Food safety is of the utmost importance to food manufacturers. And yet, each year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 48 million people in the United States get sick from contaminated food. So, how do you avoid being part of the statistic? Here are three food safety tips you may not have heard
1. Protect From The Ground Up
Everything affects food safety in a food manufacturing facility, and your floor is no exception. In fact, “the use of fluid-applied resinous flooring can help ease the burden on several fronts by enhancing sanitation efficiency [and] supporting contamination control protocols.” Example? Glad you asked! By choosing a smooth, non-porous surface free of grout lines, you can avoid the potential contamination risk seams and joints pose by being optimal breeding ground (no pun intended) for microbes. Plus, they’re really hard – perhaps even impossible – to clean and sanitize to the necessary standards for food safety.
2. Take a Systemic Approach
By taking a systemic approach to food safety, you realize that it doesn’t only involve consistent cleaning and disinfecting but also the education of proper procedures for control of pathogens for cleaning staff along with smart protocols. But having these things in place aren’t enough if you’re not executing well on them – and in the high turnover food processing industry, it can be difficult to keep everyone up-to-date on the protocol and procedures.
3. Track With Technology
A common theme among the contaminated food that gets 48 million people in the U.S. sick each year is that they stem from the distribution chain and their origins are recognized after the outbreak. And while it’s helpful to understand where the contamination came from, it’s more helpful – to both your bottom line and the health of those 48 million people – to prevent the contamination from being spread to consumers. And how do you do that? With an ERP system that traces your product, records quality test results, and more!
