inspection news

[Hudson bay distillers]

yesterday we had our final government inspection and gained some info that i have to share . first off it is now illegal for craft distillers to purchase or use gns in the province of saskatchewan . this is great news for us as we are grain to glass operation . also it is no longer acceptable to sterilise bottles with the product that your bottling or to use a leave in sanitising agent , all bottles must be washed sterilised and rinsed  . both good news for the craft industry in the province .

tim   

[daveflintstone]

good news that new bottles have to be washed sterilized and rinsed?  wow.

[Hudson bay distillers]

there line of thinking is that distilleries are considered a food plant and under the laws governing food plants anything that touches the product has to be sterilised , and rinsing with spirits is not considered a approved sterilisation method by the CFIA . 

tim   

[indyspirits]

10 hours ago, Hudson bay distillers said:

rinsing with spirits is not considered a approved sterilisation method by the CFIA

Have they provided example of what pathogens will grow in 40% etoh?  Seems completely ridiculous to me.

 

 

[Glenlyon]

That's the first I've heard of that. So far my inspectors have not said anything to me. I would not be that open to such a suggestion as it sounds like a lot of extra work for no real benefit.

[indyspirits]

5 minutes ago, Glenlyon said:

it sounds like a lot of extra work for no real benefit.

Couldn't agree more.  At least here in the US,  I find lumping distilleries with  food-processing facilities as annoying and ludicrous. We have to have THREE sinks in our facility: three bay (for all of the glassware we wash??),  mop sink and separate hand-washing sink. Its' crazy.

 

 

[Hudson bay distillers]

i dont believe that anyone has disproved the effectiveness of rinsing with spirits , it is just not an approved method according to the CFIA , or the health inspectors . mainly because food plants and restaurants cant do it . requesting clean bottles is a good thing , how they are cleaned should be site specific imo. its my understanding they have had problems with dirty bottles so there answer is a blanket policy to insure bottles are sterilised . and the policy they use is the same one used for a distillery , meat plant , restaurant ect ect . 

glenlyon this may not be a BC thing its the saskatchewan goverment that is asking for this not the federal . you may be safe 

 for our new facility to be in compliance it wont effect us much . our plan of attack is a 3 bay stainless sink , first wash bottles in hot citric acid solution , second rinse with clean water , third rinse with spirit to get rid of any water , then bottle . is this a pain in the ass for sure but its only way we can see to do it . im not sure how this will effect the big outfits but im guessing negatively . 

 there are only 7 legal distillery in the province with 35 in the process of getting going . however there is one very large brewery im very curious to see how they plan on sterilising there beer cans before there filled . at the moment they use a post caning pasteurisation method , filled ,canned then pasteurised with finished product already in it . that may change who knows . 

tim      

[daveflintstone]

I understand the necessity of complying with bureaucratic nonsense, just real curious why you consider that to be a good news thing.

[Hudson bay distillers]

the ban on gns is obvious good news . the need to sterilise bottles is a no brainer to me , no one knows whats crawling around the buildings new bottles are stored before they are delivered . as i mentioned above the method of sterilisation should be site specific , obviously distilleries have the ability to rinse bottles with spirit as a butcher shop doesnt . personally i think rinsing bottles with spirit is totally good enough but i dont get to make any rules . 

tim  

[Silk City Distillers]

13 hours ago, daveflintstone said:

I understand the necessity of complying with bureaucratic nonsense, just real curious why you consider that to be a good news thing.

Regulators gotta regulate.

Concur, it's always a bad thing when regulators have no understanding of what's being regulated.  While this specific decision might not mean much for you, what about the next one?  Or the one after that, which puts you out of business?

 

[Glenlyon]

It would take a lot of extra hours to process all those bottles if you had to pre-wash them. For a bigger operation with the potential of an automatic machine, that's one thing but for a smaller operator, that would be a real drag.

[Hudson bay distillers]

silk i agree completely but there not much a guy can do about it , there isnt site specific methods so we get lumped into the entire food industry . and with that the rule states that anything that comes into contact with a food product has to be sterilised .  

glenlyon , a real drag is a understatement automation is the only way that i can see , but thats big horny money . like i said earlier it will be interesting to see how the big operators that can afford lawyers handle this . 

 here is another angle , if we in saskatchewan as manufactures have to pre wash our glass with some thing other than rinsed with spirits wouldnt that mean that products imported and sold in the province would also have to do the same , this could be a big ole can of worms . 

[Hudson bay distillers]

here is an  update , after getting some accurate information from the CFIA we learned that the information fed to us by the inspector was completely false . so im sorry for reporting fake news . 

the bottom line is if a manufacturer wants to sterilise there bottles before filling there more than welcome to , but there is no requirement to do so . the CFIA law that was quoted to us was written for restaurants not for distilleries . 

the main reason that sterilisation of bottles and the ban on the use of gns is not a law and never will be is that most of the alcohol sold in the province is not manufactured here . there fore to impose such on Saskatchewan manufacturers yet import and  sell product from other jurisdictions that do not have these restrictions cant be done . if a food safety issue is covered by a law to protect the public from consuming dangerous and or tainted product then it covers all product sold to the public in that jurisdiction not just the product manufactured in that jurisdiction . 

so chalk one up to false inaccurate information . 

tim  

[indyspirits]

22 hours ago, Hudson bay distillers said:

here is an  update , after getting some accurate information from the CFIA we learned that the information fed to us by the inspector was completely false . so im sorry for reporting fake news . 

Great news!