4.1 Standard operating procedures for preparation of pork

Found in:

Ham & Cooked Pork / Preparation of pork for curing and injection

4.1.1 All standard operating procedures, work instructions, quality attribute specifications (QAS), in-house mini specifications and finished product specifications shall. be established and maintained for the cooked ham or pork product type being manufactured. Relevant staff shall be trained against these.

4.1.2 The in-house ‘mini specification’ shall be developed in line with the QAS specified in clause 9.2 and provide through the use of words, measurements and/or photographs, specific quality attributes that clearly define acceptable and unacceptable key attributes for each finished product approved by the BMPA Quality Assured Ham and Cooked Pork module.

4.1.3 The mini specification shall be prominently displayed at appropriate points of the production line to assist staff with quality monitoring and compliance.

4.1.4 A documented check shall be carried out on each production run of finished product to verify that the quality standards are being achieved.

4.1.5 Where there is evidence of attribute failure, the site shall investigate root cause and implement corrective action. to minimise/prevent the issue from re-occurring.

Guidance

A range of methods may be used including injection, (cured or uncured) dry-curing, injection curing followed by immersion, injection curing followed by bag-maturing, massaging, tumbling etc. However, certain process methods may only relate to specific types of cooked ham/pork and these distinctions shall be observed.

The ‘mini spec’ is a short version of specific key quality attributes from the QAS displayed on the manufacturing line.

Evidence

Visual inspection of butchery and finished product standards at point of production. Review ‘mini specification’ and verification that the quality attributes are aligned to those detailed in the QAS and checking that the mini specification displayed corresponds to the product going down the packing line at the time of the audit.