Under the Food Act 2014 manufacturers of high-risk foods need to develop a Custom Food Control Plan (FCP) and register it with MPI.
The types of businesses that require a custom FCP include manufacturers of:
You can use the MPI Where Do I Fit Tool to confirm if your business needs a custom FCP.
Note that other businesses can also choose this type of plan to personalise the way they manage food safety if they wish.
In order to gain MPI registration of your custom FCP you will need to follow the steps outlined HERE. MPI have also published guidelines to assist in the development of a Custom FCP - click HERE to download. These are definitely worth a look!
DEVELOP ⇒
Develop your plan - this may be done in conjunction with a food safety consultant, or in-house resources
EVALUATE ⇒
Have it evaluated by a MPI recognised Food Act Evaluator
REGISTER ⇒
Register the custom FCP with MPI, and renew your registration each year
VERIFY ⇒
Get checked by a verifier (auditor) - usually on an annual basis, but as this is performance based the frequency can vary
FOLLOW
Always follow your plan to make safe and suitable food.
Two of our team, Helen McDonald and Shane Hopgood, are currently MPI recognised Food Act Evaluators.
We can evaluate most types of Custom Food Control Plans (with the exception of Aseptic Processing, and Low Acid Canned Food (LACF) Processing).
You can check out our MPI recognition credentials HERE
Like you we are always working with a number of customers, so please contact us as soon as you need our services, so that we can work to meet your timeframes. Typically we book at least 1 month in advance, so the more lead in time you can give us the more likely we are to be able to assist you.
To discuss your specific requirements contact us now
The evaluator will conduct a desk top review of the custom food control plan that you provide, for compliance with the applicable requirements of the Food Act 2014, Food Regulations 2015, Food Notice - Food Control Plans and National Programmes, and any other relevant Food Notices, Standards, Codes of Practice etc.
An evaluation report will be sent to you, and any corrective actions required for the custom food control plan will be highlighted in the report for you to address
The follow up to the corrective actions will either be before the on-site visit or followed up at the on-site evaluation. The best approach can be discussed with your evaluator, and is dependent on the type of corrective action (if any) that may be required.
An on-site visit will be organised (if required; there are exemptions from this requirement if certain conditions are met) and co-ordinated when the company is ready to operate
The evaluation report will be updated with corrective actions completed, and any new (if any) corrective actions required from the on-site evaluation findings
Once the company has satisfactorily addressed the corrective actions (usually via correspondence) an updated, endorsed evaluation report is issued to the company
The company attaches the endorsed evaluation report to their MPI custom food control plan application with the other MPI required registration documents
Refer to the MPI website for more guidance.
Please Note: If you are starting a new business you cannot sell food until the custom food control plan is registered with MPI. Registration occurs after the evaluation process outlined above is completed.
There are strict rules about separating evaluation and verification activities.... basically the person who conducts your custom FCP evaluation can not be your verifier (auditor).
As our business offers both Food Act evaluation and verification services we have robust conflict of interest sytems in place to manage this.
You can certainly choose us for both evaluation and verification services, but you will deal with different members of our team depending on what service/s you want us to provide to you.
