Cleanliness and hygiene in food production is a high stakes consideration. It’s not just about business risk, there are also legal obligations and the very real possibility of harming people through your actions, that’s why it’s important to never leave anything to chance in your food production area.
The Australian and New Zealand Food Standards programs integrate a point system that is internationally known as HACCP, or the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point System.
Widely accepted around the world as the most effective system for managing and reducing the risk of safety hazards in the production, manufacture, storage and preparation of food products, The Seven Principles of HACCP can assist in the following:
Clean equipment is essential in the production, preparation and manufacture of food. Negligence can lead to cross contamination, bacteria build and up and shorter lifecycles for machinery and tools. Follow these steps to ensure your equipment remains clean, hygienic and up to standard:
Regardless of whether a person is working on the factory floor, transporting food, or visiting the production area for some other reason, all should follow strict hygiene guidelines to ensure the safe handling of food. These include:
Effective cleaning and sanitisation relies on good workplace procedures in the following areas:
Maintaining high level operational hygiene is key to any food production area.
Poorly cleaned work areas greatly increase risks to both the business, staff members and customers of a food production businesses, as these two case studies highlight:
One of Australia’s most popular alcoholic beverages, beer production relies on yeast for the fermentation process. However, microorganisms have the potential to cause microbial spoilage in the production process. Some of the microorganisms that you might find in spoiled beer include:
Bacteria can disrupt the fermentation process, causing expensive spoilage and the creation of unwanted byproducts. Even more concerning, these microorganisms can survive the production process and be contained in the finished product, risking the health of consumers.
Raw meat and poultry products that are mishandled or used in unclean environments are at significant risk from pathogens like E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter and Yersinia, all of which can cause problems, including:
Most meat is stored raw, to be cooked later after delivery. Clean working environments are essential, and food production areas that use raw meat should be cleaned and disinfected at every change to prevent cross contamination.
Food Safety Magazine outlines 5 key steps for cleaning and sanitising factory areas and food preparation machinery:
There are many factors you should know about when cleaning food manufacturing and production areas.
If you’re unsure about any of these principals, talk to a professional factory cleaner about how these principals benefit your food safety and cleanliness.
If you run a food manufacturing factory, it’s imperative that your premises is professionally cleaned, daily, with the highest quality equipment. Make Alphaclean your first point of call for your professional cleaning equipment needs.