industrial placement

David Smith, L00090777 Food Science & Nutrition: Industrial Placement Report, 2013

Introduction:

Industrial Placement carried out by myself, was done so between the dates; June 4th to June

August 31st 2012. Summer’s work experience in Food Quality Control was completed in

Manor Farm Chicken Food Plant.

Carton Brothers is the name of the company that produce Manor Farm chicken. It is one of

the oldest family companies in the country and dates back to 1775 when it was first born in

the very heart of trading in the Dublin Markets. Originally in those heady days over 200

years ago chickens would be brought from the farmyards all around the country to the

Dublin Markets and Carton's would sell them on. As the years passed Carton Brother grew

substantially as a company and were one of the largest traders in the country. 1956 Carton

Brothers introduced the chicken as we now know it today into Ireland. The original factory

for the company was in the heart of Dublin located in the Market area but moved in 1970 to

a custom built factory in the heart of Cavan at a small village called Shercock.

Manor Farm Factory, 2012

The company is now in the 8th generation of the Carton family with Vincent Carton

currently Managing Director. The company employs 650 people directly, contracts a further

150 farmers and gives indirect employment to many more throughout the 26 counties.

Carton Brothers is also committed to the Love Irish Food campaign will guarantee the

consumer that Irish products are kept on the shelves and will keep jobs in Ireland. Manor

Farm – with its unique plant number IE 803 EC - has one of the most modern processing

facilities in Europe producing up to 600,000 birds per week at its home in the heart of Co.

Cavan. The company supplies its Irish customers from all the major supermarkets, your local

stores and butchers as well as for sale abroad. It also retains total control over all stages of

the chicken production process - all here in Ireland. The production plant at Shercock has

recently completed a major €13m overhaul and is now one of the most modern and


sophisticated in Europe. Consistent within Carton Brothers at all times is dedication to

Quality and the production of unique and very tasty chicken products from the best chicken

that we ourselves produce (ManorFarm, 2013).

Carton Brothers prides itself on the number of Awards consistently achieved down the years

and continues to invest heavily in quality assurance through its highly trained quality

assurance personnel and quality systems.

Manor Farms’ Awards include:

Overall National Hygiene & Food Safety Winner 2008

ISO 22000 – first poultry plant in Ireland to get this accreditation

ISO 9001 2000

B.R.C. issue 4 higher level

Bord Bía quality assurance scheme on farm and processing (1st chicken company in

Ireland to be accredited)

Quality mark

Hygiene Mark

Winner of the supreme hygiene award within the poultry category on numerous

occasions (Love Irish Food, 2013)

Placement:

Health & Safety

Before placement began, a Health and Safety course had to be carried out. This is a

requirement of all employees and work experience participants, but was especially vital as

the work experience being entered in was that of Quality Control.

The course involved:

Health &Safety Legislation

Plant Hazards

Plant Safety Rules

First Aid Facilities

Accident/Incident Reporting

The aim of the safety module was to increase awareness of the potential hazards

throughout the plant thus ensuring personnel are better equipped to carry out you role

safely and without posing threat to others. It also covered the Safety, Health and Welfare at

Work Act of 2005. The duties of employees were outlined as maintaining/completing as

necessary;


A Safe Place of Work

Safe Means of Access & Egress

Safe Plant & Machinery

Safe Systems of Work

Protective Clothing (PPE)

Information / Instruction / Training

Ongoing Supervision

Safety Statement

Safety Committee (Recommended)

The Employees Responsibilities Act of 2005 was discussed as well. These were listed as;

Comply with Legislation

Ensure they are not under the influence of any intoxicant.

To co-operate with employer

Not to engage in any improper conduct.

Participate in Health & Safety training offered by the employer

Not to misuse equipment

Report known defects to quality personnel.

Under the Plant Hazards section of presentation, the following were discussed: Movement

of Vehicles, Manual Handling, Slips, Trips & Falls, Fire & Explosion, Electrical Safety, Noise,

Machinery and Knives.

The Plant Safety Rules were covered:

All accidents must be reported to your immediate supervisor or manager

No running, climbing or horseplay is permitted on the grounds

Before operating machinery, please ensure all safety guards are in place, emergency

stop buttons and interlocking systems are working

When using chemicals, power tools, hammers etc, eye protection must be worn

Adhere to manual handling techniques for all lifts:

Observe fire alarms and no smoking policy

Do not place your hands near moving machine parts.

Do not wear lose fitting garments or articles that may become entangled in machinery

Housekeeping – Keep your work area tidy. Clear all spillages, keep walkways clear and

remove trip hazards

Never direct compressed air at yourself or others.

Familiarise yourself with your nearest fire exit

Protective clothing – Wear all PPE in the correct manner


The location of all first aid boxes was also shown as well as the trained first aid staff were

made known. Finally the company’s Environmental Policy was discussed. Manor Farm has

an IPPC License. The aim of this license is to reduce emissions to air, water and land, to

reduce waste, and use energy and resources efficiently. As a member of Repak, the

company strives to use packaging which is less harmful to the environment.

Work Experience:

Following the completing of the Health and Safety course, a tour of the plant was carried

out. A complete impression of the entire process of product production was gained.

The Factory consists of the following two floors:

Floor 1:

• Security Hunt

• Main Staff/ Visitor Car Park

• Reception

• Male & Female Changing Rooms

• Canteen

• Loading Bay

• Misc. Offices

• Maintenance Workshop

• Delivery Bay

• Killing Room

• Packaging 1

• Cold Store

• Boning Room

• Truck Loading/ Delivery Track

• Effluent Processing Plant

Floor 2:

• QC. Offices

• Microbiological Laboratory

• Product Development

• Value Added

• Packaging 2

The majority of work placement carried out, was done on the Value Added production area

on the second floor. Here chicken products are produced with addition of marinate,

seasoning, vegetables ect. From a quality point of view, a normal day entails; Hygiene

Checks, Allergen Control, Traceability, Product Weight Control, Metal Control, Product Label

Verification, Temperature Control, Micro-Sampling, and the necessary paperwork that


accompanies these measures. All measures taken are done in accordance and to keep

certification of Food Safety Standards and Systems such as BRC Global Standards and ISO

22000.

The Value Added production area itself is made up of; an Entrance lobby, the Main

Production Floor with accompanying packing lines & tables, a Chilled room for storing

products & raw material prior to use, Ingredient rooms, and a Crate Wash area.

A typical Hygiene check involves, walking around Value Added, inspecting all vicinities. Items

of concern are: product location, if personnel wearing PPE (Personal protective equipment)

correctly, cleanness, Ingredient Bin condition, Operational Status of Wash Stations and their

water temperature, Sterilizers temperature, etc. The following spec sheet was to be filled

out whilst carrying out the inspection:


Allergen Control is a hugely important Quality requirement. This is done by secretion

of each allergen marinate additives. The ingredients room which stores these additives, is

laid out with; Gluten, Gluten & SO2, Mustard & Gluten, Soya & Gluten, Celery & Gluten, Egg

& Milk, and an Allergen Free area. It must be constantly monitored to ensure it is being

implemented at all times. Each ingredient is kept in a Bin, which is labelled for identification,

and contains a scoop for removal of additive when needed. Each scoop is numbered on

direct correlation to each bin, ie- Scoop 1 stored in Bin 1. Typically throughout the day the

bins are checked to make sure they are placed back in the correct allergen zone and the

scoop for each bin is kept in respected bin also.

Ingredients Room, showing the separation of allergens.

Ingredient Room Floor Plan showing the separation of allergens.


Manor Farm can trace all raw material product lots, including packaging, from suppliers

through all stages of processing and despatch to their customer and vice versa.

The company operates a system to identify and trace product lots and follow this through all

raw materials, including primary and any other relevant packaging materials and processing

aids, all stages of processing and the distribution of the finished product to the customer in

a timely manner.

Records allow product to be traced back to raw materials and vice versa. This includes

quantity checks/mass balance. Finished product labelling forms the basis for successful

traceability. All materials used in traceability (raw, packaging, process aids) are identified

correctly to allow for traceability on the respective log sheets.

Traceability is in place through use of;

Grower (Farmer) Names and/or Codes,

Barcodes,

QR Codes,

Expiry Dates,

Display Till Dates,

EEC Numbers,

Julian Dates,

Times of Production

Product Details (Name, Retailer ect.) & Product Code

The Main traceability code used is the Grower Name and/or Code.

All products from pre-production, during; production, during packing, after packing and raw

materials have a combination of these measures printed on them.

On production floors, in stores ect., products and materials have colour coded cards. The

quality staff attach these throughout the day. Each colour represents a day of the week, and

therefore an age to the product/raw material. The Trace Cards contain the following

identification: Time, Date, Quanity, Size, Product Code, and the Grower Code.


Below is an example of the specification sheet filled in to verify that the correct information

is on each product label. On a typical day hundreds of these sheets are filled out. If a

mistake is spotted, for example the wrong use by date, the product must be relabelled with

correct information.


The Quality team throughout the day; take measures to ensure Product Weight Control is

kept in place at all times. As a product is being prepared, five random samples of the

finished product are weighed and compared to the actual Minimum and Maximum values. If

outside the required limits, further action is taken. The below spec sheet is filled out during

these checks.


Metal Control is another important quality aspect that must be monitored. When a finished

product is placed on packing line with the destination of loading bay, it must pass through a

metal detector. These are made up of a metal sensor, a siren, a coloured flashing light

(which light up when metal is detected) and a rod which will push products into a holding

bin when metal is detected. Every hour the metal detectors on each line are checked that

they continuously operational. This is done by sending through products which have ferrous,

non-ferrous and stainless steel pieces in them. An operation metal detector should be

alerted to these checks. Factory approved pens and first aid plasters (which contain metal

are also tested on a regular basis.

Metal Detector and the metal pieces used in testing.


The below spec sheet is filled out during these checks.


As the products produced are from chicken which is a perishable material, Temperature

Control must be maintained at all times. Therefore the cold conditions must be monitored

frequently at all areas of the food production and transport points.


Microbiology testing is carried daily on various products. This is done by the micro staff. The

quality team collect the samples required for testing. Among the pathogenic bacteria which

are tested for include; E.coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Clostridium, ect.

Samples may also be collected for shelf life extensions and sensory analysis testing for

product development.

All of the quality checks must be accompanied with the necessary paperwork. All measures

taken are done in accordance and to keep certification of Food Safety Standards and

Systems such as BRC Global Standards and ISO 22000. Each customer have their own

standards that the quality team must make sure are adhered to.

The Industrial Placement carried out by myself, was done so between the dates; June 4th to

June 29th 2012 in Manor Farm Chicken Food Plant. A month’s work experience in Food

Quality Control was gained, as well as a summer job which was reprised in summer 2013. As

well as the employment, valued contacts and referenced was also acquired.

Bibliography:

Farm, M. (2013). Chicken.ie . Retrieved from Manor Farm: About Us:

http://www.chicken.ie/carton-brothers-manor-farm-about-us.82.html

Food, L. I. (2013). Manor Farm. Retrieved from Love Irish Food.ie :

http://www.loveirishfood.ie/brands/manor-farm/

industrial placement

Documents

chicken company

carton brothers

manor farm chicken food

food quality control

carton family

vincent carton

manor farm factory

quality systems