Running a safe, efficient, and successful food production facility is no easy task. However, it’s also not an impossible task. One of the most important goals that these facilities have to accomplish is to ensure hygienic product handling. Without upholding proper health standards, products can become contaminated and get consumers and possibly fellow employees sick. These four steps on how to prevent contamination in food production facilities will ensure your reputation remains as clean as the facility you oversee.
Enforce Employee Handwashing
To run a safe facility, you have to enforce basic hygiene protocols. This includes requiring employees to wash their hands before they begin work as well as after any situation in which their hands may have become contaminated, such as going to lunch or the bathroom.
Optimize Employee Wardrobe
Another key component of enforcing employee hygiene is making sure they have the right wardrobe. The two most important pieces of clothing employees should wear are gloves and hair restraints. When it comes to hair restraints, this refers to both facial hair and any hair on the employee’s head. Clean footwear and clothing (whether a uniform or the employee’s own clothes) are also essential for workers handling products in the facility.
Regularly Clean Equipment
Not only do employees need to be clean, but the equipment used in your production facility needs to be clean as well. This is because over time, sometimes during the course of one workday, leftover residue from food products can build up on machinery and contaminate any subsequent products that go through that same machine. It’s for this reason that food production facilities with conveyor belts should make sure they choose sanitary conveyors specifically. Sanitary conveyors can withstand the regular, thorough cleaning that food manufacturing facilities require to combat contamination.
Remove Sick Employees
An employee working in a food production facility should know not to come in sick, but sometimes, they will anyway. Any managers, supervisors, or other employees in the facility who spot another employee who is clearly sick or has visible, open wounds should let a superior know or (if they have the authority) remove them from the facility immediately. Suffice it to say, allowing a sick employee to work with products in your facility can lead to the transmission of diseases to fellow employees and potential customers receiving the products.
In order to maintain proper health standards, it’s important for both you and everyone who works for you to understand how to prevent contamination in food production facilities. That’s because keeping your facility safe can only happen if your employees are willing to help you do it. If they do, your facility can remain healthy and efficient each and every day.
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