Dust Control
The GFCO Standard update that took effect December 1, 2024, included an amendment to requirement 55, which discusses dust control. In the past iteration of that requirement, GFCO auditors were expected to determine on their own whether dust was an issue in the plant they were auditing. Because we do not require that plants be in operation on the day of the audit, our auditors were often unable to judge whether dust was created during production, and what types of mitigation might be necessary.
For this reason, the amended version of requirement 55 asks that the plant conduct its own risk assessment for dust and then determine appropriate mitigation strategies. This risk assessment does not need to be extensive or performed by a third-party agency – personnel in the plant should be able to judge whether dust accumulates in the air or on surfaces during production.
While the requirement asks that the plant “assess the risk of gluten cross-contact from dust”, the intention is that the plant perform a risk assessment for any dust created during production, since there would be no way to know if that dust contained gluten or not. For example, if you work in a corn mill, your risk assessment should not say that “there is no risk from gluten dust”. Milling is a process that creates dust, and the plant likely has dust control strategies in place already or would need them. These are the mitigation activities that you would need to document under requirement 55.
If you work in a facility where no dust is created during production, such as liquid handling, then the outcome of your risk assessment can be as simple as a statement that “no dust is created during production”, and you would not need to describe any mitigation activities.
Cancellation Policy
GFCO is amending its audit cancellation policy. Beginning immediately, if a Plant needs to cancel or reschedule a previously scheduled audit, written notice must be provided to the auditor who scheduled the audit, as well as to the Food Safety Audit Coordinator. If a date has been set within five (5) business days from the scheduled date of the audit, a minimum of 48 hours’ advance written notice is required. Failure to provide timely notice may result in the applicant being billed for the full cost of the audit and any associated travel expenses.
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