Food & Beverage Processing - Products Page 3

Tips on Sanitation in Food Processing Plant

Make the Hard decisions
Don’t be afraid to make unpopular decisions. Food poisoning outbreaks can appear in any part of the food chain – from the manufacturing process through to restaurants and the home. If you work in the food processing industry and you think equipment has been compromised don’t be afraid to make the call and stop a production run. It might cost some downtime, or even plant replacement. However, the alternative could be not only the loss of a customer and damage to your reputation, but in extreme cases loss of life.

Keep the maintenance department in the loop
Too often the maintenance department is ignored. Planned maintenance not only saves on unnecessary downtime, but can bring up unforeseen issues that might have been missed if maintenance had not been scheduled.

Make sure all bases are covered
It’s not enough to have well-kept and clean equipment inside the processing plant. You must make sure that the area and surrounds are kept clean, too. What are your processes for off-cuts? For wastage? Are there processes in place whereby rubbish and waste products are disposed of in a sanitary manner? If you have a lax attitude towards these kinds of issues, it leads to sloppy best practices, which could come back to haunt you during inspection time.

Being preventative is proactive
Similar to keeping the maintenance team in the loop, it’s good to have a preventative program. Again, it might cost a little downtime and money, but could also save money in the long run. This not only includes making sure equipment is kept in top-notch condition, but also dealing with pests that are attracted to food processing factories.