Sampling and testing regime for nutraceuticals
Hi all,
I work for a small nutraceutical company in the UK and I have been given the responsibility for the Quality side of things.
We source many raw materials as well as some final products from around the world, mostly China. I want to increase our testing but I am struggling to determine a sampling/testing regime. I started looking at VACCP but that is more to do with the fraud side whereas I am looking at product quality (metals, PAHs, micro etc.).
How would I decide on a sampling and testing regime for our products. For example, product A should be tested every three batches and product B should be tested every batch. I want to sample every batch that arrives for retain samples, it is more of the testing I am struggling with.
Any guidance would be hugely appreciated as I am a bit stuck!
Hi ,
I do not have more data regarding your incoming raw material , but here is what I would do ,
1. Summarize the amount of material coming in , like total amount received in a year , month wise etc..
2. Correlate with previous testing result , as in how many have passed and how many have failed . This will give you a idea about the risk level .
3. Check the packing size , for example if you get 1 ton in 50 kg bags , you should have 20 bags of the raw material . Summarize the lot size to packing size .
4. Develop a sampling plan , refer to AQL .
5. Now sample from the number of bags as per AQL .
6.Now develop a composite sample from all the sampling , this will decrease your testing load as well . To increase your testing , sample more number of bags as per AQL higher limit .
7. Check your regulations as well , some regulations mention that you have to have a minimum sampling plan / level of sampling .
8. To further ensure sampling , buy a sampling rod and sample .
9. Sampling size calculator -https://www.intouch-.../aql-calculator
10. To further strengthen your sampling , conduct a risk assessment for your sampling procedure , this takes some amount of data to be collected first .
Hope this helps .
Hi all,
I work for a small nutraceutical company in the UK and I have been given the responsibility for the Quality side of things.
We source many raw materials as well as some final products from around the world, mostly China. I want to increase our testing but I am struggling to determine a sampling/testing regime. I started looking at VACCP but that is more to do with the fraud side whereas I am looking at product quality (metals, PAHs, micro etc.).
How would I decide on a sampling and testing regime for our products. For example, product A should be tested every three batches and product B should be tested every batch. I want to sample every batch that arrives for retain samples, it is more of the testing I am struggling with.
Any guidance would be hugely appreciated as I am a bit stuck!
Hi Jack,
There are 2 basic reasons for sampling - (a) for accept or reject decisions, (b) for informative purposes
Often (b) leads to (a) in respect to development of specifications.
The previous Post introduced you to an example of (a).
Implementation of (b,a) depends on your specific Objectives, ie which factors and their magnitudes determine "Quality",ie what is yr Specification(s) ?
I suggest you have a look at this Post which leads to a variety of posts related to (a,b) -
I have never left the forum empty handed whenever your reply .
Hi Jack,
There are 2 basic reasons for sampling - (a) for accept or reject decisions, (b) for informative purposes
Often (b) leads to (a) in respect to development of specifications.
The previous Post introduced you to an example of (a).
Implementation of (b,a) depends on your specific Objectives, ie which factors and their magnitudes determine "Quality",ie what is yr Specification(s) ?
I suggest you have a look at this Post which leads to a variety of posts related to (a,b) -