New vegan products: reducing the risks

A manufacturer of ready to eat bakery products was looking to introduce production of vegan alternatives to their range, which they planned to treat as ‘free-from’ animal-derived ingredients. Here's how we helped.

 

 

The challenge

 

The site handled multiple animal-derived ingredients, including meat, cheese and egg. They had conducted a risk assessment and identified numerous areas within the production facility where contamination of the vegan products with non-vegan ingredients was difficult to prevent, as well as areas where there was higher risk for the misuse of ingredients.

 

The manufacturer requested support from RSSL in the review of their risk assessment and the identification of control measures needed to reduce the risks to their vegan products. Guidance was also needed for the development of a sampling plan to substantiate the vegan claims.

Our approach

A consultant from RSSL visited the manufacturing site and undertook a tour of the facility to allow for a full review of the risk assessment. The consultant based this review on RSSL’s own approach to risk analysis, focusing on areas where there was potential for the product to be made or packed incorrectly or for cross-contamination to occur.

 

Where areas were identified that could give rise to cross-contamination, the consultant considered the type of analytical testing that could be appropriate to detect whether contamination was occurring and therefore confirm that further control measures would be needed.

 

Following the full review, the RSSL consultant supported the business in amending their risk assessment to place more focus on the biggest risks to the consumer of cross-packing and incorrect use of ingredients. The business needed to consider that consumers with allergies to animal-derived ingredients may purchase their products assuming they were safe.

 

The consultant used their experience to advise on how new controls could be validated to demonstrate their effectiveness, as well as to guide the business in where to take samples from in order to assess the cleaning procedure and check for levels of cross-contamination.

 

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The result

 

Following the visit from RSSL and subsequent testing that was conducted, the business was able to implement additional control measures within the production process, as well as demonstrate that the cleaning procedure in place was effective at removing animal-derived ingredients and at preventing cross-contamination occurring.

 

The manufacturer was therefore able to launch their new vegan range to market on time and with great success.

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