Wednesday 5 June 2019

World Food Safety Day- 7th June 2019



World Food Safety Day- 7th June 2019.

United Nation is creating the Food safety awareness to the public by celebrating World Food Safety Day.

The first ever World Food Safety Day (WFSD) will be celebrated on 7 June 2019 to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development.

The UN recognizes food safety On 20 December 2018 the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 73/250 proclaiming a World Food Safety Day. Starting in 2019, every 7 June will be a time to celebrate the myriad benefits of safe food.

Facts and figures:
  • An estimated 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people in the world – fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420 000 die every year.
  • Children under 5 years of age carry 40 percent of the foodborne disease burden, with 125 000 deaths every year
  • Foodborne illnesses are usually infectious or toxic in nature and caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances entering the body through contaminated food or water.
  • Foodborne diseases impede socioeconomic development by straining health care systems, and harming national economies, tourism and trade.
  • The value of trade in food is US$ 1.6 trillion, which is approximately 10 percent of total annual trade globally.

References:

  1. http://www.fao.org/3/ca4449en/ca4449en.pdf
  2. https://prashantchaturvedi.com/world-food-safety-day/

Tuesday 4 June 2019

Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) for Food Production Industry




Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) for Food Production Industry




Environmental monitoring is an essential program for facilities, especially in food manufacturing sites that handle microbiologically sensitive foods. EMP reduces the risks of cross-contamination and product recalls. EMP is required to mitigate inherent food safety risks and ensure regulatory compliance.



Sanitation:


In the food production facilities are doing sanitation like "cleaning In the Place- CIP" and "cleaning Out of Place-COP".Effectiveness of the microbial sanitation is determined by ATP and Microbial testing.As per the requirement of advanced food safety certification systems like BRC, SQF; Environmental Monitoring Program is very much required. You are required to perform environmental sampling and identify the potential biological hazard of pathogen contamination at post lethality exposed steps.

Environmental Monitoring:



Microbes are vary from the one to another food facility, any have, Listeria Monocytogenes and Salmonella are the first to consider but there could be more such as Staphylococcus Aureus, E. coli, coliforms, and more. 

The environmental sampling program should identify four zones for potential sampling in high risk areas. Zone 1 includes food contact surfaces. Zone 2 includes indirect food contact surfaces such as equipment framework and indirect employee protective clothing. Zone 3 includes environmental areas inside high-risk processing areas such as floors, walls, drains, ceilings and refrigeration units. Zone 4 includes environmental areas in non-production areas such as break areas and hallways.

Zone 1 and 2 are highly important then the zones 3 and 4. Zone 1 and 2 is highly related to the food recall.
The sampling point,no of samples and frequency of sampling should be determined based on the regulatory agencies requirements.




Positive results and Corrective actions:



If the positive results are occurs, thrice sampling should be done for the analysis to ensure the results.Root cause analysis to be made to find out the reason of microbial contamination and intensified sanitation to be made.Data must be generated and reviewed for the prevention of any cross contamination in feature.

Recommendations:

  1. Microbial monitoring plan to be developed based on the riskiness of the food production/processing, in particularly ready-to-eat (RTE) foods category.
  2. Senior management's involvement, co-operation and budget allocation to be much required. 
References:




Friday 11 January 2019

SIGNATURE SERIES | December 21, 2018 Not All Restaurant Checklists are Created Equal By ComplianceMate

https://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/signature-series/not-all-restaurant-checklists-are-created-equal/

SIGNATURE SERIES | December 21, 2018

Not All Restaurant Checklists are Created Equal

By ComplianceMate
Not All Restaurant Checklists are Created Equal
Digital food safety and operational checklists are a recipe for success in the modern restaurant. They make kitchens simultaneously safer and more efficient, enough that digitization efforts often pay for themselves. Over half (59 percent) of paper-reduction projects achieve payback in less than a year, according to the Association for Information and Image Management.
However, not all digital checklist solutions are created equal.
A lack of features and poor design can yield an app that actually interferes with your restaurant’s operations and takes more time than an old-fashioned pen-and-paper approach. Worse, if the system isn’t set up to deal correctly with the digital records it creates, it could potentially lead to even greater legal liability down the road. “A digital checklist could end up costing you more money if you don't do it the right way,” says Tom Woodbury, vice president of National Accounts at ComplianceMate.
Yet, if digital checklists are well worth the investment generally, how can you ensure you get a good solution that will provide a solid return-on-investment?
When evaluating a digital checklist solution, ask the following questions.
1. Is it genuinely more efficient to use the digital checklist than to use pen-and-paper?
Efficiency depends on a well-designed app. For example, does the app auto-advance between sections, or does it force users to navigate between multiple screens to complete a single line item? Does the app interface with a wireless, handheld temperature probe, or must all information be input by hand? Issues like these can frustrate users and cause unnecessary delays. “Users spend so much time managing the app that they’re not managing the checklist,” says Tom.
Kitchen staff should be able to complete an average digital checklist via tablet in just a few minutes. In fact, a good digital checklist will enable restaurants to increase the number of checklist items and still require less time to complete them. For a location with six or so line checks throughout the day, that alone will put over an hour back into the store or kitchen manager’s day yet cover safety, quality, and branding issues more effectively.
2. Can users get started with the system immediately?
This question also centers around good design. The checklist systems should be intuitive; if you can't hand a tablet to the average kitchen worker, give them 90 seconds of training, and then have them be able to use it in full, the system is too complicated. A digital solution shouldn’t add functionality only to sacrifice simplicity, clarity, and usability.
Nevertheless, the system should still offer genuinely helpful functions, but that functionality should be simple to navigate for users—or entirely automated. For example, beyond yes/no and numeric/temperature entries, make sure entries and list items will be time- and date-stamped. That added calendar information is invaluable when auditing and analyzing data to spot trends or systemic issues. A modern checklist system should also make good use of today’s digital devices, like using built-in cameras to generate photo entries that can substantiate other claims (e.g., were the dishes cleaned in a timely way? Here’s a time- and date-stamped photo proving they were.)
3. Will the system help you to identify trends/problems across multiple units?
It’s surprisingly rare for digital checklists to a.) provide information above a single unit or b.) to make the information meaningful enough to translate raw data into actionable insight. If you have more than one store and the system fails to effectively report data organization-wide, you lose most of the benefits of a digital solution. The system should also be able to flag anomalies and exceptions, generate alerts whenever entries exceed a custom-set threshold, and allow you to identify trends across your entire organization.
4. Will the system prompt and facilitate corrective actions?
What happens if a checklist item fails to meet the threshold or specification allowed by the restaurant? The system itself will ideally prompt corrective actions automatically. For example, if the temperature of a dish is too low, the system might offer the option of one or more retries, suggesting that the user stir the pot to better balance the heat, and then temperature check again.
In other words, it’s not enough just to identify aberrations that can affect food safety. Action must be taken to bring the situation back into specification. The digital checklist can play an active role here.
5. Will my digital system help identify and prevent fraud?
A digital solution can protect against falsifying entries (pencil whipping)—if it’s designed to do so. Paper provides no controls to verify the time the checklist was really completed or the accuracy of the recorded information. One ComplianceMate customer once made a surprise visit to one of his stores on Friday afternoon and discovered the store's paper checklists had already been filled out—for the entire weekend.
Look for a digital solution that implements controls against this kind of fraudulent behavior. For example, it might limit access to the checklist to certain time ranges. Ideally, it will also analyze entries for anomalies. Was this checklist completed unusually quickly? Does that checklist contain identical values in all fields? The system itself should be able to spot questionable behavior and prompt managers or executives to inquire further.
With the right checklist, restaurants can streamline their kitchen operations, improve their food safety profile, and save time and money. But before you dive into digitization, make sure you’re asking the right questions to identify a product that can achieve those outcomes.
The ComplianceMate system addresses a critical need for proactive food safety initiatives at growing restaurant chains. Through a combination of wireless temperature sensors, mobile technologies, and easy-to-use tools built for the modern kitchen, ComplianceMate gives you total control over food safety and compliance at your stores. For more information, contact ComplianceMate.

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