Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The risk categories could be divided into thirds, much as a traffi c signal is designed.
For instance, red would indicate high risk, yellow for medium risk, and green for low
risk. The highest-risk commodities would be identifi ed with red labels and would
demand the highest food safety attention. The risk assessment system should be
applied throughout the entire line of production.
Worker Hygiene
When it comes to preventing microbiological contamination of fresh-cut produce,
there are several major sources of microbial contaminants that should be considered:
animals in the fi elds, soil, water, equipment, and people. In the United States, good
manufacturing practices (GMPs, see U.S. FDA 2007) are part of the regulations that
the FDA has established for all food-manufacturing facilities. These mandatory
minimum standards serve to identify subjects to cover in employee training programs.
Everyone who works with the product needs education about the risks and potential
sources of microbiological contaminants, as well as training on the measures that can
be used to prevent and control that contamination.
Common and standard practices to prevent contamination from employees include,
but are not limited to, workers wearing hairnets, beard covers, lab coats, and gloves
to prevent incidental contamination in the food-handling environment. Workers also
wear goggles for eye protection and protective footwear to ensure their own safety in
these environments. Management will further focus on individuals who exhibit
outward symptoms of injury or contagious disease and prevent them from working in
the production environment. Employees should be trained not to come to work with
these kinds of problems, and they will be visually checked for open wounds, coughing,
diarrhea, and other symptoms that may indicate they have a contagious disease or the
possibility of transmitting infected bodily fl uids to the food or other workers before
they are allowed to enter the production area.
Employee Training in GMPs
Food safety training must be conducted for all newly hired employees from the owner
to the janitor. Thereafter, food safety training should be conducted on a regular basis
throughout the year as a refresher. Regular hand washing is the number one habit that
all employees should practice to prevent the spread of germs from their bodies to the
product. Proper hand-washing techniques could be demonstrated in person, videos, or
pictures. Employees should also be instructed about daily bathing habits and the need
for clean clothes in a food-processing environment. It may be surprising to discover
that large numbers of people do not know this information.
In keeping with the risk analysis mentioned so far, employees can also be sources
of physical or chemical contaminants, so they should be trained and made aware of
appropriate practices to protect the product. For instance, FDA's GMPs do not allow
jewelry in the processing plant because it can become a physical contaminant if
dropped into the product. Employees benefi t by not wearing jewelry—they won't lose
valued personal property or risk physical harm from possible entanglement with a
piece of equipment.
