Home > Plant Hygiene and Sanitation principles GMPs, SSOP, and HACCP

Plant Hygiene and Sanitation:

• Sanitation plays significant and critical role in controlling quality and safety of food products and dairy ingredients
• Environmental Pathogens and Allergens
• Prevention of pathogen cross-contamination and allergen cross-contact
• Sanitation may be a Pre-requisite program for HACCP or a FSMA Preventive Control
• Emphasis on Hygienic Design- Equipment and surfaces must be cleanable, accessible and designed to be able to cleaned and sanitized
• Food Safety Culture, Workforce and Training

Sanitation Challenges in Dairy Ingredients Mfg. plants:

• Dry vs. Wet cleaning processes/ Hygienic zones
• Biofilm, Novel ecological niches and Harborage Control
• Law moisture and Dry Products Processing
• Sanitary/Hygienic design – Old plants and equipment
• Sanitation in extended run plants
• Environmental Hygiene monitoring

GMPs, SSOP, and HACCP:

• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) are practices and procedures performed by a food processor which can affect the safety of the food product.
• GMPs are an integral part of every companys food safety assurance
• GMPs may refer to the people, equipment, process and the environment in the production process.

GMP violations may result in adulterated food

Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs):

• Written document of procedures or programs used to maintain equipment and the environment in a sanitary condition for food processing
• A step-by-step description of cleaning and sanitizing procedures and specifies
• what is to be cleaned
• how it is to be cleaned,
• how often it is to be cleaned, and
• what records are used to monitor the procedures
• SSOP may written for a piece of equipment, an environmental area, Master Sanitation Plan for the whole facility.

HACCP- Basic Concepts:

• HACCP involves systematic analysis to determine food safety hazards and identifying preventative measures that can be taken to control those hazards
• Is a management tool that allows control of identified hazards by traditional inspection and quality control procedures
• Voluntary or Mandatory
• HACCP Development – 5 basic steps, 7 principles

HACCP – Basic steps and Seven Principles:

Preliminary Steps-

• Assemble the HACCP team
• Describe the food and its distribution
• Describe the intended use and consumers of the food
• Develop a flow diagram which describes the process
• Verify the flow diagram

1. Conduct Hazard Analysis
2. Determine CCPs
3. Establish Critical Limits (CLs)
4. Establish Monitoring Procedures
5. Establish Corrective Actions
6. Establish documentation for all procedures and records appropriate to these principles and their application
7. Establish Verification Procedures

Audits, Inspections and Schemes:

• Audit- A planned, systematic, independent examination and documented assessment to determine whether agreed – upon requirements are being met.
• Inspection- An inspection is a thorough physical review of a food facility to assess what is actually happening at a moment in time
• GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) – Audits against standards or audit scheme by specifically accredited third party auditors

Popular Certification Schemes:

• Food industry programs for assuring food quality and safety.
• GFSI Schemes
• SQF
• BRC
• FSCC 2200

Certification and Regulatory Compliance:

• GFSI certification is not the same as regulatory audits/ inspection
• Industry efforts for harmonizing and aligning various audit schemes with the FDA regulations (FSMA)
• Compliance with industry audit schemes does not mean compliance with FSMA – But it may be a good start

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