Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Finished products are usually stored at refrigerator temperatures between 2.2-5 °C
(36-41°F) to protect quality and to provide some protection against the growth of
pathogenic bacteria. Every effort should be made to maintain the temperature through-
out the supply chain to control quality and safety. In addition, cold storage rooms,
packaging materials, and truck trailers should be inspected for cleanliness and to verify
the absence of chemicals, condensate, or other substances that might contaminate the
product. Inspections should be conducted for every load of product and noted in ship-
ping records.
Facility and Equipment Sanitation
It should be the goals of any sanitation plan in a food-processing environment
to prevent the introduction of hazards (chemical, physical, and microbiological)
into the environment and to control hazards during production and sanitation shifts.
When designing a fresh-cut operation, sanitation should be a critical consideration at
every step of the process. A checklist can be used in the planning phase so the entire
project addresses sanitation and the prevention of contamination. The “
Food Safety
Guidelines for the Fresh-cut Produce Industry
” (Gorny 2001) has an extensive 15-
page checklist that would be invaluable to anyone taking on the design of a new
facility or the refurbishment of an existing building for the production of fresh- cut
produce.
Beyond the initial design, a facility needs a fi rm foundation for a comprehensive
sanitation plan to be established that will assure continued control or removal of
potential pathogens and other hazards during production. There are several parts to
this foundation and they include a Master Sanitation Plan, internal inspections by
management, Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs), a designated crew
trained for sanitation procedures, a program to control the use and storage of chemi-
cals, and a documented pest control program. If all of these parts are solid, a fi rm
foundation is created to establish an effective sanitation program.
Master Sanitation Plan (MSP)
After the facility is up and running, a Master Sanitation Plan (MSP) needs to be
developed that covers daily, weekly, monthly, and annual sanitation tasks so that all
areas of the facility are cleaned on a regular basis. The wet environment of a fresh-cut
plant can become host to microbiological contamination, if it is not regularly cleaned
thoroughly and properly. The MSP serves as a reminder of what needs to be done and
when to schedule that task. All cleaning tasks should be identifi ed on a checklist. On
this checklist, the person who does the cleaning should initial, date, and note anything
out of place that needs to be addressed with corrective actions to improve sanitation.
In addition to the checklists for the people who actually do the cleaning, management
should conduct several inspections over time to make sure the facility is properly
cleaned.
Internal Inspections
Inspections are important for a management team to continually fi nd ways to improve
sanitation. During a team inspection, an interactive discussion puts everyone on the
