1.

SCOPE
This procedure covers the empty jars from receiving to finished product in jars at dispatch.

2. PURPOSE:
The purpose of this Procedure is to give guidelines on the handling of glass jars in order to avoid
risks of contamination.

3. OBJECTIVE
To achieve food safety objectives arising from glass contamination.

4. REFERENCES
o Glass jar supplier HACCP plan
o HACCP risk assessment document
o Glass jar breakage handling procedure.

5. DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS:

None

6. RESPONSIBILITIES:
6.1 Factory Manager: He has the overall responsibility of ensuring that the Glass jar handling
procedure is fully implemented.
6.2 Q&FS Manager: Has the responsibility to ensure empty jar handling procedure adhered to
6.3 Supervisors: Ensure that these instructions are followed by the staff under their operations.
6.4 Maintenance supervisor: To ensure that the pallet trucks, the forklifts are in good working
condition.
6.5 Operatives: Execute the operations

7. PROCEDURE DESCRIPTION:

7.1 Receiving
7.1.1 The jars shall be received in containers loaded on trucks from the port of Mombasa.
7.1.2 During offloading of the jars, the integrity of the shrink wrap shall be checked by the
QC personnel at the Warehouse who shall also take samples for assessment of the
incoming jars as per the guide in the incoming jars assessment procedure.
7.1.3 Training shall be conducted to the staff using the forklift and the pallet trucks to
avoid damages/breakages as practically possible.
7.1.4 Any pallet with breakages at the point of receiving shall be isolated and placed under
quarantine and the necessary measures taken in line with the procedure for handling
non-conforming materials.

7.2 Storage
7.2.1 All the glass jars shall be stored in the warehouse in such a manner as to allow for
free movement of the pallet trucks. The aim is to avoid unnecessary knocks
occasioned by blocked access routes.
7.2.2 All the jars must be adequately covered, that is, the shrink wrap must not be torn.
This will protect the jars from risks of environmental contamination. Where for some
reasons after receiving the shrink wrap gets torn, they must be covered/sealed.
7.2.3 If any samples are taken from the pallet, the QC personnel in charge must ensure that
such openings are sealed using any appropriate adhesive tapes provided.

Reason for Change:

 7.3 Transportation to the point of use
7.3.1 All the jars shall be carefully transported/transferred to the point of use to avoid
breakages or any other form of contamination. This shall involve the use of a forklift.

7.4 Jar washing

7.4.1 Care must be taken during washing to avoid breakages and any other form of
contamination during washing and transfer to the packing tables.

7.5 Packing/Weighing of packed product.

7.5.1 All packers must handle jars with care and they must not knock one another.
7.5.2 Any transfer of or picking of jars from the crates and placing onto the conveyor belt
must be carefully done. If possible, one jar shall be handled at a time.

7.6 Hot filling and capping

7.6.1 During hot filling, the conveyor belts shall be adjusted in such a manner as to allow
for safe conveyance of the packed product to the hot filling chamber. This shall be
done by the capping operator and or the Maintenance staff.
7.6.2 The capping personnel must ensure that the jars are handled with a lot of care to
avoid any breakages.
7.6.3 Any breakage as a result of handling and thermal shock at this stage must be handled
as per the glass jar breakage procedure.
\

7.7 Cleaning/air blowing/Coding

7.7.1 Cleaning, air blowing and coding conveyor belts must be adjusted to avoid any
breakages.

7.8 Feeding into autoclave crates

7.8.1 Put the plastic layer pads provided at the bottom of every autoclave crates to avoid
any direct contact between the metallic layer at the bottom of the crate to avoid
friction.
7.8.2 Put a plastic layer pad after every layer of jars. This will not only reduce the risk of
breakages but also enhance circulation of the heating/cooling media in the autoclave
and also to avoid knocks on the caps which could result in lose of vacuum after
sterilization.
7.8.3 The jars must be arranged carefully into the autoclave baskets so that there is no
knock between the jar and the walls of the crate. This will also avoid knocking the
lids which could get dented and subsequently causing a lose in vacuum.
7.8.4 Ensure that there is no impact on the walls of the autoclave which could result in
breakages.

7.9 Drying of sterilized product and palletization

7.9.1 The staff responsible for feeding the jars to the blow drier must carefully handle the
jars to avoid any knocks.
7.9.2 The transfer of the jars to the pallet must be done with utmost care and layer pads
used to avoid any breakages.

7.10 Incubation/storage
7.10.1 The storage of the packed product in the warehouse must be done according to the
space allocations. This has to consider the space between adjacent pallets.

Reason for Change:

 7.11 Labeling
7.11.1 The labeling personnel shall ensure that the glass packed finished product is handled
with a lot of care to avoid any risk of breakages.

7.12 Packing into trays and shrink wrapping

7.12.1 The personnel in this section must handle the product with a lot of care to avoid
breakages. This will include avoidance of ‘banging’ of shrink wrapped tray on
another.

7.13 Loading
7.13.1 During loading, the staff responsible for the process must handle the product with
utmost care.
7.13.2 The placement of the packed trays in the container must be done gently to avoid
impact which could cause breakages or lose of vacuum

7.14 Food Safety: - Glass particles- this must be handled with care as per the jar Work
Instruction-guide on handling glass jar breakage.
-Vacuum lose-The vacuum detector to be applied at the appropriate step.

7.15 Environmental: - Environmental aspects under area in focus: Jar breakages and disposal

7.16 Occupational Health And Safety (OHS):

 Care must be taken against moving machines eg forklifts and pallet trucks.
 Heights - when offloading pallets of jars from the container and also when removing
jars during washing from the top most layer where a climbing aid may be needed.
Care must be taken to ensure that the climbing aid is stable to avoid risk of falling.

7.17 Training: -All personnel involved in the process will be trained on this procedure

7.18 Corrective and preventive actions

7.18.1 Any breakages must be handled as per the WI-guide on handling of glass jar.

8. ANNEXES/RECORDS

9. REVISIONS HISTORY

REVISION REVISED
NUMBER PAGE(S) DESCRIPTION DATE

Reason for Change: