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FARM ASSURED

The main aim with the Pork 360 Farm standard is to ensure good quality pork produced on welfare friendly farms, with good bio-security, environmental Stewardship and minimum antimicrobial usage.

13 Objectives

This objective describes how and who will be manage the assurance program on farm; this includes ensuring all required standard operating procedures and the registers required are appropriate and up to date, that appropriate training of personnel on SOPs takes place and that there are contingency plans in place for emergency situations.

This objective addresses the biosecurity of the unit and includes the following:
  • The fence
  • Biosecurity signage
  • Human access
  • Vehicle access
  • Animal access
  • Management of Deliveries
The aim of this objective is to reduce the risk of unwanted diseases or pathogens from entering the unit

This objective focuses on worker health to ensure that employees do not pose a zoonotic risk to the pigs and includes requirements for worker facilities (for example the canteen, ablution facilities and toilets).

All Pork 360 farms must have a pest plan in place and keep records of all substances used. Farms may also only use substances registered in terms of Act 36 (1947)

Feed quality and water quality are the focus of this objective, to ensure pigs are feed appropriately. Specific measures include prohibition of Swill feeding, control of in-feed medication.

This objective addresses housing aspects of pig welfare. Sow housing and stock densities are specified. Other requirements are a stormwater plan and measures in place to ensure efficient water use.

This objective focuses on basic management practices. Some of the key focus areas include:
  • Health plan
  • Animal identification
  • Age at marketing
  • Management of sick pigs
  • Euthanasia
  • Emergency Slaughter
  • Post-mortem facilities
  • Post-mortem records

This objective focuses on cleaning and disinfecting of the houses to ensure pathogen reduction between batches.

There are eight focus areas under this objective which aims to ensure responsible use of animal medication and vaccinations. The focus areas include:

  • Storage
  • Records of storeroom
  • Reconciliation of issued medication
  • Withdrawal period
  • Injections
  • Needle control
  • Needle hygiene
  • Syringe hygiene

This objective looks at the management of three different types of waste namely: Biodegradable wastewater, Hazardous waste and disposal of dead animals.

The transport objective focus on the requirements for loading facilities and vehicle requirements to ensure good animal welfare as well as vehicle hygiene.

Routine maintenance procedures must be carried out to minimize breakdowns and consequent animal welfare issues. A register of emergency repairs is also required.

This objective focus only on the calibration of equipment used for measuring medications.

ABATTOIR ASSURED

The main aim of the Pork 360 abattoir standard is to have a hygienic, traceable product and that the welfare of the pigs at the abattoir is not compromised.

7 Objectives

The prerequisite programs focus on the administration of the scheme at the abattoir. The focus areas of this objective include:

  • Responsible person
  • Standard Operating Procedures
  • Registers and other documents
  • Document storage
  • Contingency plans
  • Training
There are four main focus areas under this objective which includes:
  • All pigs for certification may only be procured from Pork 360 certified producers
  • Traceability for the live pigs and carcasses
  • Vehicle requirements for transportation of live pigs
  • Off loading facility requirements

There are only two focus areas under this objective. The first focus area is that abattoirs should ensure that their water supply conforms to SANS 241: Class II. The second focus area is that they should wash and disinfect vehicles.

Under this objective, some of the important requirements include that the abattoir should have an approved hygiene management program in place and that the abattoir should also have an effective pest plan in place.

The pre-slaughter management objective consists out of two focus areas namely the management of the cold- and freezer rooms and then also the welfare of animals up to the point of death.

Slaughter management addresses specific requirements for a few focus areas. The critical focus area is stunning management which addresses humane handling and stunning of pigs. Carcass quality as affected by pH and chilling also forms an integral part of slaughter management.

The specific attributes that a pork carcass requires to be marked as a Pork 360 carcass are covered in this objective. The requirements include:
  • Identification of a carcass
  • Classification
  • Bruising
  • Carcass mass, sex and age
  • pH
  • Conformation
  • Identification with Pork 360 Stamp or roller mark

PROCESSOR ASSURED

Some of the aims of the Pork 360 Processor standard are similar to the abattoir standard, namely: hygiene and traceability; additional focus is directed at preservation of products after manufacture.

5 Objectives

This objective focus on five focus areas of which the first is definitions, the second requirement is management’s commitment to the assurance program, the third is proper document control practices, the fourth requires a prerequisite program to be implemented for the monitoring of fresh meat/ meat product safety. Lastly it also addresses all the legal requirements.

This objective focus more on important management practices and procedures that should be in place. The focus areas include:

  • Legal approval and registration of establishment
  • Layout maps
  • Design and construction
  • Cleaning
  • Supplier quality assurance
  • Worker health
  • Pest control
  • Water safety
  • Processed meat product microbiology
  • Sterilizer control
  • Dispensing of soap and disposable paper
  • Calibration of weighing scales
  • Corrective actions
  • Training of workers
  • Customer complaints
  • Metal detection
  • Code of conduct for workers
  • Glass policy
  • Labelling of product
  • Handling of condemned material
  • Maintenance
  • Management of high-risk area
  • Returns policy
  • Control of allergens
  • Reworking of product
  • Calibration of equipment and instruments.

The HACCP objective focus on all the requirements for the HACCP plan in the establishment to ensure risk mitigation takes place and food safety is improved. The focus areas of this objective include:

  • Establishment of the HACCP team
  • Description of the product
  • Identification of the products intended use
  • Process flow diagram
  • On site confirmation of the flow diagram
  • Identification and analysis of the hazards
  • Determination of the critical control points
  • Critical limits for each CCP
  • Monitoring procedures
  • Corrective actions
  • Certification of the HACCP plan
  • Recordkeeping

This objective focus on five areas to ensure there are proper traceability in place for raw materials received as well as for the final product. This information is required for an effective recall in case something is wrong with a product. The five focus areas include:

  • Approved Pork 360 deboning and portioning establishment
  • Receiving of raw meat or meat preparations to be used to produce processed meat products
  • Separation of Pork 360 and other pork not of the same standard
  • Batch identification for manufactured/ final processed meat products
  • Dispatch of processed meat products.
  • Recall procedure
  • Mock recall exercise
This objective consists out of nine focus areas which focus on the cold chain of the product from the arrival of the raw material of the product to the dispatch for the final product. The nine focus areas include:
  • Management of the cold rooms/freezers
  • Arrival of raw meat and meat preparations
  • Raw meat and meat preparation chillers/freezers
  • Thawing room
  • Area/ rooms where raw meat and meat preparations are being prepared for processing
  • In-line chilling
  • Processed meat product chillers
  • Processed meat product/ bulk freezers
  • Dispatch