It
doesn’t matter how great your confections look or taste if your business does
not place an emphasis on food safety and quality control. This week’s blog post
identifies four ways to ensure the safety and quality of your products with
practices that you could start today.
Identify Risks
To best prevent
potential hazards during the making of any food products, it is important to
identify areas of potential risk. Create a Hazard Analysis of Critical Control
Points (HACCP) plan to prevent biological, chemical and physical hazards during
the production process that could cause a threat to food safety. RCI members,
login to watch a video on how to properly identify potential risks and develop
an effective HACCP plan in the past education presentation, A Practical Approach to HACCP Planning
(click link to view).
Train Employees on Proper Hygiene
“Proper
hand hygiene is the food [manufacturer’s] first line of defense against food
contamination,” said Jim Grubb of GOJO Industries. “Bacteria, viruses, and
parasites can be transmitted from person to person and from persons to food, so
health and hygiene of the workforce is extremely important,” (Quality
Assurance Magazine).
When identifying
areas for potential risk effecting food safety, it is important to also look at
current staff hygiene procedures. Since poor employee hygiene practices can lead
to contamination, don’t assume staff members are washing their hands properly
and at the appropriate times. Common problems with employee hygiene practices
include poor hand washing practices, not washing at the right location in comparison
to the production areas; manual sinks that are not kept clean; using cold water
temperatures for hand washing and a poor overall food safety culture. Click here
for tools and resources to train your staff on proper hand washing.
Use Both Wet and Dry-Cleaning Methods
Did you know limiting the use of
water is one of the primary means of controlling pathogens in low moisture food
establishments (foodprotection.org)? You are
probably already using wet cleaning and sanitation methods which utilizes water
and/or detergents to remove residue. When wet cleaning, it is extremely
important that even the nooks and crannies of machinery is dry, because it is
in these hard-to-reach places where bacteria can be difficult to remove and
when water is present bacteria can grow.
The benefit to employing dry
cleaning and sanitation methods, is that it allows you to remove food residue
with little or no water application, significantly reducing the opportunity for
bacterial growth. Dry cleaning can be as simple as surface cleaning with a vacuum
or alcohol-based wipes. More detailed cleaning may be performed with a steam
cleaner or dry ice cleaner.
When determining which method of
cleaning is best, it is important to assess the risk level of the area in need
of cleaning. Different areas of your facility may have a different level of
risk, just as different ingredients would. It is important to understand what
you are trying to remove when cleaning or sanitizing different work stations.
According to Quality
Assurance Magazine, it is essential to ensure all products used to
clean and sanitize food-contact surfaces are approved by the Environment Protection
Agency (EPA) in addition to being verified and validated.
Collect Retention Samples
It is
important to know and understand the shelf life of your products and collecting
retention samples is the best way to test product limitations, so you can
adjust recipe formulations if issues arise or advise customers on the best
timeframe to enjoy your products.
When
testing the shelf life of your product, variables, like packaging, must remain
the same. For example, when testing your products, make sure they are stored in
the same packaging they would be sold in. If they are shrink wrapped before
selling (which is highly recommended), shrink wrap the product before storing
them for testing. Anticipate how your customers would store your products, if
not consumed right away. Would they store them in the refrigerator or in the
pantry? Consider a reasonable length of time a consumer may store your products
before consuming them. If you are unsure, ask a small group of loyal customers
or friends and family.
Over time,
enlist experienced tasters (this could be staff members or, again, frequent
customers) to review your products for consistency and quality. If you run into
issues with product quality, RCI members can login to
pose questions to fellow members on RCI’s online forum, List Serve.
This week’s tips may require extra
work, however, the benefits of taking a proactive approach to quality assurance
often outweigh the risks of not practicing such precautions. Comment below on practices
your company employs to help ensure your products are consistently safe for
consumption.
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