Co-man and food development glossary.

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3PLLogistics

Third-party logistics. A company that stores your finished goods and picks, packs and ships orders for you.

Acidified foodFood safety

A low-acid food that has acid or acid foods added to reach a finished equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below. Regulated by FDA under 21 CFR Part 114, with specific process and training requirements.

Allergen changeoverFood safety

The cleaning and verification a plant does between a product containing an allergen and one that does not, so traces don’t carry over.

Better Process Control SchoolFood safety

FDA-recognized training required for supervisors of thermal processing, acidification and container closure in acidified and low-acid canned food operations.

Bench formulaDevelopment

The recipe as made in a test kitchen or lab, usually in small amounts. It almost always needs adjusting to run on plant equipment.

BrokerSales

A sales agent who represents your brand to retailers or distributors, usually for a commission. Brokers sell; they don’t buy or hold your product.

COAQuality

Certificate of analysis. A document from a supplier or lab reporting test results for a specific lot, such as moisture, protein or micro counts.

Co-manufacturer (co-man)Manufacturing

A facility that makes your product for you under your brand. Often used interchangeably with co-packer, though some co-packers only package.

COGSFinance

Cost of goods sold. What it costs to make one unit: ingredients, packaging, manufacturing fees, and usually inbound freight.

DistributorSales

A company that buys your product, warehouses it and sells it on to retailers or foodservice operators.

FSMAFood safety

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. It shifted food safety rules toward prevention and requires most food facilities to have a written food safety plan.

Food Safety PlanFood safety

The written plan required under FSMA’s preventive controls rule, covering hazard analysis, preventive controls, monitoring and corrective actions. It must be prepared or overseen by a PCQI.

GFSIQuality

Global Food Safety Initiative. It benchmarks certification schemes such as SQF, BRCGS and FSSC 22000. Many retailers require suppliers to hold one.

Gold standardDevelopment

An approved reference sample of your product that production batches are compared against for taste, texture and appearance.

HACCPFood safety

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. A system for identifying food safety hazards and controlling them at specific points in the process.

HPPProcessing

High pressure processing. A non-thermal method that uses very high water pressure to inactivate microorganisms in packaged foods and drinks.

HTSTProcessing

High temperature, short time pasteurization. For milk, the standard is at least 161°F (72°C) for 15 seconds.

Ingredient statementLabeling

The list of ingredients on the label, in descending order by weight.

Kill stepProcessing

A process step that reduces pathogens to a safe level, such as cooking, pasteurization, retort or HPP.

Landed costFinance

The full cost of an ingredient or product once it reaches you: price plus freight, duties, insurance and handling.

Line timeManufacturing

The scheduled time a production line is booked for your product. Plants plan it weeks or months ahead.

Lot codeQuality

A code on each package that ties it to a specific production run, so it can be traced or recalled.

MOQManufacturing

Minimum order quantity. The smallest run a plant or supplier will accept, in units, pounds or cases.

Nutrition Facts panelLabeling

The required nutrition label on most packaged foods in the US, showing serving size, calories and nutrients.

PCQIFood safety

Preventive Controls Qualified Individual. A person trained to prepare or oversee a facility’s Food Safety Plan under FSMA.

pHProcessing

A measure of acidity. A finished pH of 4.6 is the key regulatory line between low-acid and acid or acidified foods.

Pilot runManufacturing

A small trial run on plant equipment to prove the formula and process before full production.

Private labelSales

Products made by one company and sold under a retailer’s own brand.

Process authorityFood safety

A person or organization with expert knowledge of thermal processing who establishes the scheduled process for acidified and low-acid canned foods.

RetortProcessing

Heat processing of sealed containers under pressure, used to make low-acid foods shelf stable.

Scale-upDevelopment

Turning a bench formula into one that works at production size and on production equipment.

Shelf-life studyQuality

Testing how long a product stays safe and acceptable. Real-time studies store product under normal conditions; accelerated studies use stress conditions to estimate it sooner.

Slotting feeSales

A fee some retailers charge to place a new product on their shelves.

Spec sheetDocuments

A specification sheet listing a product’s or ingredient’s required characteristics, such as composition, physical and micro limits, packaging and storage.

SQFQuality

Safe Quality Food. A GFSI-benchmarked food safety certification widely used in North America.

SSOPFood safety

Sanitation standard operating procedure. A written procedure for how equipment and the facility are cleaned and sanitized.

TollingManufacturing

A model where you buy and supply the ingredients and packaging, and the plant charges a fee to process them.

TurnkeyManufacturing

A model where the plant sources ingredients and packaging and sells you finished product at a per-unit price.

Water activity (aw)Processing

A measure of the water available for microbial growth, from 0 to 1. Lower water activity generally means slower spoilage; 0.85 is a common regulatory threshold.

YieldManufacturing

How much finished product you get from a given amount of ingredients, after losses in processing.

General definitions for orientation, not regulatory advice. Rules for your specific product can differ.