Monday, January 27, 2020

Major Ingredient Groups, Specifications Supplier Review

Major Ingredient Groups, Specifications Supplier Review Karl Chamberlain Introduction The quality, consistency and safety of ingredients are a key factor in the success of any food manufacturing business. Due to this, it is vital that the ingredients and suppliers used by the business are carefully chosen and any problems with raw materials are addressed promptly. The major ingredient groups utilised within the UK Food Manufacturing sector There a seven ingredient groups which are utilised within the food manufacturing sector in the United Kingdom. The first of these groups is vegetables. Vegetables are foods that have originated from a plant and are eaten in savoury dish. While most vegetables can be eaten raw, they are often cooked prior to eating to make them softer and more edible. Some common examples of vegetables are potatoes, carrots and lettuce. Another ingredient group used within the UK food-manufacturing sector is fruits. A fruit is a part of a flower, specifically the matured or enlarged ovary of the flower and any parts or seeds that are attached to it. There are hundreds of edible fruits, with thousands of different varieties of each one, and each fruit has its own distinct taste. Some examples of fruits are apples, pears, oranges and strawberries. A further ingredient group that is used is cereal crops. Cereals are the grain or seeds from grasses, they have a high nutrient content as they are made to store nutrients for the grass that would have grown from the seed. Common examples of cereal crops are wheat, oats, maize, rye, barley and rice. Meats are another ingredient group that is used within food manufacture within the U.K. Lea meats are the flesh or muscular tissue of animals. Meats are a protein rich food and will generally be cooked prior to eating. Offal is another type of meat that is the internal organs of the animal such as the kidneys or liver. Often meat is processed, particularly parts of the animal that cannot be sold as lean meat, and made into other products such as sausages and burgers. Fish is also recognised as being a part of the meat ingredient group. Moreover, another ingredient group is the dairy group. Dairy products are any products that are made from the milk of animals, traditionally from cows or goats. The dairy ingredient group includes milk, cream, yoghurt and cheese. Milk products contain most of the essential nutrients needed for humans, although they typically contain high levels of fat. Herbs and spices are often regarded as being part of the same ingredient group although they are actually two separate groups. A herb is a plant which stem is not made from woody tissue. In food, often the fresh or dried leaves of the plant are used to flavour the food, with common examples being thyme and rosemary. Spices are also used to add flavour to a food product but they are made from parts of ‘dry’ plants such as the seeds, fruit or bark. Common examples of spices include mustard and cinnamon. Spices and herbs generally do not add any nutritional content to the product. The appropriate content of ingredient specifications Ingredient specifications are essential as they ensure that the products manufacturers receive from their suppliers are consistent the same and as a reference should any issues be found with the ingredient. A good ingredient specification will include a variety of information including supplier information, product information, ingredient details, packaging details, quality assurance standards and microbiological standards. The supplier information included in the specification should include contact details (including emergency contact details) for the supplier (and from the manufacturer if the supplier has not manufactured the product). The specification should also include the sites EEC number for meat, poultry and fish. The product information should include a description of the product, including individual and unit size, labelling and coding details, details of traceability information used (such as batch number or job number), correct storage conditions and details of product shelf life. It should also include details of any allergens that the ingredient contains. The ingredient information included in the specification should include information about any ingredients used in the product including quantities, supplier, county of origin and specification. This is to ensure that should any issues be found with the product, it can be traced back to the supplier of each ingredient used in it. Packaging standards are a further thing that should be included on a good ingredient specification. This should include both initial packaging as well as any secondary packaging such as baskets, pallet containers etc. Details of the type, size, material, type of seal and colour should be included. This ensures that the ingredient is consistently supplied in the same type of packaging which prevents any issues further down the line such as an ingredient coming in on a pallet without pallet layers on a site that does not allow this. The raw material specification should also include information about the quality assurance standards for the ingredient. This will include targets and what is and is not acceptable on things such as flavour, texture, visual, defects, foreign bodies and chemical analysis. It should also include details of the HACCP system in place at the supplier. Should any issues be found with the ingredient, having information on the quality assurance standards for the ingredient will provide something to refer to when checking if the suppliers tolerances are being met. A final thing which should be included in an ingredient specification are details of microbiological standards for the product including details of types of analysis carried out, frequency, what it is tested for and what the targets and limits for the ingredient are. The processes and practices typically involved in a Food Manufacturing operation with regard to â€Å"Ingredient Supplier Approval† Supplier approval is vital to any food business in order to ensure that any new ingredients used in their products are safe and of consistently good quality. The supplier approval process will begin with a development chef, or possibly a member of purchasing if the new ingredient is replacing a previous one, sourcing a new ingredient. Once the ingredient has been sourced, a risk assessment must be carried out for it. This should focus on the physical properties and nutritional aspects of the ingredient and any issues that may be caused by these, such as trapped foreign bodies inside lettuce heads. For many ingredients, particularly ones that have been processed, it is advisable to look at a full HACCP based assessment to determine any further risks that the particular ingredient may pose. This will allow the buyer to decide whether the product is safe to use or if any acceptable limits need to be set on contamination. Next, the supplier of the ingredient must be evaluated. This often starts with a questionnaire that is sent to a supplier. Ideally, this should ask if the company has a HACCP system in place, external accreditation such as BRC, what the GMP procedures are, internal auditing systems used and traceability systems in place. The supplier will then be scored against the answers given. While completing this questionnaire with a high score is not always enough to approve the supplier, a supplier with a particularly low score, especially the food safety questions, should not be approved. The next stage in the supplier approval process is to send a member of the technical or quality assurance team to the supplier to verify the processes and documentation discussed in the questionnaire. This stage may be unnecessary for some suppliers that are already audited by recognised external auditors or if the supplier already supplies the company with another product. The above stages should give the purchasing and technical teams enough information on the ingredient and supplier to decide whether to accept or reject them. Once all of the stages of the process have been carried out the supplier and purchasing company should sign off on the supplier’s status as an approved supplier. The company should keep a database of current approved suppliers, including details of any audits carried out and any issues that have occurred with the suppliers ingredients. Techniques used by Food Manufacturers for the ongoing assessment of ingredient supply Once a supplier is approved, both the supplier and its ingredients must be assessed from time to time to ensure that the ingredients they supply are of a consistently good safe standard. There are a number of techniques that can be used to do this. Firstly, the incoming ingredients should be inspected on delivery. A certificate of analysis should be sent along with the incoming product. These certificates should be checked to ensure that the product meets the required standards. The ingredients themselves should be checked by intake staff to ensure that they are visually acceptable, at the correct temperature and no signs of foreign body or pest contamination are present. Samples of the raw material should also be taken and sent for laboratory testing to â€Å"determine the presence or amounts of chemical, biological or physical contaminants†. A further technique used for the ongoing assessment of ingredient supply is regular supplier audits. A supplier audit involves a member of the company, usually from the technical team, going to visit the site at set intervals. There are a number of things that the supplier audit should check for. Firstly, it should confirm that the site has a written food safety system in place that includes procedures and a preventative system such as a HACCP system. Foreign body and allergen controls should also be looked at, as well as the results of any third party audits. The audit of the supplier should also check the basics of the operation are being done correctly. This could include a well maintained site and equipment which allows for proper cleaning, effective pest control, effective chemical control and a good standard of staff training (especially in food safety). The supplier’s quality program should be checked during a suppler audit to ensure that there are systems in place to test the quality of finished products; this could be done by microbiological sampling, taste panels or a variety of other methods. Furthermore the supplier audit should also be used to check that the suppliers management structure encourage food safety, as a site whose management does not promote food safety will likely cause problems for its customers. A further technique that can be used to assess the ongoing quality of ingredient supply is to raise a non-conformance or corrective action request should an ingredient not meet the specifications set out. When an ingredient deviates from the spec information should be sent to the supplier with a request for an investigation to be carried out, along with details of corrective actions put in place to stop the issue reoccurring. Each time a supplier is given a non-conformance it should be recorded in a log so that it is possible to track any reoccurring issues or problem suppliers.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

What Ethics of Care in Nursing Means to Me

My definition of Ethic of Care is caring for individuals equally throughout all cultural backgrounds while using a precise fair code of ethics. It is extremely pertinent that ethic of care be implemented into nursing care in order for this to happen we must first understand the meaning of ethics. Ethics is the ideal actions of right and wrong behavior. With that said Ethic of Care should be looked at as a standard of nursing that must be met. When I become a nurse I will implement ethic of care in various ways.When I am assigned a patient I will be sure that their comfort level is maximized given the situation and most importantly I will communicate in my verbal and no-verbal behavior that the patient is of high importance. I will let the patient know that I will do any and everything in my power to address their situation as unique and in the most caring and respectable manor. Like theorist Leineger, I think that it is important to consider culture when developing a plan of care for the patient. A successful nurse does not address all patients an all cultures the same.By knowing and staying on top of the most recent research regarding cultural care the nurse increases the chances of a patient having a positive experience as opposed to a negative experience at that specific facility. Another theorist, Watson, demonstrates that care is the single most important component of nursing and everything else revolves around it. As a nurse I plan to use Ethic of Care as the major factor around nursing and use that as the foundation and move forward from there. Without the implementation of Ethic of Care you do not have a â€Å"nurse† looking at it from the ideal perspective.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Best Buy Culture

Question – 1 Describe the culture of Best Buy Answer – 1 Best Buy culture has changed tremendously. The company’s culture was once to embrace long hours and sacrifice, now the culture is more relaxed. The employees are now really able to run their own schedule as well as their own work progress. Before the ROWE program was introduces to the Best Buy employees would have to work until they found a solution. That means staying at work all night and day if the job or situation requires it. For example the book talks about one employee that was given a plaque for staying up and at work for three days to right a report that was due. He made a sacrifice for his job that made him end up in the hospital. The ROWE program which stands for Results-Only Work Environment program is a way that employees can still work whether in the office, at home, or coffee shop as long as they finish the job. This program has changed the culture of Best Buy as well as the performance. Question – 2 discuss the approach to Organizational change that the ROWE program illustrate Answer – 2 Instead of launching a work-life balance program, Best Buy rethought the very concept of work. Under the Results-Only Work Environment program or ROWE, employees can work when and where they like, as long as they get the job done. The ROWE program is based on 13 principles and rules. The key ones include: * There are no work schedules in the traditional sense. * Every meeting is optional with a few key exceptions. * There is no focus on â€Å"how many hours did you work† * Work is not a place you go, it’s something you do. * As long as work is done, employees do whatever they want whenever they want. In brief ROWE is all about results. No results, no job. The public relations team has papers to make sure someone is always available in an emergency. Many teams realized that they need only one regular weekly meeting, so they eliminated the unproductive ones. By ROWE culture the employees feel happier about their work. They feel more ownership of their work. They feel clearer about what they are doing for the company. Question – 3 discuss the resistance, both organization and individual that the ROWE program had to overcome. Answer – 3 the corporate team led by CEO Brad Anderson, was initially skeptical about the ROWE program and whether it should be expanded. The managers at the Best Buy put up the most resistance. The Best Buy’s legal department has resisted the new way of working, partly because the in-house attorneys are worried that it will reduce their pay. When Thompson proposed extending flexibility to hourly workers, the managers resisted, arguing that â€Å"there are certain people that need to be managed differently than other people. Because we believe that administrative assistants need to be at their desks to serve their bosses. One of the corporate strategists has struggled to figure out how to prove him in new environment. Without children, she had an advantage. She could be the first one in and the last one out. She said she had all this panic and everything she knew about the success was suddenly changing. One of the legal attorney felt that she checks the emails on her day off. She was afraid that the ROWE will push more work into her downtime. Question – 4 discuss the sources of stress that are apparent in the case Answer – 4 Best Buy introduced the ROWE program to reduce stress and overwork in their employees at their headquarters. The program basically allows you to work from anywhere, any hours you choose, as long as the job gets done. The employees at Best Buy’s headquarters generally worked long hours until the ROWE program was introduced. Employee burnout and turnover was high. After the ROWE program’s implementation, productivity has increased and voluntary turnover has decreased. The Culture of Best Buy Prior to the implementation of ROWE at Best Buy, employee morale was low; the turnover rate was high, employees worked very long hours. â€Å"The company’s culture used to embrace long hours and sacrifice†. Employees spent a lot of time in impromptu meetings called by management. Employees were called upon to complete reports with little or no notice. Some employees stated they spent little time with their families and worked even when they were not physically in the office. The system at Best Buy before ROWE was work, work, and more work. Employees seemed to be working 24hrs a day. Now, with more control of their time, employees are more productive. They are able to decide when and where they want to work. The change has also helped them to confront some biases in the workplace. Deciding whether or not to extend the same benefit to hourly employees exposed how some managers felt. They resisted because of their belief that it was not for everyone, some people needed to be held to the old system. Question – 5 discuss whether or not the organizational culture has helped with the change Answer- 5 the ROWE experiment started quietly. While the sample size was fewer than 300 employees, the early results were promising. Turnover in the first three month of employment fell from 14 percent to zero. Job satisfaction rose 10 percent and team –performance scores rose 13 percent. The results from and reactions to ROWE has been encouraging. Productivity increased an average of 35 percent within six to nine months in the units that implemented ROWE. The voluntary turnover has dropped between 52 percent and 90 percent in three Best Buy divisions that have implemented ROWE. As Thompson stated â€Å"the employees feel happier about the work. †They see Rowe as a benefit that’s almost more important than any other. They talk about it as if to say, someone else could offer me more money but I wouldn’t go because I now have control over my time. Ultimately for Best Buy, the new approach to work is about staying competitive, not just helping its employees. Reference- Integrating cases from the Organizational Behavior book [page no – 553]

Thursday, January 2, 2020

I Love Children A Life Of Poverty Or Wealth - 1738 Words

I love children. They are content with the least of things, gold and mud are the same in their eyes. (-Rasool Allah) The children of Ar Raqqah are innocent children, happy to live within the confines of their parents and under the roof of their house full of warmth and tenderness of their parents, a life filled with joy and knowledge, as well as dreams of a bright future. The habits we teach our children in early childhood will determine whether a child will live a life of poverty or wealth. Productivity, lethargy, or good over evil the challenges for us to provide definition and direction, then let us teach them healthy habits from an early age to guarantee them a secure future is the banner among the people of Raqqa city. This†¦show more content†¦Taking children fourteen or fifteen years of age and indoctrinating and training in the specialties is the most chilling and abusive acts man can create. What offense, did the people of Ar Raqqah perform, to deserve this suffering and oppression and burying their hopes? It is the question the people of Ar Raqqah ask themselves every minute of their day and night when they see their loved ones drafted in long lines into the unknown! These children find themselves standing as human shields to protect people who are not their parents, families, neighbors, nor from their country, nor part of their faith. Da esh are people came to Ar Raqqa to sabotage, destroy and erase an extensive history of a country with an ancient civilization from thousands of years. Seldom recognized, is the number of those boys Da’esh turns them into executioners, thugs, criminals and murderers, and in the case of their disobedience, their fate will result in receiving torture, or being killed and beheaded! A child is supposed to play, laugh, and dream. Da’esh has stolen their childhood and created a void in the hearts of these kids, and the spirit of fun and dreams of a better future no longer exists. Reporting on the NOW Site, the children s lives no longer of playing cops and robbers, instead their daily diet is of practicing performances personifying wars andShow MoreRelatedJesus And Gandhi On Poverty Essay1656 Words   |  7 PagesMahatma Gandhi on Poverty Introduction: Poverty a worldwide problem that affects everybody who deals with the situation. People living in poverty are at the lowest of the lowest in the social, economic and political class. Another word for poverty is the slums. In today’s world there is an estimate of three-billion people that live in poverty. The average poverty person live off of just $2.50 a day. One third of the people that live in poverty are children. 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