MAKAN SAFETY

Saturday, May 29, 2010 @ 10:29 PM

Good Manufacturing Practices

It is necessary of producers to develop and implement procedures to reduce the potential for contamination with microorganisms such as
Listeria monocytogenes in Ready To Eat Food(RTE).

A general recommendations for developing GMPs and SOPs for RTE are listed below:

1. Personnel - disease control, hygiene, clothing, training, etc.

2. Plant and grounds - construction and design, product flow, drainage, etc.
3. Sanitary operations - general maintenance, cleaning and sanitizing, pest control, etc.

4. Sanitary facilities and controls - water supply, plumbing, sewage disposal, rubbish and offal disposal, etc.
5. Freezers and coolers - monitored and maintained to ensure temperature control, alarms, etc.

6. Equipment maintenance and calibration - adequate frequency for thermometers, recording devices, compressed air equipment, etc.
7. Recall program - It is recommended that all RTE facilities develop a recall program and that mock recalls should be conducted periodically to ensure that the program works as planned.

GMPs are not designed to control specific hazards, but are intended to provide guidelines to help processors’ produce safe and wholesome products.

Receiving of all raw materials
Quality checking should be done to ensure that all raw materials have met the specifications.

Thawing of Frozen Materials
Time and temperature should be monitored closely.

Processing
This includes heat treatment and steps like cutting, weighing, mixing, blending. If applicable, the ingredients should be evaluated for chemical composition (% fat and lean) to formulate product to desired endpoint.
HACCP programs that include appropriate controls for identified hazards throughout the processing system should be implemented.

Post-Processing Handling
1. Facility Design
-Physical barrier (preferably from floor to ceiling) for separating raw and cooked
processing areas
- Employee traffic flow to prevent cross-over between raw and cooked areas
- Positive air flow in exposed product packaging rooms
- Use of footbaths before entrance into a RTE area, including preparation of
sanitizing agent, schedule for changing, etc.
- Separate frocks, utensils, etc.
- Proper design, use and cleaning of drains
- Designated equipment and tools for RTE when possible

2. Sanitation
- Full support of management, including sufficient funding for personnel,
equipment, training, and supplies
- Microbial monitoring
- Evaluation of reporting structure for sanitation crew
- Written procedures for completing the sanitation activities including the
appropriate dress/personal hygiene issues for the crews in the RTE areas
- Suggest use of separate cleaning crews and equipment as possible
- Recommend that the RTE rooms be first on the cleaning schedule to prevent
contamination from previously cleaned rooms

3. Employees
- Hygiene
- Gloves
- Appropriate footwear
- Traffice flow
- Product handling

4. Material handling
- Cleaning and sanitizing before entering the RTE processing area
- Material flow must be developed to prevent raw to cook contamination
- Procedures should be developed to prevent contamination of RTE packaging
materials.
- Ensure proper labeling of ingredients/products should be developed
- Process of cleaning/sanitizing the outer package surface to prevent post-processing contamination

Storage of Finished Product
They should be stored at plant-designated time/temperatures to maintain
product shelf-life. Frozen products should be kept frozen. A FIFO or a plant specified product rotation/inventory control schedule should be maintained for finished products.

Loading and Shipping
Finished RTE products should be handled properly on the loading docks and during transport to prevent contamination from raw products and product deterioration by temperature abuse or improper handling practices. Trucks, containers and carriers of finished products should be evaluated prior to loading and shipping to ensure that their condition meets plant requirements for transporting RTE products.

Therefore, it is extremely important that manufacturers of RTE products develop and implement effective Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) as the foundations of a successful HACCP program.

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