Jarred salsa is an acidified food, so its production follows a scheduled process set by a process authority, and every batch leaves records. The nine steps: receive and wash the produce, roast and chop, weigh everything to the process, including the vinegar or lime, cook, check the pH, fill the jars hot, cap and hold them as the process says, cool, and code and label. The pH reading is the step that matters most: the process sets a maximum, at or under 4.6, and a batch that reads over it doesn't get jarred until it's corrected. The plant runs under someone who has passed an approved Better Process Control School course, and keeps its processing records three years. In the example below, a Tucson salsa maker runs a batch day.
The short version
- Nine steps: receive, roast, weigh, cook, check pH, fill, hold, cool, code.
- Weigh every ingredient to the scheduled process, the acid included.
- Check the pH of every batch against the process's maximum.
- Fill hot and hold as the process says.
- Code every jar: plant, product, date and period.
- Keep processing records, pH included, three years.
- TaroStack records each batch with its ingredient lots and its jar lot. More below.
The nine steps
| Step | What happens | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Receive | Tomatoes, peppers and onions checked and washed | Produce lots |
| 2. Roast and chop | Tomatoes and peppers roasted, all chopped | Time |
| 3. Weigh | Every ingredient weighed, vinegar and lime included | Weights |
| 4. Cook | Brought to temperature and held | Temperature, time |
| 5. Check pH | A sample read on a calibrated meter | pH reading |
| 6. Fill | Filled hot, headspace checked | Fill temperature |
| 7. Cap and hold | Capped, inverted and held | Hold time |
| 8. Cool | Cooled, seals checked | Unsealed jars |
| 9. Code | Code on each lid, labels on | Lot, jars |
Making it by the hundred jars is in how to make salsa in bulk, and the food safety plan in salsa haccp plan.
The rules behind steps 3 to 9
An acidified food is made under a scheduled process from a process authority, filed with FDA, and the plant registers on Form 2541 within 10 days of starting (21 CFR 108.25). Operators work under someone who has completed an approved school (21 CFR 114.10); each container carries a code for the plant, product and when it was packed (114.80(b)); and processing records, pH included, are kept three years (114.100). The school is in better process control school.
An example: a batch day
Saguaro Salsa Co., the made-up salsa maker in Tucson, Arizona, I use in these examples, runs roasted tomato salsa in 20-pound kitchen batches. One Tuesday:
| Step | What happened |
|---|---|
| Receive and roast | Romas lot RT-0915, jalapeños lot JP-0913, onions lot ON-0910 |
| Weigh and cook | 6 batches, vinegar and lime weighed to the process |
| Check pH | Meter calibrated at 7.0 and 4.0; batches read 3.9 to 4.1; batch 5 read 4.3, more vinegar per the process, re-read 4.0 |
| Fill and hold | 16 oz jars, filled hot, inverted and held |
| Cool | 286 jars sealed, 2 pulled |
| Code | Lid code SS-T-0915-2 for the afternoon period |
Batch 5 read 4.3, over the process's 4.2 maximum, so it was corrected the way the process authority's letter allows and re-read before any jar was filled; the departure went in its own log, as the records rule asks. The process itself is in process authority letter.
Get the run sheet
Download the salsa production run sheet. Two sheets: a blank run sheet to print for each batch, with the nine steps, the check at each and its target, and spaces for the actual reading, the time and initials; and the same run filled in from the example. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The run sheet covers one day. Six batches, six pH readings, a correction, and 286 jars to grocers: when a pepper lot is recalled, or a grocer asks about one jar, the code has to lead back to the batch and its reading.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack records each batch with its ingredient lots and its jar lot, so a code on a lid leads back to the batch.
Batches by lot. Each batch takes the tomatoes, peppers, onions and vinegar off stock with their lots.
Jars by lot. Each batch gets its own lot, and lot labels print for the cases.
Where it went. Each grocer's order records the lots it got, so one recall report runs from a pepper lot to every store.
| The job | Clipboard | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which peppers went into a batch | A note on the clipboard | Batches by lot |
| Jars made and pulled | Counted at the end | On the batch |
| Which grocers got a lot | Invoices | One recall report |
Recipes, batches, lots and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.