Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 7.3
(continued
)
Factor
Hazard
Control
Shelf life
Growth of psychrotrophic
pathogens e.g.,
Listeria
monocytogenes
,
Clostridium
botulinum
in perishable chilled
foods due to exceeding shelf life
Stock management systems in storage
to monitor shelf life of incoming
deliveries and rotation within depot.
Physical
Infestation
Contamination of food with
insects and rodent/bird
droppings
Design, fabrication and proofi ng of
depot, e.g. concrete perimeter to deter
external pests, elevated loading bays,
strip curtains to prevent fl ying pests.
Doors, walls and fl oors fully sealed to
prevent nesting. Product stored on
racking and pallets to allow easy
access for cleaning. Clean as you go
for spillages. Electronic fl y killers at
entrances, bait and activity monitors,
sited in consultation with a pest
control expert.
7.5
Receipt and in Store Storage
The delivery of goods to a store should be considered to represent an important food
safety step. It provides an opportunity to ensure that major food safety controls have
been in place during storage and transportation and that gross signs of contamination
are not evident. Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (Anon.
2004a
) stipulates that “a food
business operator is not to accept raw materials or ingredients, other than live animals,
or any other material used in processing products, if they are known to be, or might
reasonably be expected to be, contaminated with parasites, pathogenic microorgan-
isms or toxic, decomposed or foreign substances to such an extent that, even after the
food business operator had hygienically applied normal sorting and/or preparatory or
processing procedures, the fi nal product would be unfi t for human consumption”.
Therefore, all retail businesses should have provisions in place for incoming
deliveries. They should be visually checked to ensure that received products are
intact, i.e., no split bags, free from external contamination or signs of infestation,
e.g., bird and rodent droppings and, where appropriate, the temperature of the deliv-
ery is within specifi ed limits, i.e., for chilled foods. In the latter case, this may be
through inspection of the vehicle air temperature gauge or by monitoring between
pack temperatures. Such checks should be documented and, in the UK, this is
important for the purposes of demonstrating due diligence as defi ned in the Food
Safety Act (1990) (Anon.
1990
).
Loading bays for retail outlets also offer similar pest control challenges as those
detailed for depots, and similar mitigation strategies should be employed for man-
agement of such risks (see Sect.
7.4.3.1
).
