Our consulting and training services help companies focus on their core line of business.

Training & Seminars

Knowledge transfer on the subjects of foodstuffs hygiene and food law.

Experts from bilacon respond to the specific needs of your business and provide practice-oriented training and seminars to the subjects of your desire – in your office or in our seminar rooms.

Our instructors are academically trained in a food-specific field (e.g. food technologists, ecotrophologists, engineers for hygiene and nutrition technology) and  typically possess many years of professional experience. This enables us to impart extensive hands-on knowledge in the field of food hygiene and food law as well as a lot of related areas in the form of seminars and trainings.

We carry out trainings and seminars in the following fields:

• General and basic food hygiene
• Basics of microbiology
• Personnel hygiene and company hygiene (production, equipment and building hygiene)
• Company specific self-control systems
• Instructions in accordance with Paragraph 43 Sentence 4 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases
• Trainings in the procedure of sampling
• HACCP training
• Training of internal auditors
• System training, e.g. for beef labelling, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Quality & Security (Qualität & Sicherheit, QS), Organic/Eco Regulation etc.

Sensory Testing

bilacon has a staff of trained professionals that can apply sensory tests in order to examine and evaluate your goods.

In the current market environment, sensory qualities of food are gaining in importance. Qualified tests help you to assess the potential success of an existing product or a new market entry. Professional sensory analyses are also used in the domain of standardization of product ranges as well as in the course of the assessment of marketability.

Furthermore, we will support you in identifying the odorants and tastants causing off flavors, and will gladly offer our guidance to help you avoid and control these disturbing occurrences in the entire production chain.

Audits & Hygiene Testing

Review of Compliance with “Good Manufacturing Practice” (GMP)

Execution of hygiene audits and inspection of internal self-control systems in the different areas of responsibility within the food industry are core tasks of the department for Hygiene & Quality Assurance.

The focus of the auditing process lies on personnel and production hygiene, as well as on the entire surroundings and existing equipment, along with the adherence to government regulations. Dialogue and consultation with the audited business’ staff has top priority. Therefore, all results are summarised and reported with special hygiene software developed by bilacon for further optimisation of the hygienic status. Audit reports feature a consistent layout that enables you to compare results of the hygiene audit with the previous visit. Besides calculation and graphic display of anomalies that have been found on-site, the report will have an action plan and pictures attached. Trend analyses can be compiled out of multiple reports and serve as a reference for the verification of the quality management system.

Legal Basis

In accordance with Regulation No. 852/2004 of the European Commission and of the Council on the hygiene of foodstuffs the previously valid national foodstuffs hygiene statute (foodstuffs-hygiene regulation, LMHV) has been replaced, with effect from January the 1st of 2006. Like the foodstuffs-hygiene regulation Reg. (EC) No. 852/2004 it is valid for the commercial manufacture, treatment or distribution of foodstuffs. The basis for the consulting and inspection activities is the compliance with Article 5 Reg. (EC) No. 852/2004. Here the legislator laid down and specified that every food business operator that runs a production, processing or distribution stage of foodstuffs has to establish, execute and maintain one or several permanent procedures that are based on HACCP principles and ensure consumer health protection.

Sampling

Precondition for the Chemical and Microbiological Testing of Foodstuffs, Drinking Water, and Tobacco Products.

For the execution of orders our qualified employees of the Hygiene & Quality Assurance department take a multitude of different samples on your site, or alternatively, by sample pick-ups provided by you.

Collection of samples includes upon request the provision of packaging and shipping materials.

Sampling focuses mainly on:

• Food samples for microbiological examination according to the self-checking system and to comply with the demands of Reg. (EC) No. 2073/2005.
• Fruit and vegetable samples for residue testing*
• Drinking water samples for examination according to the drinking water regulation
• Samples for determination of the microbial count of surfaces in order to survey cleaning and disinfection activities
• Samples for the determination of the count of airborne microbes

* This service is not covered by the scope of the accreditation.

Quality Management (QM)

Development and implementation of QM and self-control systems including HACCP concepts

At the center of the department for hygiene/quality assurance’s activities is the support of your company when it comes to the implementation of a process-driven quality management system (QMS). The practical format guarantees a motivated and committed implementation of the variety of large and small tasks with the effect of securing and optimizing product control in your interest.

In order to successfully complete certifications that accord with recognized food standards, a specific, risk-sensitive and tailored documentation system is essential. Such documentation systems are usually developed in form of quality management manuals and HACCP manuals.

Our employees in the Hygiene & Quality Assurance department develop and complete manuals as well as excerpts. Further, it is their task to continually update and re-work existing manuals and concepts.