What is the purpose of a start-up check?

Start-up checks, otherwise known as pre-operational checks, are an important monitoring activity to include within your food business. A start-up check is basically a check of your operating environment prior to the start of production. The purpose is to make sure that there are no hazards present in the surrounding food manufacturing environment or on the actual food production line.

What hazards should you look for?

When deciding what hazards to look for, we can break them down into the hazard categories of microbiological, chemical, physical, allergens, quality and regulatory.
Some examples and questions to ask include the following (Keep in mind that these are just a few examples):

  • Has the line been thoroughly cleaned down completely after the previous production? Micro cross contamination can occur between raw and prepared ingredients if insufficient cleaning has occurred or there has been a significant time delay between productions.
  • Has there been any chemical spillages on the line. Check for the correct storage of cleaning chemicals. Also check that machinery lubricants have not dripped onto the food contact surfaces or can drip on the product during production.
  • Is there any visible breakages or potential for foreign matter present? Machinery screws may have become loose, pests may have crawled into equipment during the night or there may have been a recent glass breakage.
  • Do you know the allergen status of the previous production and the current production? If the equipment and environment has not be adequately cleaned, allergen cross contact can occur.
  • Are the machine line settings correct for the current food product? This is particularly pertinent for product weight control.
  • Has the food packaging been clearly from the packing line from the last production? Packing the wrong product into the wrong packaging can end up being an expensive re-packaging, recall or withdrawal activity for a food business.

Documenting your start-up check

Evidence will be required during the audit process to show that you have completed the start-up check. The easiest way to do this is to develop a start-up check monitoring form and have the completion of this form implemented in your food business. Make sure that you include the basics – check out this article on “The Basics of HACCP Monitoring Forms”. Avoid making this monitoring form a ‘tick & flick’ activity but instead have the user document descriptive outcomes and observations.

Another thing to keep in mind when documenting your start-up checks is to refer to any 3rd party certification standards that your business operates under. All of the major GFSI standards have a requirement for certain elements to be included in the start-up check.

Training

As with any process within your food business, staff need to be adequately trained in how to correctly undertake the start-up check. In your training, give examples of what to look for and the how to complete the monitoring record correctly.

Feedback

As always, I would love your feedback. If you have any particular elements included in your start-up checks that you think would be useful for other food businesses let me know by leaving a comment below.

2 thoughts on “What is the purpose of a start-up check?”

  1. Thank you, it is very good detailed informations fulfilled with the basic requirements for implementing startup check..in addition I would like to focus the personal hygiene hence most the costumers complains caused by manpower, kindly advise me I like your way for passing valuable materials..thanks

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get free HACCP advice and updates

Find out how to better implement and manage your HACCP, legal and food safety compliance requirements by joining the HACCP Mentor newsletter.

Scroll to Top