Once Again Nut Butter

Product Testing

Once Again Nut Butter supplies customers with quality products that are safe to eat. Recently we have been gearing up for our Safe Quality Foods (SQF) audit and thought you'd like information on how we engage in product testing. When we receive peanuts into our facility, those peanuts are accompanied by documentation from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stating that the product meets specifications and is safe for use. Other products, such as almonds and cashews, are accompanied by a letter called a Certification of Analysis that is issues by the supplier. This letter guarantees that the supplier meets our safety standards or we will reject the material. While in both cases this documentation is extremely important, we do not exclusively rely on this information; therefore, all raw materials are tested again. When all raw commodities arrive they are subject to the MIL-STD-105E for secondary internal testing to insure the safety of those commodities. This allows us to adjust to the results if necessary before production.

The use of the MIL-STD-105E, which is a military guideline and standard for statistical sampling, is to help us determine how many samples are acceptable when sampling from any given situation. We test our raw commodities as they enter our facility; we also do extensive testing on all finished products before shipment. We engage in a full microbiological and pathogen testing on all products. Once the product is finished, it takes about 4-5 days for the testing to be finalized and for the product to be released for use. If substandard product is found, it is disposed of properly and is never released into interstate commerce.