Frequently Asked Questions

Sponge flour is treated with chlorine gas to provide the desired process and product characteristics required for cake manufacture. No other flour produced by Ben Furney Flour Mills is treated or contains any performance additives other than the mandatory Thiamine and Folic Acid additions for bread making flour required by legislation.

Although a number of products are made from grain or ingredients which do not naturally contain gluten they cannot be declared gluten free as wheaten flours are produced on the same site.

All grain and flour products are produced from locally grown grain therefore they can be classified as “Product of Australia”. Our TVP range is produced from imported soy meal therefore these products are classified as “Made in Australia from Imported & Local Ingredients”.

TVP or Textured Vegetable Protein is made from defatted soy meal in our extrusion plant. It is perfect for use as a meat extender in pies and sausage rolls or as a protein/meat replacer in vegetarian applications. When hydrated it absorbs approximately 3 times it’s weight in water therefore any addition to a mix must allow for this additional liquid requirement.

Yes – To obtain product specifications or Food & Grocery Council PIF forms please contact QA on 02 6884 4399 or qa@benfurney.com.

To allow simple computer tracking the batch date is also the Best Before date and is either printed or stamped on each package in the reverse format YYMMDD or YYYYMMDD. For product manufactured on the 25/07/2014 with a 6 month shelf life the batch/best before date will show as 150125 i.e. Best Before date of 25/01/2015. This batch number will also be printed on the invoice with the number of packages from that batch.

A Best Before date is a recommendation only and is used for stable products that do not generally pose a food safety risk. As a recommendation only a Best Before date does not mean the product becomes unsuitable for use and any later use or the shelf life for products produced from the product prior to the Best Before date should be based on your own assessment of the specific product or use. A Use By date is used for perishable items where use after the nominated date may pose a food safety risk. It is illegal to sell products after there nominated Use By date. Our products are classified low risk and therefore utilize the Best Before recommendation only.

Flour and grains are very stable products suitable for use over a long time period however as these products are naturally attractive to insects and rodents a 6 months recommended shelf life when stored in cool dry conditions has been found to be a realistic time frame for use and assistance to stock rotation.

As crumb products are based on flour and grains a 6 month shelf life is recommended. TVP however is manufactured from soy meal and is less susceptible therefore a 12 month shelf life is recommended. Bacon Flavoured Chips and Sprinkles, although TVP based, are flavoured which reduces the expected shelf life therefore the recommended shelf life of these products is reduced to 6 months.

Once a product has been delivered to a customer it is no longer within our control. For this reason we will not extend the shelf life of a product which has been supplied to a customer. If this is required the customer needs to assess the product based on their own criteria and expected use.

A Certificate of Conformance can be supplied for orders or on request. If this is required please notify our Sales representative and supply an email address so this can be recorded for future deliveries. A Certificate of Analysis can be provided dependant on the type of analysis required but needs to be requested and organized with Sales and the QA Manager in advance of the order to ensure any lead times due to testing can be organized.