Sanitation teams provide essential services in food manufacturing. Enhancing food safety through proper cleaning and sanitizing procedures prevents cross-contamination, foodborne illnesses, and accelerated spoilage.
Monitoring and verifying the safety of ingredients and foods entering a manufacturing facility protects against unintentional contamination and prevents the growth of harmful microorganisms in or around the items. Therefore, food manufacturing facilities must have a written, comprehensive food safety plan covering the following areas:
- Facility security
- Storing
- Handling
- Cleaning
- Sanitizing
- Temperature control
- Moisture control
- Scientific testing
How Food Can Cause Illness
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 48 million people become sick, 128,000 people are hospitalized, and 3,000 people die in the United States annually due to foodborne illness. These illnesses can occur when foreign objects or hazardous substances contaminate food products. For instance, a cleaning solution spilled onto a food assembly line while cleaning the machinery would contaminate any food touching the assembly line and cause illness.
Foodborne pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, mold, and parasites commonly cause illness:
- Many foodborne pathogens can rapidly grow and reproduce after contact with food.
- Some microorganisms are naturally present in food, such as salmonella in chickens’ digestive tracts.
- The pathogens can be introduced to food during harvesting, transporting, storing, handling, processing, packaging, or serving.
- Food products can be contaminated by contact with contaminating surfaces and substances, exposure to contaminated air, or handling by an ill or unhygienic person.
Importance of Sanitation Teams in Food Manufacturing
Sanitization teams are needed to reduce a food manufacturing facility’s risk of spreading foodborne illness and distributing contaminated food products:
- Cleaning removes food residue, oils, grease, dirt, and other soils.
- Soils can harbor bacteria and other microorganisms and block sanitizing chemicals from the surface.
- Sanitizing reduces the number of hazardous bacteria on a surface to safe levels.
- Effective cleaning and sanitizing support a safe, healthy food manufacturing workforce.
Items to Clean and Sanitize
Food manufacturing items and areas must be cleaned and sanitized to prevent biofilms. These coatings of biological material can clump, form a film resistant to sanitizing chemicals, and spread pathogens throughout the facility.
Sanitation teams must thoroughly clean and sanitize the following:
- Dishes
- Equipment
- Work surfaces
- Machinery
- Floors
- Walls
- Drains
- Belts
- Cracks
- Crevices
- Dark places
Do You Need to Add to Your Food-Manufacturing Sanitation Team?
Let Impact Staffing get to work helping you find dedicated professionals to maintain food manufacturing hygiene standards and meet regulatory requirements for your Georgia facility. Start the process today.
