CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21

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For the most up-to-date version of CFR Title 21, go to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR).

[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 21, Volume 2]

[CITE: 21CFR111]

TITLE 21--FOOD AND DRUGS
CHAPTER I--FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
SUBCHAPTER B - FOOD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION

PART 111 CURRENT GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE IN MANUFACTURING, PACKAGING, LABELING, OR HOLDING OPERATIONS FOR DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS

Subpart D - Equipment and Utensils

Sec. 111.25 What are the requirements under this subpart D for written procedures?

You must establish and follow written procedures for fulfilling the requirements of this subpart D, including written procedures for:

(a) Calibrating instruments and controls that you use in manufacturing or testing a component or dietary supplement;

(b) Calibrating, inspecting, and checking automated, mechanical, and electronic equipment; and

(c) Maintaining, cleaning, and sanitizing, as necessary, all equipment, utensils, and any other contact surfaces that are used to manufacture, package, label, or hold components or dietary supplements.

Sec. 111.27 What requirements apply to the equipment and utensils that you use?

(a) You must use equipment and utensils that are of appropriate design, construction, and workmanship to enable them to be suitable for their intended use and to be adequately cleaned and properly maintained.

(1) Equipment and utensils include the following:

(i) Equipment used to hold or convey;

(ii) Equipment used to measure;

(iii) Equipment using compressed air or gas;

(iv) Equipment used to carry out processes in closed pipes and vessels; and

(v) Equipment used in automated, mechanical, or electronic systems.

(2) You must use equipment and utensils of appropriate design and construction so that use will not result in the contamination of components or dietary supplements with:

(i) Lubricants;

(ii) Fuel;

(iii) Coolants;

(iv) Metal or glass fragments;

(v) Filth or any other extraneous material;

(vi) Contaminated water; or

(vii) Any other contaminants.

(3) All equipment and utensils you use must be:

(i) Installed and maintained to facilitate cleaning the equipment, utensils, and all adjacent spaces;

(ii) Corrosion-resistant if the equipment or utensils contact components or dietary supplements;

(iii) Made of nontoxic materials;

(iv) Designed and constructed to withstand the environment in which they are used, the action of components or dietary supplements, and, if applicable, cleaning compounds and sanitizing agents; and

(v) Maintained to protect components and dietary supplements from being contaminated by any source.

(4) Equipment and utensils you use must have seams that are smoothly bonded or maintained to minimize accumulation of dirt, filth, organic material, particles of components or dietary supplements, or any other extraneous materials or contaminants.

(5) Each freezer, refrigerator, and other cold storage compartment you use to hold components or dietary supplements:

(i) Must be fitted with an indicating thermometer, temperature-measuring device, or temperature-recording device that indicates and records, or allows for recording by hand, the temperature accurately within the compartment; and

(ii) Must have an automated device for regulating temperature or an automated alarm system to indicate a significant temperature change in a manual operation.

(6) Instruments or controls used in the manufacturing, packaging, labeling, or holding of a dietary supplement, and instruments or controls that you use to measure, regulate, or record temperatures, hydrogen-ion concentration (pH), water activity, or other conditions, to control or prevent the growth of microorganisms or other contamination must be:

(i) Accurate and precise;

(ii) Adequately maintained; and

(iii) Adequate in number for their designated uses.

(7) Compressed air or other gases you introduce mechanically into or onto a component, dietary supplement, or contact surface or that you use to clean any contact surface must be treated in such a way that the component, dietary supplement, or contact surface is not contaminated.

(b) You must calibrate instruments and controls you use in manufacturing or testing a component or dietary supplement. You must calibrate:

(1) Before first use; and

(2) At the frequency specified in writing by the manufacturer of the instrument and control; or

(3) At routine intervals or as otherwise necessary to ensure the accuracy and precision of the instrument and control.

(c) You must repair or replace instruments or controls that cannot be adjusted to agree with the reference standard.

(d) You must maintain, clean, and sanitize, as necessary, all equipment, utensils, and any other contact surfaces used to manufacture, package, label, or hold components or dietary supplements.

(1) Equipment and utensils must be taken apart as necessary for thorough maintenance, cleaning, and sanitizing.

(2) You must ensure that all contact surfaces, used for manufacturing or holding low-moisture components or dietary supplements, are in a dry and sanitary condition when in use. When the surfaces are wet-cleaned, they must be sanitized, when necessary, and thoroughly dried before subsequent use.

(3) If you use wet processing during manufacturing, you must clean and sanitize all contact surfaces, as necessary, to protect against the introduction of microorganisms into components or dietary supplements. When cleaning and sanitizing is necessary, you must clean and sanitize all contact surfaces before use and after any interruption during which the contact surface may have become contaminated. If you use contact surfaces in a continuous production operation or in consecutive operations involving different batches of the same dietary supplement, you must adequately clean and sanitize the contact surfaces, as necessary.

(4) You must clean surfaces that do not come into direct contact with components or dietary supplements as frequently as necessary to protect against contaminating components or dietary supplements.

(5) Single-service articles (such as utensils intended for one-time use, paper cups, and paper towels) must be:

(i) Stored in appropriate containers; and

(ii) Handled, dispensed, used, and disposed of in a manner that protects against contamination of components, dietary supplements, or any contact surface.

(6) Cleaning compounds and sanitizing agents must be adequate for their intended use and safe under their conditions of use;

(7) You must store cleaned and sanitized portable equipment and utensils that have contact surfaces in a location and manner that protects them from contamination.

[72 FR 34942, June 25, 2007, as amended at 73 FR 13124, Mar. 12, 2008]

Sec. 111.30 What requirements apply to automated, mechanical, or electronic equipment?

For any automated, mechanical, or electronic equipment that you use to manufacture, package, label, or hold a dietary supplement, you must:

(a) Design or select equipment to ensure that dietary supplement specifications are consistently met;

(b) Determine the suitability of the equipment by ensuring that your equipment is capable of operating satisfactorily within the operating limits required by the process;

(c) Routinely calibrate, inspect, or check the equipment to ensure proper performance. Your quality control personnel must periodically review these calibrations, inspections, or checks;

(d) Establish and use appropriate controls for automated, mechanical, and electronic equipment (including software for a computer controlled process) to ensure that any changes to the manufacturing, packaging, labeling, holding, or other operations are approved by quality control personnel and instituted only by authorized personnel; and

(e) Establish and use appropriate controls to ensure that the equipment functions in accordance with its intended use. These controls must be approved by quality control personnel.

Sec. 111.35 Under this subpart D, what records must you make and keep?

(a) You must make and keep records required under this subpart D in accordance with subpart P of this part.

(b) You must make and keep the following records:

(1) Written procedures for fulfilling the requirements of this subpart, including written procedures for:

(i) Calibrating instruments and controls that you use in manufacturing or testing a component or dietary supplement;

(ii) Calibrating, inspecting, and checking automated, mechanical, and electronic equipment; and

(iii) Maintaining, cleaning, and sanitizing, as necessary, all equipment, utensils, and any other contact surfaces that are used to manufacture, package, label, or hold components or dietary supplements;

(2) Documentation, in individual equipment logs, of the date of the use, maintenance, cleaning, and sanitizing of equipment, unless such documentation is kept with the batch record;

(3) Documentation of any calibration, each time the calibration is performed, for instruments and controls that you use in manufacturing or testing a component or dietary supplement. In your documentation, you must:

(i) Identify the instrument or control calibrated;

(ii) Provide the date of calibration;

(iii) Identify the reference standard used including the certification of accuracy of the known reference standard and a history of recertification of accuracy;

(iv) Identify the calibration method used, including appropriate limits for accuracy and precision of instruments and controls when calibrating;

(v) Provide the calibration reading or readings found;

(vi) Identify the recalibration method used, and reading or readings found, if accuracy or precision or both accuracy and precision limits for instruments and controls were not met; and

(vii) Include the initials of the person who performed the calibration and any recalibration.

(4) Written records of calibrations, inspections, and checks of automated, mechanical, and electronic equipment;

(5) Backup file(s) of current software programs (and of outdated software that is necessary to retrieve records that you are required to keep in accordance with subpart P of this part, when current software is not able to retrieve such records) and of data entered into computer systems that you use to manufacture, package, label, or hold dietary supplements.

(i) Your backup file (e.g., a hard copy of data you have entered, diskettes, tapes, microfilm, or compact disks) must be an exact and complete record of the data you entered.

(ii) You must keep your backup software programs and data secure from alterations, inadvertent erasures, or loss; and

(6) Documentation of the controls that you use to ensure that equipment functions in accordance with its intended use.

Authority: 21 U.S.C. 321, 342, 343, 371, 374, 381, 393; 42 U.S.C. 264.
Source: 72 FR 34942, June 25, 2007, unless otherwise noted.