Sustainable Plastics - May/June 2022 - 28

quality control
continued from page 27
change or aff ect the taste of
the product. There is excellent
guidance available from the
FSSC, explaining how having
the standards in place is not
enough. It doesn't mean you're
ready to make FSSC 22000
food-contact packaging; you
have to work hard. "
Gaining and maintaining the
recognised food safety packaging
accreditation involves understanding
and implementing
high-level policies that address
hazards and risks, an action
plan for continual progress and
a clear monitoring system. The
hazards must include a critical
control point so that any
non-conformities or 'out of tolerances'
can be fixed quickly
with no impact on the production,
all while everyone involved
understands that each element
must be continually monitored,
supervised and evaluated.
Smataviciene adds that unplanned
audits also positively
contribute to maintaining the
incredibly high standards required
for the FSSC 22000 and
BRC accreditation, by ensuring
that all food safety best pracStandards
must be provable,
continuously enforced and
regularly updated.
tices are present all day, every
day. " Once a year we have an
external audit - we never know
when it will be. There can be
just 10 minutes between being
told and the audit team arriving.
It's actually a great tool
for us; we welcome them. We
have our own internal audits
regularly, too; it's not just about
cleaning and keeping everything
in order. It's about trustability
- trusting each material,
each component, each batch.
Trusting each other to perform
as we should. Trusting that we
know why we have to work to
these strict standards. "
Shared responsibility
The importance of trust is seen
in the 'trickle down' eff ect of
food safety standards. With
each aspect of food and beverage
packaging adhering to recognised
standards, including
the additives and colourants,
the materials, the closures and
the preforms themselves, the
whole supply chain can be both
held to account and responsible
for safe food packaging.
Smataviciene comments,
" It's all about transparency.
Standards must be provable,
continuously enforced and regularly
updated. People, facilities
and equipment must all be
clear on what is required, how
to perform and how to stay up
to date. Standards mean sharing
responsibility so nothing is
missed. At Retal, we have an intranet
platform that allows us to
share best practice across our
facilities and to share our ideas
with our colleagues. "
COVID has brought with it an
extra appreciation for hygiene
Better World.
Better Together.
We Are Avient.
Avient combines our best and brightest talents, reaching for new heights in sustainable
and specialty material solutions. We come together with an intense focus on meeting
the world's needs-all with an unwavering commitment to global responsibility.
and product safety, with consumers
advised to wash their
groceries in the early stages of
the pandemic, and many people
still living with high levels
of awareness in terms of food
safety. This is a reminder of
why it is important to work to
quantifiable quality assurances,
as being able to deploy
additional checks is only possible
when the standards have
already been reliably enforced.
Smataviciene concludes,
" We could quickly add in additional
quality checks such as in
restrooms and between shifts,
and could deliver best practice
training for the handling of the
extra measures such as the
masks and plastic gloves our
teams were required to wear
as anything can be a source
of contamination. Education is
crucial here; we're building on
the education our people already
have. It's not about one
person; it's about one vision
for reliable, repeatable, transparent
quality assurance that
consistently delivers food-safe
packaging to our global customers,
wherever they are - or
we are - in the world. "
See what makes us better together at avient.com
28
May/June 2022
http://www.avient.com
Sustainable Plastics - May/June 2022

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