Copyright © Global Coalition for Sustained Excellence in Food & Health Protection, 2011 and ALL subsequent years: Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s authors and/or owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Global Coalition for Sustained Excellence in Food & Health Protection with appropriate and specific reference and/or link to the original content.

Thursday 31 December 2015

Food & Health Protection Mobilization


The Global Coalition for Sustained Excellence in Food & Health Protection has been launched to encourage a worldwide mobilization to:

 protect public health
 promote regulatory compliance
 produce sufficient, nutritious, affordable and safe food (including safe water supply),
 produce reliable pharmaceutical and other health products
 keep products fresh and within reasonable shelf life
 avoid wastage
 ensure equitable and efficient distribution of food and health products
 encourage social responsibility
 maintain environmental sustainability
This small step can make a huge difference. If you think this mobilization makes sense, cast your vote in support.


Wednesday 30 December 2015

SSQA Consultants and Trainers Events - The next stop could be near you:

If you provide food safety and quality management training services, you could become an SSQA training provider and your organization could serve as a training centre. Did you also know that consultants have the opportunity to receive SSQA enrolment commission?

Consultants and trainers who provide SSQA implementation services or training to their clients, may also submit a brief synopsis of their overall services and related information for FREE LISTING by GCSE-Food and Health Protection as a way of gaining additional exposure. You may contact the SSQA-D Team via the email address below for additional details.

GCSE-Food & Health Protection is planning SSQA program introduction and partner workshop events for Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver. We need a minimum of 50 participants to confirm each location and the number of participants will also determine the size and cost of the venue selected at that location – the more the number, the lower the cost. We are currently gathering the numbers. Please cast your vote for your nearest city by sending an email to the SSQA Team via the address below. The events will be scheduled according to the order in which the cities reach 50 participants or more. 

If you are interested in becoming an SSQA consultant or trainer and wishes to attend the event in any of these cities, please send an email to gcse@afisservices.com  indicating the city of your choice. The next stop could be near you. Even if a city near you is not named above, you could suggest one. There may be enough people wishing to attend the event in your suggested city.


You could qualify to receive a free copy of the SSQA implementation manual if:
 5 other participants indicate that you invited them to attend the event at your preferred city.
OR
You suggest a city and invite at least 4 other participants to the event.
OR
You are a food safety consultant or trainer and you help one of your clients to enroll in the SSQA Program.
Contact the GCSE-Food & Health Protection Team for details: 

You may  also contact the 
GCSE-Food & Health Protection (SSQA Development) Team 

GCSE-Food & Health Protection Blog Popularity

The GCSE-Food & Health Protection thought and action inspiring message is continuing to gather worldwide interest. What is the GCSE-FHP Message?

You are invited to read the blog posts and JOIN THE CONVERSATION: 

Readers from the following countries have visited this blog:
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Benin
Bhutan
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Cambodia
Cameroon 
Canada
Cayman Islands
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Côte d’Ivoire
Croatia
Curaçao
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Ethiopia
France
Fiji
Finland
Gabon
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guadeloupe
Guatemala
Guyana
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Ireland
Isle of Man
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Macedonia (FYROM)
Madagascar
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mauritius
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Myanmar (Burma)
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

You are invited to read the thought-inspiring posts and JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
 

Tuesday 29 December 2015

Taking a Stand versus Fence-Sitting


This blog post has been moved to the
 author's eBook.
Posted by Felix Amiri
___________________________________________________________
Felix Amiri is currently the chair of GCSE-Food & Health Protection, and a sworn SSQA advocate.

Monday 28 December 2015

Saturday 12 December 2015

News for all SSQA Implementation Manual owners:

   NEWS   
The GCSE-FHP Compendium of Guiding Principles is now designated as a companion resource in the recent update to the SSQA Implementation Manual. This means that even if you have a previous version of the manual, you may request the most current copy of the Guiding Principles at any time. It is always free with your SSQA manual.

Thursday 10 December 2015

"Quick, the inspector is coming"


Really, after more than a month since the widely reported illness outbreaks at restaurants belonging to the same chain, more people are being sickened? 

Clearly, the culture of “quick, the inspector is coming” does not help a restaurant or any food business for that matter. It's only a matter of time before propped-up compliance fails and luck runs out.

Thursday 26 November 2015

Wednesday 25 November 2015

Process Validation versus Scheme Certification

This blog post has been moved to the author's eBook.

Posted by Felix Amiri
___________________________________________________________
Felix Amiri is currently the chair of GCSE-Food & Health Protection, and a sworn SSQA advocate.

Saturday 7 November 2015

The Blight and Plight of Restaurants

This blog post has been moved to the author's eBook.


 Posted By Felix Amiri
____________________________________
Felix Amiri is the current Food Sector Chair of GCSE-Food & Health Protection

Saturday 17 October 2015

Membership Benefit Package - 2016

SSQA Implementation Manual 

You still qualify for this membership offer until January 31, 2016 if you requested membership  before the offer deadline but received your registration confirmation after the deadline.

Special 2016 Membership Benefit offer until December 31, 2015.
The full manual is now available to any GCSE-FHP member without enrollment requirements for only $30 CAD To qualify, orders must be placed before or by December 31, 2015, 12:00 midnight (EST) 

This year we have also added the "One Good Turn" Opportunities
See Details

The Summarized version is still available to members of GCSE-Food & Health Protection main Coalition or LinkedIn group for only $18 CAD. 

If you are a member of the LinkedIn group or a registered member of the international Coalition, you may proceed to order your copy of the summarized version. If you are not already a member of either group, you may register for free as a full Coalition member or join the LinkedIn group. 

To order your Member's summarized copy, please go to the Member's Summary Order 

The Special New Year offer option may be selected from the drop down menu here: Main Manual Order

Non-members and members who wish to know more about how to order the full manual or enroll in the program may go to Enrollment Information
If you have other questions, please contact the GCSE-Food & Health Protection Team directly via email: gcse@afisservices.com



Wednesday 7 October 2015

When Illness is the only proof required:

This blog post has been moved to the author's eBook.

Posted By Felix Amiri
____________________________________
Felix Amiri is the current Food Sector Chair of GCSE-Food & Health Protection


Thursday 17 September 2015

12 Steps of HACCP Implementation



This blog post has been moved to the author's eBook.



GCSE-FHP Launches Its Cost Sharing Arrangement with SSQA Flagship Operations:

With the approaching implementation of new food regulations in the US, Canada and other countries, GCSE-Food and Health Protection is prepared to take the bold steps with you that will involve some cost sharing arrangements. 

GCSE-FHP is prepared to help you with certification stress relief, gain increased customer confidence and establish productive customer relations.

We are looking for SSQA flagship operations to work with in managing the cost of developing and implementing programs that meet the evolving regulations.  The lead technical resource contact is the Food Sector Chair for GCSE-FHP (Felix Amiri).

If your company is interested in becoming a flagship operation, you may request details from the Coalition Technical Team

If you are interested in serving as the SSQA Facilitator for a flagship operation you may also request details from the Coalition Technical Team

Start now to take your company to the future:

Saturday 12 September 2015

Step Up to Distinction

This blog post has been moved to the author's eBook.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KHD313B


Posted by Felix Amiri
___________________________________________________________
Felix Amiri is currently the chair of GCSE-Food & Health Protection, and a sworn SSQA advocate.

Sham Invasion (Fraud Expansion in the Food Industry)



This blog post has been moved to the author's eBook.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KHD313B

Posted By Felix Amiri
____________________________________
Felix Amiri is the current Food Sector Chair of GCSE-Food & Health Protection


Wednesday 9 September 2015

Small Advice for Your Planned Yearly Training


Are you ramping up your yearly training? Make it useful. If you are like me, you believe in customized, effective and useful training.

The Bane of the Generic Training
You are likely opposed to training that merely presents generic information, especially information that is unrelated to real life events in the operations where the trainees are engaged. Generic training does more harm than good in some instances. At the least, it wastes valuable time and gives the false sense of satisfaction that training has been done.  Just because some outside standard says you must provide GMP training to every employee every year, you do not have to provide the same GMP training to all of your employees every year. Unfortunately, outside standard auditors may mark this as a failure during the audits. So, like well controlled robots, many operators provide the same GMP training to every employee every year. As they sign the attendance sheet that will be presented to the outside auditors as evidence of completed training, the employees wonder what the trainers think of them.

Make Training Useful
You have to first establish what the people you are going to train need to know and practice in order to avoid the most frequent undesirable incidents in your operation. This means you must first identify those undesirable incidents. On the other hand, you may want to encourage an increased commitment to what is producing desirable results in your operation but you must first identify what is producing the desirable results. Once you have established either or both of these, you can then build your training content, method of delivery, etc.

Posted By Felix Amiri
____________________________________

Felix Amiri is the current Food Sector Chair of GCSE-Food & Health Protection

Thursday 3 September 2015

Why We Obey

I listened to the CBC Ideas broadcast on “Why We Obey” and, naturally, my mind went straight to the rules that must be obeyed in my vocation. Many food businesses currently feel they have no choice but to obey the following rules:
  • You shall conduct third party audits to confirm that you are able and committed to implementing your food safety program according to one of the commercialized third party schemes.
  • You shall be certified to the selected third party auditing scheme.
  • You shall conduct re-certification audits every year.
Why do some businesses feel they must obey these rules with the usual rationalization that they cannot do business if they do not obey?

Related Post:
Posted By Felix Amiri
____________________________________
Felix Amiri is the current Food Sector Chair of GCSE-Food & Health Protection

Wednesday 2 September 2015

Free Quick Guide to SFCA Required CFIA Registration-Licensing Process

The Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA) may seem like a distant rumble to some people at the moment. You may not even have heard or known anything about this. The regulations are currently being developed and they will be enforced at some point when the reviews and revisions have gone on for some time. For many food operations in Canada, it is no longer a matter of choice.

Every Canadian food business that imports, exports or conducts inter-provincial trade will be subject to mandatory CFIA registration/licensing. Do you know how to go about this process? If not, you should take a look at this free QUICK GUIDE courtesy of afisservices.com. It outlines 15 steps towards CFIA registration.


Thursday 20 August 2015

Cold Facts about Food Safety

Courtesy of 

How Long Is Too Long? 
Even when your refrigerator and freezer are chilling foods at the right temperatures, and you've followed all the other rules for safe storage, there are limits to how long you can safely store foods in the refrigerator. (Foods will stay safe indefinitely in the freezer, but quality/taste of the food may be affected.)

In Case of Disaster...

If your home loses power because of natural disaster — as so many people experienced during the terrible hurricanes of 2005 — how do you know what foods you can safely keep and eat?
·         If you have adequate warning that you may lose power, place blocks of ice in your freezer and fridge before power goes out.
·         If you do lose power, keep the doors to your fridge and freezer closed as much as possible to keep foods cold.
·         Before using any foods, check your refrigerator and freezer thermometers. If the fridge is still at or below 40 °F, or the food has been above 40 °F for only two hours or less, it should be safe to eat.
·         Frozen food that still has ice crystals or is at 40 °F or below (to be sure, check the appliance thermometer or use a food thermometer to check each individual food package) can be safely refrozen or cooked.
·         If you're unsure how long the temperature has been at above 40 °F, don't take a chance. Throw the food out.

More FDA Tips. . .