These quality checks are performed in Omniscient and tied to a lot number and production protocol for that production run. Once the quality check is submitted it will go through an automatic verification process to verify that the answers comply with the requirements set forth in the production recipe. Finally, the checks and the production run will be validated by a representative of the Food Safety Group before the product is release.

Moisture:

Moisture tests measures the amount of water left in the fried chips. A potato starts around 80% water content and will during the frying process decrease to between 1 and 2%. A normal acceptable range is between 1.3% and 1.8%, but the defined range will be on each products recipe.

Moisture tests needs to be done at the start of any run to ensure the chips are cooked the correct amount.  The amount and time of frying is set in the fryer settings and will have to be adjusted if the moisture isn't within range, or even at the top or bottom end of a range. For Batch Fried (Kettle) chips there will always be some variation in the moisture between batches and even in the same batch. It is therefore important that fryers are set so that the average is close to the middle of the acceptable range. 

This is recorded in Omniscient.

FFA tests:

FFA is the Free Fatty Acids in the oil. The FFA is the largest contributing factor to rancidity in the oil. The higher FFA, the quicker the oil will go rancid. Moisture and FFA are the two main components in shelf life. The FFA needs to be tested at the start of every shift for each fryer that will be used. The fryer/Sanitation operator and supervisor/lead are responsible that the Kettles only is used within the correct FFA limit and previous numbers should therefore not be used in this determination. Typically, a good range is under 0.5%, but over 0.75% should not be used. The acceptable ranges will be on the product recipe, depending on required shelf life and other contributing factors.

 Sanitation is responsable for FFA check in Day shift and Quality tech/supervisor/Lead will be responsable for Swing shift  to ensure this number are record it in Omniscient and if numbers are out range communicated with Operational Manager. 

Quality Checks:

Why – To ensure that the product meets the specification and is manufactured correctly. These checks are the very essence of the quality assurance.

Who – Operator or trained person assigned by operator

When – The current frequency is quantified by the amount of product produced. The frequency is set in the product recipe under “Quality Checks”. This number represents the max number of registered units between each quality check.

Where – The checks will be performed at the packing station with some tests in the onsite lab, if special equipment is required.

How – The quality checks are performed on a table or computer. It will entail visual, sensory, physical checks, and at times checks using specialized equipment.  

Verification:

Omniscient will automatically compare all answers to the recipe as well as pre-determined correct and incorrect answers. If any answers are determined as incorrect it will bring these up on the next scree, asking how they were corrected and require a signature that they were indeed corrected.

Validation:

A representative from the Food Safety Group will then go through all submission and review the answers and pictures to ensure they are correct. The pictures include the seasoned chips and bag seals, this allows the reviewer to compare the answers with the pictures. Upon the review, the reviewer can approve, disapprove, and set the product for additional review. If quality check or lot number is not approved, further investigation needs to be performed which can lead to segregation and quarantine of product. All products should be validated before they leave the facility. These results will be recorded in omniscient.