Home > Guide to Color-coding in Food Industry

The advantages of color-coding:

• You minimize the risk of your products becoming contaminated with microorganisms, allergens, or foreign bodies by separating steps, sections, and areas in the food production process.
• You reduce the risk and cost of product rejection and recall as there is a lower risk of cross-contamination in your finished products.
• You speed up your processes by ensuring equipment is easy to locate and kept in the right place. This approach is also in line with the HACCP principles on monitoring and checking.
• You help remove misunderstandings. A color-coding system is easy to understand and learn – irrespective of language skills.
• You improve safety by promoting a culture that encourages employees to take ownership of their equipment and work zones.
• You extend the service life of your equipment by ensuring it is stored correctly on hooks, hangers, or shadow boards.
• You reduce costs linked to replacing equipment, because it lasts longer.
• You reduce the quantity of tools and equipment used in food production.
• You create a neat, well-ordered work area, with a clearly visible focus on food safety. This makes an attractive impression on customers, authorities, auditors, and other visitors.

Tips and tricks on how to implement color-coding effectively:

Use contrasting colors

Color contrast enables you to easily spot plastic fragments or stray bristles from equipment in the food. You should, of course, always inspect and replace cleaning equipment and food handling tools as soon as they begin to show any signs of wear.

Use color-blind friendly combinations

1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women are color-blind. Use different shades and contrasts to make it easier for color-blind staff to differentiate colors. If in doubt, take a photo of the colors and convert the photo into black and white. If you can tell the difference, the shade differentiation is strong enough.

Avoid complicated color combinations

We recommend not combining colors on individual tools or tool groups, but instead using the same color for handles as well as broom/ squeegee heads.

Use signs to make it clear

Support your color-coding system with good signage (using images or multilingual text where necessary) to ensure it is followed correctly.

A Puremed Site Survey provides you with a color-coding plan that you can use as an overview of the complete facility or area.

Color match your tools and storage areas

Make sure the tools are stored in the same area where they are used, and use color-coded storage, such as shadow boards and wall brackets.

Color-coding by use:

Choose one color for the cleaning equipment and food handling tools that come into contact with food, and a different color for equipment and tools that do not. Also, select one particular color for cleaning drains.

There are no set rules or regulations about which color to use where in a food facility. For increased food safety, we recommend choosing a color that contrasts clearly with the food you produce.

Non-food contact:

For example, green could be used to identify cleaning tools used on the floor.

Food contact:

Blue is commonly used for cleaning tools for food contact surfaces, because few foods are blue.

Drains:

Black is commonly used for drains, engineering, and outside areas, as it does not show the dirt.

Allergens or chemicals:

Instead of new colors for use on different lines within a color-coded zone, color-coded rubber bands can be placed on equipment to distinguish tools used for a particular line.

Allergens:

Other colors – such as pink, orange, purple and lime – can be selected to differentiate among tools that are used with particular allergens.

Color-coding by process:

This is especially important in food manufacturing and processing plants where these steps need to be kept separate to prevent cross-contamination. For example, meat processing facilities and kitchens often color code to distinguish raw meat from meat that is cooked, or semi-processed or raw foods from more finished product.

Color-coding by zone:

Designate colors to zones to differentiate the tools and equipment that belong to each zone. This can help with many things – from the prevention of contamination to proper organization and storage of tools – and helps keep employees accountable for the tools in their work zone.

Color-coding for better food safety:

In the food production and processing industry, tightly controlled systems and procedures are essential to comply with regulations – and ensure food safety. A color-coding system for your work areas, tools, and equipment is a simple way to prevent cross-contamination, and ensures you are better prepared to meet GFSI approved food safety standards. When correctly implemented, color-coding should be easy to follow, and encourages employees to take extra responsibility for food safety and cleanliness in their work area.

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• Guide to Color-Coding

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