Sanitation What is Sanitation? Sanitation must be a top priority for food processing facilities, because it helps protect public health as well as preserve product quality. Countries and localities across the globe have a wide range of sanitary requirements for food processing plants.1 When facilities make a consistent effort to meet sanitation standards, [...]
Sanitary Design What is sanitary design? Sanitary design is a set of standards and conditions related to food hygiene. Food plants use sanitary design to prevent physical, chemical, and biological contamination of food. It is a prerequisite program that makes it easier to perform all the tasks within a food plant. Sanitary [...]
Recall What is a Recall? A recall is a corrective action taken by a company or by regulatory agencies to remove tainted products from distributors’ inventories, store shelves, and consumer kitchens.1 Establishing a recall program is part of a food safety management program. Food companies are at risk of recall due the following:1 [...]
Quality Assurance What is Quality Assurance? Quality Assurance (QA) is a set of activities used by food companies to ensure that the process by which products are developed and produced meets a set of standards and specifications. The goal of QA is to prevent defects with a focus on the process used [...]
Physical Foreign Materials What are Physical Foreign Materials? A physical foreign material is anything that does not belong in the food product. These substances can be classified as food safety hazards or quality and consumer complaint issues.1 Some examples of physical foreign materials are: Stones Metals Brittle plastics Wood [...]
Personnel Practices What are Personnel Practices? Personnel practices are a set of conditions and measures followed by employees (especially front line production personnel) to prevent contamination to food products.1 Relevance Personnel are a key element in a food facility. They work with sensitive materials: bulk dry and liquid ingredients, food [...]
Peanuts are one of the top 8 allergens common in the food industry. Peanut Allergy What is a Peanut Allergy? Peanut allergies are the third most common food allergy in the United States, and is also one of the most dangerous. Evidence suggests an estimated 80% of all fatal or [...]
Outside Grounds Program What is an outside grounds program? An outside grounds program for food facilities helps to reduce airborne contaminants, prevent pest infestations, remove waste effectively, and promote proper landscaping. Such a program is vital for maintaining a sanitary food facility. It also helps facilities prepare for both scheduled and unexpected [...]
Operational Methods What are operational methods? Operational methods address the practices that personnel in a food manufacturing facility follow to prevent food safety issues. They provide the guidelines for a program that will reduce the risk of cross-contamination. Cross-contamination can occur when employees move from one area of production to another, or [...]
Microbial Control Program What is a Microbial Control Program? A microbial control program plays a key role in controlling pathogenic microorganisms in food.1 The goal of microbial control is to identify food safety risks due to pathogenic microorganisms present in food manufacturing. A successful program is based on prevention, inhibition, and removal of [...]
