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Read the food safety plan on a product type

An acidified-foods product type shows a Standard Operating Procedure card with the seven 21 CFR Part 114 steps, each with its control type, rule, and limit, the pH check it is monitored against, and your filed limit once you record one.

Acidified-foods product types carry a written food safety plan. Open the product type and find the Standard Operating Procedure card. It lists the seven 21 CFR Part 114 steps in order. Each step shows its control type and, where one applies, the rule and limit it is held to. The acidify step also shows the pH check your team logs against. Once you record your filed scheduled process, the card shows your filed limit instead of the regulation's figure.

Which product types have a plan

The card appears on product types in the acidified foods class. You get one in three ways:

  • At signup, or on the Today dashboard question, you answer Acidified Sauces, Salsas, and Pickles and confirm the product type the starter setup stages for you.
  • You add or edit a product type and choose Acidified Sauces, Salsas, and Pickles under What kind of product is this?. A product type that already has steps keeps them as they are.
  • You confirmed an acidified-foods product type before plans were automatic. FourFoxes added the steps to it for you. A product type that already had steps was not changed.

You cannot add or edit steps yourself.

Open the card

  1. Open your account menu, then Product Types under Settings.
  2. Click the product type. The Standard Operating Procedure card sits below Product Type Details.

The seven steps

  1. Receive: SUP, supplier control. Rule: 21 CFR 108.25.
  2. Prep: STEP, no control and no rule.
  3. Acidify: CCP, critical control point. Rule: 21 CFR 114.80(a)(1), with a regulatory limit of pH ≤ 4.6.
  4. Thermal process or hot fill: PC, process control. Rule: 21 CFR 114.80(a)(1). No time or temperature is suggested; those come from your filed process.
  5. Closure and closure exam: PC. Rule: 21 CFR 114.80(a)(4).
  6. Lot coding: PC. Rule: 21 CFR 114.80(b).
  7. Cool and label: ALG, allergen control. Rule: 21 CFR 114.80(b).

Read a step

  1. Each step starts with its number and name, a badge with its control code, and the control type spelled out, such as Critical control point. A description of what to do follows.
  2. A step with a rule shows Rule: and the citation. A step with a limit also shows Regulatory limit, the citation, and the figure, followed by The outer boundary the rule allows — not a target to work toward.
  3. If the step is linked to one of your CCPs, it shows Monitored against: with that CCP's name and limit, for example pH Check — pH ≤ 4.2. That is the limit your team's readings are graded against, and it must be at least as strict as the regulation.
Standard Operating Procedure card on a product type The Standard Operating Procedure card for an acidified sauces product type. A paragraph explains the limits come from the regulation, a Record your filed scheduled process button follows, then numbered steps. Step 3, Acidify, is marked CCP, cites 21 CFR 114.80(a)(1), shows a regulatory limit of pH 4.6 or lower, and is monitored against the pH Check at pH 4.2 or lower. Standard Operating Procedure The limits and steps below come from the regulation and from the process this plan was built from, not from your operation. If your product has a scheduled process established by a process authority (filed under 21 CFR 108.25), its limits may be stricter than the figures shown here, and it may not include every step listed below. Record your filed scheduled process 3 #1 Receive SUP Supplier control Rule: 21 CFR 108.25 #2 Prep STEP Step (no control) #3 Acidify CCP Critical control point 1 Add and mix acid so that the finished equilibrium pH reaches the limit shown for this step, or lower, within the time designated in your scheduled process… Rule: 21 CFR 114.80(a)(1) Regulatory limit — 21 CFR 114.80(a)(1): pH ≤ 4.6 The outer boundary the rule allows — not a target to work toward. Monitored against: pH Check — pH ≤ 4.2 2 The cited regulatory limit is the boundary this plan is written against. The limit on the linked control is what the operator monitors against, and it must be at least as strict. #4 Thermal process or hot fill PC Process control Rule: 21 CFR 114.80(a)(1) #5 Closure and closure exam, #6 Lot coding, and #7 Cool and label follow. Step descriptions are shortened here.
The acidify step carries the CCP, its rule, its limit, and the pH check it is monitored against.

When the acidify step shows Monitored against

FourFoxes links the acidify step to your account's pH Check, the one added from the starter setup or the template library, when that check is active, numeric, uses pH and the same at-or-below direction, and is at least as strict as pH 4.6. The starter pH Check passes at pH 4.2 or lower, so it qualifies. If your check is inactive, missing, looser than 4.6, or set up differently, the step shows the regulatory limit only.

pH 4.6 is a boundary, not your target

The regulatory figure is the outer edge the law allows. Your process authority's filed scheduled process may set a stricter pH, and that is the limit your batches must meet. Record your filing so the card shows it.

Show your filed limit on the card

The card has one button. Before a filing exists it reads Record your filed scheduled process. Recording a filing requires the Admin or Owner role; the steps are in Set up a CCP and its critical limit. FourFoxes refuses a filed limit that is looser than the regulation. Once a filing is saved:

  • A filing for the whole product type, or for just one of its products, shows at the top of the card as Filed process limit, with the process authority and the figure, for example pH ≤ 4.0. A note says this is the limit the plan runs to.
  • On the step whose limit your filing replaces, the Rule: and Regulatory limit lines go away. The regulation's figure moves to the filing's own page. Monitored against stays.
  • The button changes to View this filed scheduled process. Any Member or higher can open that page.
  • If you recorded filings for two or more products under the product type, the card says Filed process limits are recorded per product under this product type, so this card names no single limit. It lists each product's limit and says when they differ. The button reads Record a filing for this whole product type.
  • A filing saved without a limit shows A filed scheduled process is recorded here, but its limit has not been entered yet. The regulatory figure stays until you enter one.

Notices on the card

  • Withdrawn by FourFoxes. FourFoxes has retired that step from the standard process. Your plan is not changed and the step stays in place.
  • This plan has no active critical control point. The step that carried the CCP was withdrawn. Do not rely on the plan to release product.
  • This plan holds 6 of the 7 steps in the process it was built from. Your plan has fewer steps than the current process. Review it before relying on it.
  • These steps came from the process for an earlier kind of product. You changed the product type's kind after its steps were added. The steps stay as they were; changing the kind does not change them.
  • FourFoxes has withdrawn the standard process for this product class. Shown instead of the card when the product type has no steps and no standard process is offered for its class.

The product type page needs the Member role or higher. The card only reports; nothing on it changes a limit, a step, or a record.

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