Industrial Facility Safety: The Most Important Components for Food Processing Facility
Food hygiene, also referred to as food safety, is the handling, preparation, and storage of drinks or foods to reduce the danger of injuries and consumers getting sick from food-related diseases.
From the farm to the plate, food products can encounter different health hazards, and safe handling should be emphasized at every stage of the product life cycle. As a scientific discipline, food safety draws from many schools of thought, including engineering, chemistry, and microbiology. With this in focus, ensuring that food is safe for consumption is an integral part of food processing, and we are going to take a closer look at it.
A Brief about Food Safety Regulations
As markets become more globalized, food products are some of the most traded commodities on the globe. Consequently, every country has its safety legislation and enforcement measures. In the United States, food safety is enforced by the Food Safety Modernization Act, while Regulation (EC) 852 is used in Europe. ISO 22000 is also dedicated to food safety and details proactive management plans relevant for any organization in the food supply chain. When reading food safety regulations, it is important also to understand the following related principles:
- Corporate responsibility.
- Traceability.
- Official food controls.
- Precautionary principle.
- Independent risk assessment.
- Transparent risk communication.
The Most Important Components of Food Safety
There are many components that you need to consider when processing food and we are going to list the main ones:
Facility Location
The location and design of your food processing facility should be taken into account to ensure the food meets all the safety standards. This means that even before installing the processing facilities, such as motors and conveyor belts, you need to do a comprehensive assessment of the area. For example, areas that are prone to pollution should be avoided to help keep the danger of contamination low.
Machinery and Production Unit Design
The layout of your production line should make it easy to maintain and clean the machinery. The design of the machinery, from material handling to packaging, used in processing food should comply with both the US and international legislations. For example, you might want to follow the NSF equipment design standard to ensure that food processing in your facility is done to the highest possible standards.
Waste Management
Your food handling safety cannot be complete without a clear waste management system. Therefore, you should have the right waste containers and appropriate waste storage areas. In addition, you need to have an elaborate procedure for waste removal from your facility to reduce the danger of build-up and contamination.
Staff Training
Installing the right industrial equipment is not enough to make food processing safe. In addition, you need to educate staff on using the right food safety practices to lower the risk of contamination. Indeed, food handling regulations require food handlers to be trained on food hygiene. The areas to give focus when training staff include:
- Hand hygiene.
- Pest control.
- Safe food handling practices.
- Safe storage practices.
- Cleaning for food safety.
If you want to be successful as a food processing entrepreneur, manager, or professional, the bulk of your effort must be directed at food safety. From the location of your facility to equipment selection and maintenance, you need to keep the risk of contamination, the danger of injury, and diseases to consumers low. Remember also to maintain your facility in top condition, follow new guidelines on safety and upgrade the safety in line with applicable policies.