QA in snack production: what to check and when

QA in snack production checks at three points: when materials and packaging arrive, while the line is running, and when finished goods are ready but not yet released. Every check has to be recorded, because a check without a record might as well not have happened. Color of Vietnam does not run a line. Our products are made at partner facilities in the Thạch Thất – Quốc Oai industrial park, so our job is to agree with the facility's QA on what gets checked, when, and which papers come back to us. This piece is for anyone who wants to build products at a company that works this way.

First, two terms that often get mixed up. QC, quality control, is the individual checks: weighing a bar, measuring moisture, tasting, passing a sample through a metal detector. QA, quality assurance, is the system around those checks: what is checked, how often, by whom, where it is written down, and what happens when a result is out of range.

Checkpoint one: incoming materials and packaging

Goods that arrive are not used straight away. They sit in a holding area until they have been checked and signed off. The usual steps:

• Compare the lot's COA (certificate of analysis) against the material specification: moisture, fat content, microbiological limits, depending on the material.
• Sensory check: look, smell, sometimes taste. Whether a cashew lot has gone rancid shows up here, before any instrument.
• Check for foreign matter and the condition of the bags: torn, damp, insects.
• For packaging: correct print version, dimensions, film thickness, quantity.

A new supplier goes through an approval step before its first lot is accepted. This is where the material specification written by the brand owner is actually used.

Checkpoint two: during the run

While the line runs, there are fixed check points. Some are critical control points, CCPs in the HACCP system, where a failure makes the product unsafe. The rest are ordinary quality checks. On a bar or snack line you typically find:

• Temperature and time at the cooking, baking or drying step.
• Weight per unit, measured at intervals, against the tolerance in the specification.
• Pack seals: airtight, no product trapped in the seal, tears along the intended line.
• Metal detector: tested with reference pieces at the start, middle and end of the shift.
• Date and lot codes printed correctly and legibly.

When a check is out of range, product made since the last good check is held, the machine is adjusted, and both actions go into the deviation log. Without that line, nobody knows what is in the lot.

Checkpoint three: finished goods and records

Before release, finished goods get a last look: sensory comparison with the approved standard sample, weight, carton inspection, and laboratory tests according to the plan, for example microbiology at a set frequency. A quantity from each lot is kept as retained samples until the end of shelf life.

The records for a lot include the batch record, the deviation log, the check results and the release signature. From the lot code on a pack it must be possible to trace back to the material lots and forward to where the goods went. This is the first thing an inspector or a buyer asks for when something goes wrong.

How a brand owner works with facility QA

We do not replace the facility's QA. We agree five things with them: which version of the product specification applies, which checks are mandatory for our products, which records come to us for every lot, the hold and release rule, and how deviations are reported, including the ones already resolved. When we visit, we ask to see the original records rather than a verbal summary. Not out of suspicion, but because reading the originals is the fastest way to understand where the line is actually being checked.

An example: a single-page lot summary for PLAY Protein Bar

The first time we asked for the records of a PLAY Protein Bar trial lot, our partner facility sent the whole stack of forms in its own format. Complete, but far too thick for a small team to read every week, and a new team member had no idea which line to look for. We sat down with the facility's QA for one session and agreed a lot summary on a single page:

• Lot code, production date, shift.
• Main material lots used, ticked when the COA has been received.
• Range of bar weights measured during the shift, against the tolerance.
• Metal detector test results, three per shift.
• Seal check and sensory result against the standard sample.
• Deviations, if any, and what was done.
• Release signature.

Since then every lot arrives with this page. The full file stays at the facility and is available on request. A new team member can read the page in five minutes and know what, if anything, is worth asking about.

If you want to learn to read a page like this, and then write the specification the facility checks against, our Fresher Product R&D (FMCG) role in Hanoi is open on the Careers page. If you are a buyer who wants to see how a lot gets released, get in touch and we will gladly share a template of this summary.