Pistachio - The Complete Flavour and Fragrance software solution

Introduction

This module is designed to store all the static information pertaining to raw materials such as physical properties, code numbers and regulatory information. A Raw material is any ingredient or additive that is used in the manufacture of food or cosmetics. They could be aroma chemicals, preservatives, solvents, etc. This database is a cornerstone of the Pistachio system as it contains information which is required for many key functions in the organisation including R&D, Purchasing, Production, Quality Control, Regulatory documentation. For example, the Raw Material Database feeds the Formulation Development module, it provides the specifications required by purchasing and quality control departments as well as the regulatory information required for the Regulatory Documentation module.

Pistachio's Raw Material database comes preloaded with 1000+ Aroma chemicals providing key data like FEMA, CAS, legal status, etc. Pistachio can also integrate with the USDA database of some 6000+ ingredients and nutrients. Pistachio also supports the import of data from hazards database, IFRA, the EU Allergen database (including support for capture of allergens present in essential oils), etc.
Your company's own raw material database can also be migrated to Pistachio using a simple raw material code mapping between the systems.

Alternatively if organizations want the database to contain only their existing raw material data, the database can be provided blank ready for import.
Permissions control who can view/edit raw material information.

Database Navigation

From the "Raw Material" menu, click on 'Search' as shown in figure 1:

Figure 1

To locate a particular material you can either:

In the search field, enter the raw material (RM) name (first part of name is often sufficient) or code you want to locate, as shown in Figure 2. Note this is a free search so you can search on codes, FEMA no. or whatever data point is on top of you mind and Pistachio will return the record (as long as that data point has been recorded).
Scroll down the list (which can be sorted by code, description of any other field simply by clicking on the field heading)

Once you have located the specific raw material, you can open the complete RM record by simply clicking on the code (first column) or by clicking the edit

icon as shown in figure 2:

Figure 2

The RM data is organized under the following Tab Headers as displayed in figure 3: General / Properties / Regulatory / Suppliers / Costing / Attachments/. Each of these data sets will be discussed and displayed in turn below.

General tab

This tab allows you to view or record information such as the RM code, name, legal status, CAS number, FEMA number, etc.

Figure 3

Code

This field identifies a raw material uniquely. The field can be entered manually or auto generated. Pistachio can auto generate a unique auto increment code and also attach a prefix to the code. The prefix can be any string you desire such as "RM", "ING" (for ingredient) etc. The first code will then be "RM1", the next "RM2" etc. You can also configure prefix for the raw material types you configure. So if you configure raw material type as food additive then its prefix can be configured as "FA", etc.

To configure prefixes go to "Global Options" by clicking on the "Configure" menu. Navigate to the "General" tab and click on the 'Product and Raw Material Prefix Settings' link as shown in figure 4:

Configure raw material code gneration prefix

Figure 4

'Prefix for': This field determines if the prefix setting is for a Rm (Raw material) or Product .
The 'Type' determies the prefix to be set for the Raw material. If the Raw material type is left blank as in the last record in the example above then it would apply to raw materials created without selecting any type
Prefixis any text you type to identify the raw material easily.
The 'No of digits' is the padding to be given to improve readability. Example "RM00001" where '0000' is the 4 digit padding.

Note: Once a code is generated it cannot be edited or changed. This is done as it is a very critical reference in formulation and all regulatory implementation. Any change in code will lead to confusion.

Name

This is the name of the raw material you choose for internal reference, as shown in figure 3.

Chemical name

As shown in figure 3, enter this name so that the raw material can can be referenced correctly in regulatory documents such as IFRA, MSDS, etc.

Printed name

As shown in figure 3, enter this name so that the raw material can can be referenced correctly in food regulation documents such as ingredient delcaration etc.

Type

This is probably the most powerful feature of Pistachio's ability to manage your raw material data. Pistachio allows you to define raw material types and sub types (called functional classes) for any raw material, as shown in figure 3. The type of the raw material can determine the properties you would need to track and quality control for the raw material.
Pistachio internally defines the following raw material types which you may choose to associate your type with:

Food Additive
Food/Food Ingredients
Non Food Additive

Raw materials can be created without associating the above internal types. For example, you may define packaging material as a raw material type. Associating with the internal types gives regulation support when Pistachio scans formualtion for compliance checks.

To configure types go to "Global Options" via the "Configure" menu and navigate to the 'RM' tab and click on the 'Customize RM Type' link as shown in figure 5:

Configuring raw material types

Figure 5

Functional class

Functional class appears based on the type of raw material selected i.e. it is context sensitive. If no functional classes are configured for a raw material type then the functional class field does not appear. Functional classes can be configured and attached to raw material types and will appear in the GUI as shown in figure 3.

To configure Functional Classes, go to "Global Options" via the "Configure" menu and navigate to the 'RM' tab and click on the 'Functional Class' link as shown in figure 6:

Configuring raw material functional classes

Figure 6

Tags help identify any special meaning for a functional class. Example: Pistachio will use the internal Tag 'Solvent' when selected for the user defined functional class 'solvent' to auto determine the solubility of a product.

CAS, CAS2, FEMA, etc

As shown in figure 3, these fields are used to accurately identify a material. More fields can be defined under the "Properties" tab of the raw material database as required. Users can also search on these fields directly when searching for a raw material.

Legal Status

As shown in figure 3, the Legal Status of a raw material is if the material is natural, artificial or nature identical. This can be configured based on your country regulation requirement.

To configure Legal Status, go to "Global Options" via the "Configure" menu and navigate to the 'Product' tab and click on the 'Legal Status' link as shown in figure 7:

Configure raw material legal status

Figure 7

The reason it appears under product is that Legal status also applies to products. The "Display in" field is internal and is applicable in project creation context. [The internal 'Tag' field when associated will allow Pistachio to auto determine the legal status of the product by scanning the legal status of individual raw materials that appear in the formulation.]

Description

As shown in figure 3, this field can be used to describe the material or enter notes about the raw material.

Synonym(s)

These are alternate trade or chemical names of the material. Pistachio can also search for a raw material on this field.

Transports/Hazards

This allows you to track the UN number, Hazchem code and Packaging groups of hazardous substances. Hazard name is picked up automatically based on the entered UN number.

Properties tab

The "Properties" tab as shown in figure 8, allows you to view or record the physical properties of RMs such as refractive index, appearance, etc. The list of properties displayed can be customised for your organisation using the Global Options module. This data can be later used in raw material quality control when raw materials are purchased.
Raw material properties tab

Figure 8

Pistachio does not define any properties. Pistachio gives users complete control to configure the properties required for a raw material type. Properties should be defined in "Global Options" in the following two steps:

The first step is to define the required properties
Next associate these properties to raw material types

The required properties can be defined as shown in figure 9:

Defining raw material properties

Figure 9

Property Data Types

Pistachio supports the following property data types:

Numeric

Example

Numeric Without Operator

Example

Range

Example

Range With Unit

Example

Range With Unit and Condition

Example

Text field

Example

Select Field

Example

To specify the possible values for a select field follow figure 10:

Configuring select field values

Figure 10

Boolean Radio button

Example

Boolean Checkbox

Example

Regulatory tab

As shown in figure 11, the "Regulatory" tab allows you to view or record regulatory information such as hazards, IFRA specs, nutritional values, etc. The information stored here is used to generate regulatory documentation after the formulation is scanned.

Hazards tab

Figure 11

This data is used for MSDS generation. When a formula is scanned Pistachio applies summation and direct concentration rules to determine the final risk and hazard data for the product.

IFRA Specs Tab

As shown in figure 12, the "IFRA Specs" tab captures the IFRA specification. This data can be easily updated based on the changing ammendments of IFRA. Pistachio scans the formula and checks if any of the raw material is above the IFRA cut-off or if it is prohbited material.

IFRA specification in raw material

Figure 12

Nutritional Tab

This is the place to store nutrition data for the raw material. Pistachio will use this data when generating nutrition statement for a product using this raw material.

Nutrition specification in raw material

Figure 13

All the nutrition properties that appear above are fully configurable under "Global Options"

Component (GC) Tab

The "Component (GC)" tab is used to store the components of the raw material. Example: Oil components as shown in figure 14. Pistachio will use this data when generating cosmetic allergen and IFRA regulation data. (Note: The component total need not total to 100%.)

GC specification in raw material

Figure 14

Food Allergen Tab

This tab is used to store the food allergens of the raw material as shown in figure 15:

Food allergen specification in raw material

Figure 15

The food allergens can be defined globally based on your regulatory requirements. To define and configure Food Allergens for your organization, follow figure 16:

Food allergen configuration in raw material

Food allergen configuration in raw material

Figure 16

Others Tab

The "Others" tab is used to store information such as Kosher, Halal, GMO, Non Vegan certified or suitable etc, as shown in figure 17:

others_tab

Figure 17

Suppliers tab

The "Suppliers" tab allows you to track all the available suppliers for the raw material and their respective costs. Suppliers can also be rated based on your approval procedure. This list is automatically maintained for you based on your raw material purchase records (See Managing suppliers and purchase batches for more details)

Figure 18

Attachments tab

This tab allows you to view or upload any relevant RM document (e.g. a product specification or MSDS from an approved supplier or any other technical information)

Figure 19

Security

Only authorized personnel can access the raw material database. The following permissions are defined: View, Create, Edit, Delete. To configure permissions define a suitable role and grant permissions to that role. Under "Global Options" navigate to the "General" tab and access the "Roles" link. Then assign the desired users to the role.