Now I’m on to the serious side of my sauce the health and safety of my sauce for public consumption and the SCIENTIFIC CONFIRMATION AND PAPERWORK to ensure this 😱 This is a really important part of my Hot Sauce Company structure. So I have had to learn about what is required in order to sell a sauce in a shop or online, there are different laws, if I wanted to sell from a farmers market stall the legal requirements are less, but I want to set this company up to my best standards.
I’m loving putting my PA’s through this challenge, supporting me and helping me go the professional distance with my hot sauce company, a great learning experience for all of us as none of us have experience at this intense level, but that’s what I love, pushing the boundaries and not just mine!
So I’ve opened a account with ALS laboratories one of the UK’s leading analytical testing services for food and I have requested full testing for my sauce including a shelf life as my sauce is ambient and a once opened safe use by date.
Testing Required
Microbiology
Microbiology: ensuring food is safe from microbiology contamination, a legal requirement of all stages of the food chain. Pathogens, salmonella, listeria, E.coli 0157, shigella, typical enumerations, coliforms, E.coli, enterobacteriaceae, pseudomonas aeruginosa, staphylococcus aureus, (TVC) total viable count, yeasts and moulds.
Chemical & Nutritional
Ash, fat, protein, carbohydrates, dietary fibre, energy, fatty acid profile, moisture, sodium, sugar, vitamins and minerals.
Food Allergy and Allergen Testing
There is 160 foods/ingredients that cause allergies but the top 14 have to be labelled by law. Celery, celeriac, cereals including gluten, wheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut, crustaceans including lobster, crab, crayfish, prawns, langoustines, eggs, fish, lupin including seeds, flour and pastas, milk, molluscs such as clams, mussels, whelks, oysters, snails and squid, mustard, nuts including almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecan, Brazil, pistachio, macadamia nuts, peanuts, sesame, soya beans (soya) and sulphur dioxide sulphites.
This is a very important legal requirement for labelling and legislation.
Contaminants
Substances natural or man made which have unintentionally contaminated food through the production process. Toxins, bacterial, natural substances eg: mycotoxins and marine biotoxins, while bacterial/fungal contamination can be eliminated with heat treatment the toxins can remain in the sauce as contaminants. These can be heavy toxic metals: aluminium, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, tin. Mycotoxins: 3-acetyyl deoxynivalenol (3-ADON), 15-acetyl deoxynivalenol (15-ADON), aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2. Aflatoxin M1, deoxynivalenol (DON), diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), HT2 toxin, fumonisins, fusarenon X, Nivalenol, Ochratoxin A, Patulin, T2 toxin, T2 trill, Vomitoxin, Zearalenone. Illegal Colours: orange II, para red, rhodamine, Sudan I to IV. Others: 3-MCPD (3-monochloro-1,2-propanediol), benzo(a)pyrene, dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs (polchlorinated biphenyls), GMO testing, Melamine, PAHs (polyaromatic hydrocarbons) and potato glycoalkaloids.
Vitamins, Minerals & Additives Testing
Miscellaneous Food Regulations define what can and can not be added to food. Vitamin A (retinol), B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B4 (choline), B6 (pyridoxine), B9 (folic acid), B12 (cyanocobalamin), vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol), vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), vitamin E (tocopherol), vitamin H (biotin), vitamin K1 (phyllquinonine), vitamin K3 (menadione), beta carotene (pro vitamin A).
Trace Elements & Minerals
Calcium, cobalt, copper, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sodium, sulphur, zinc.
WoW
Thank goodness all I have to do is make my sauce and send it to the laboratory and they will do all of this.
