[Company logo (if available)] [Company name]

GLASS AND BRITTLE PLASTICS BREAKAGE PROCEDURE

Who: trained personnel

When: if glass or brittle plastics break

Procedure:

1. When a glass or brittle plastic is broken or damaged and food may have been
affected, stop the line and notify [Specify position title, ex: Supervisor, food
safety co-ordinator].
2. Place all potentially affected items on hold.
3. Remove or protect all food, ingredients, processing aids or packaging.
4. Clean up the broken item with dedicated tools. [Specify what to use ex: a
colour coded broom and dust pan or glass dedicated broom and dust pan]
5. Clean and sanitize the area following procedures from the Sanitation Program.
6. [Supervisor or food safety co-ordinator] must inspect the area to ensure it is
clean and safe and then give permission to resume production.
7. Supervisor or food safety co-ordinator must do a food safety assessment to
decide on the best way to throw out any product that could potentially be affected
product.
8. [Specify title] must fill out the Incident Report Form and identify the broken or
damaged, product and how it was thrown out.

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THE MANAGEMENT OF
GLASS, CERAMICS AND OTHER BRITTLE MATERIALS
BREAKAGE PROCEDURE

Contents
 The standards
 The requirements
 BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9

The standards
This article is written to meet the following sections of the Standards:

BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9 4.9.3 Glass, brittle plastic, ceramics and similar materials

4.2.4 Glass breakage

BRCGS Packaging Issue 6 4.2.5 Glass protection
4.9.1 Glass, brittle plastic, ceramics and similar materials

BRCGS Agents & Brokers

Not applicable
Issue 3

4.4.7 XD, 4.4.8 XD Contamination from breakages

BRCGS Storage & 6.2.4 Cleaning or replacing glass
Distribution Issue 4 7.4.1 Glass or other brittle materials in product-handling
areas

FSSC22000 Version 5.1 No specific clauses

IFS Food Version 7 4.12.7 Glass containers

SQF Edition 9 No specific clauses

The requirements

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Procedure

A procedure must be in place for the management of glass, ceramics and other brittle
materials that are covered by the scope, which is:

 In facilities and equipment where product is held or handled.

 In areas where breakages could get moved into product areas (e.g. on shoes or
wheels).

The procedure must include:

 A glass policy, of what is and what’s not allowed on site.

 A risk assessment and register of the items.
 Condition-based checks of the items.
 Maintenance of items.

Design

Glass, ceramics and other brittle materials must be removed from product areas,
wherever this is possible.

Where these materials can’t be avoided, they must be protected to prevent them from
breaking.

Risk assessment

A risk assessment must carried out of all glass, ceramic and brittle materials to
determine how often the condition-based checks on each item must be carried out.

The objective is to assess the:

 Likelihood of the breakage.

 Likelihood of a breakage contaminating the product.

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The higher the risk, the more frequent the check must be. Where there is a high-risk of
both breakage and contamination of the product, the item must be checked daily, as
part of the start-up checks.

When assessing likelihood of breakage of lights, pallet movement and high lift
equipment must be considered.

Register of items

All glass, ceramic and brittle materials covered by the scope, must be listed on a
register, which provides enough information to allow each piece to be located including:

 Details the items location.

 The number of items.
 The type; glass, ceramic, hard plastic etc.

Condition-based checks

Each item on the register must be checked at a frequency identified through the risk
assessment.

The condition-based checks must assess the item for damage, recording the outcome
of the check, even where the item is found to be in good condition.

Maintenance

Maintenance and cleaning of glass items (e.g. light bulbs or EFK bulbs) must be carried
out in a way that minimises the risk of breakage.

Materials that are at risk of contamination beneath such items should be moved or
covered to prevent contamination in the event of a breakage.

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Breakages

A breakage procedure must be in place, which details:

 Reporting of breakages to a responsible person.

 How to isolate the affected area which must be at least 10m zone around the
breakage.
 The processing of product must stop within at least the affected zone.
 Risk assessment to determine if any other materials may have been affected.
 Quarantine of affected materials.
 Restricting access of personnel to the affected zone.
 How the area must be cleaned to remove the contamination, which must include:
 Who is authorised to carry out the clean.
 Using a top down cleaning method.
 What equipment must be used and what must happen to it after use.
 How broken materials must be disposed of.
 Changing of PPE by staff who have been in the affected area.
 Inspection of the area by an authorised member of staff, prior to the removal of the
isolation zone and re-start of any product handling.
 Recording of the breakage and all actions taken.

BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9

4.9.3.2   The word ‘documented’ has been removed from the clause, as a procedure
must always be documented. Clarification has been added to state that where an item is
being monitored rather than repaired, that this must be checked.

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Version 7 of the IFS Food Standard was published on October 06, 2020. The

revision is all about user-friendliness - with a focus on less bureaucracy, less
documentation and clear requirements. In the following, we have summarized all
the important changes for you.

The time has come: IFS Food Version 7 has been published. Now companies have nine
months to implement the new/modified requirements. IFS Food Version 7 comes into
force on March 1, 2021 and will be mandatory for all certified companies from July 1,
2021.

The most important changes

IFS Food Version 7 brings the following key changes:

 Greater focus on on-site assessment, less documentation,

and a reduced number of requirements
Several requirements related to documentation have been
removed or merged. Documentation is still required in some
areas, which includes HACCP, Food Fraud, and Food Defense.
Other areas, such as Food Safety and Product Quality,
Customer Orientation, and Food Safety Culture have been
combined into one documentation requirement.

 More precise designation

The revised version is intended to be easily understood by all
users. Therefore, the new version contains more descriptive
elements, bullet points, definitions and clear wording. The term
"audit" is replaced with the word "assessment" in the new
version. In this way, IFS emphasizes the product and process
approach, which is in line with the ISO/IEC 17065 standard.

 Improved certification protocol structure

The certification protocol of version 7 is restructured and
describes the certification process in more detail. The structure
of the assessment protocol is adapted to the assessment

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process and includes, among others, the items "Before the IFS

Food Assessment", "Conducting the IFS Food Assessment" and
"Activities after the IFS Assessment". Thus, it is better tailored to
the needs of IFS stakeholders.

 Clearly structured audit report and better defined

assessment system

 Every third certification audit is unannounced 

 Food safety culture has been included in the requirements

Food safety culture is intended to positively influence food
safety attitudes and behaviors throughout the organization.
Here we have summarized all the important info on this topic for
you.

 A valid GLN (Global Location Number) becomes mandatory

for suppliers in the European Economic Area (EEA)
Companies in the European Economic Area and the United
Kingdom (UK) need a valid Global Location Number for IFS
Food 7 certification. The GLN simplifies communication
between suppliers and retailers, as most retailers in these
regions work with the GLN in their enterprise resource planning
systems. The GLN also optimizes the security and verifiability of
IFS certificates.
As of February 2021, it will be possible to order the GLN
through this website. Please note that companies must have a
valid GLN when the first IFS Food Version 7 audit takes place.
Therefore, the latest possible date for ordering is the date of the
audit.

 New e-learning courses, updated IFS auditXpressTM

software and IFS Audit Manager app for internal
assessments will help quality managers prepare for IFS
Food Version 7
You can download the updated tools here, probably from March
2021.

With the revision, IFS meets GFSI 2020.1 recognition criteria as well as FSMA and EU
regulations. For more information on IFS Food 7, click here.

Timeline

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The new version 7 of IFS Food was released on 06 October 2020. From 01 March 2021
it will be possible to perform IFS Food V7 audits. IFS Food V 6.1 may still be used in
parallel until June 30, 2021. From 01 July 2021, only audits according to IFS Food
version 7 are permitted.

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