HACCP HELPS YOU TO WORK UNDER GOOD HYGIENIC PRACTICES
HACCP helps you to work under Good Hygienic Practices
GOOD HYGIENE PRACTICES IN THE FOOD SECTOR
Before you start working with a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system in your organization, it is essential that you take into account the good hygiene practices that are considered as prerequisites for the HACCP system, in this article you will be able to analyze some of them:
Primary production:
Good hygienic practices should start in the fields or in the hatcheries, where you should provide all the necessary measures to ensure that safe food is being produced, i.e. that it does not present a danger to humans.
Design and construction of the facilities:
Buildings, facilities and equipment should be designed and constructed to minimize the potential for food contamination.
Different actions should be taken to prevent the entry of pests into the food plant. These measures will depend on the environment where your plant is located and its operations, which will determine the type and quantity of pests to be treated.
Both your machinery and the different process areas, including cold rooms, must be designed according to the food being processed, allowing adequate maintenance, cleaning and inspection; floors, walls, partitions, doors and windows must be smooth surfaces that allow cleaning and disinfection activities to be carried out correctly.
Operations control:
To ensure that the food produced in your organization is free of danger to consumers, all the phases of the process must be analyzed, trying to identify the importance of each one and the maintenance of food safety.
Once the fundamental phases for obtaining safe food have been identified, effective control procedures must be established; these procedures must be monitored and the results recorded and analyzed.
One of the basic controls in the food industry is the control of times and temperatures; errors in the control of these parameters are the most frequent causes of foodborne diseases in the world.
Another basic control for the food sector corresponds to microbiology, a tool of great help for you to determine the effectiveness of the actions that were performed during the process to obtain safe food.
Different measures must be taken to ensure that those who come into direct or indirect contact with food cannot contaminate it, such as maintaining an adequate degree of personal cleanliness, in addition, operators must have clean and specially designed and designated clothing according to their function. Street clothes should not enter your food plant.
There should be published, disseminated and designed food plant entry procedures based on the identified hazards, according to the type of process and products; which at least will include a complete hand washing with disinfectant soap and a system for drying hands.
Cleaning and pest control:
Your cleaning operations should remove food residues and dirt that can support microbial growth and contaminate food. The procedures for these operations should be designed according to the nature of your product and the type of processes.
Cleaning and sanitizing chemicals should be stored in a separate warehouse and always properly identified. Cleaning instructions should be developed together with the manufacturer and always be visible.
A basic cleaning procedure includes first the dragging of the dirt; then the application of detergents that should be given a time of action before starting the mechanical activity, to release the dirt particles; finally the machines or surfaces should be rinsed to ensure that no dirt, detergents or disinfectants remain.
If you wish to obtain more information or start your HACCP certification process, contact QAlliance, we can help you meet your objectives by providing a personalized and quality service.