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Food safety is very important. Food safety means that consumers do not get sick from or injured by a food when they eat or drink it. By practicing food safety, you are doing everything you can to prevent consumers from getting sick from the products you make. Check out the six tips to improve food safety below.
Washing hands in manufacturing is very important. This is because you can contaminate products with bacteria or allergens if you don't wash your hands properly. For example, if you eat a peanut butter sandwich at lunch and then work with products, peanuts may get into the product where peanuts should not be in it. If someone who is allergic to peanuts then buys and eats this product, he or she may become very sick from it.
Wash your hands at least in the following situations:
Watch the video below to see how to wash your hands:
Make sure you wear a hairnet and wear it properly. By doing so, you will prevent infections. It may not be as comfortable, but it is very important to wear the hairnet over your ears! This will prevent hairs from falling into a product. And let's face it: a hair in your food is not very appetizing.
It is important that your hair net covers all your hair. Check out the examples below:
Do you have a beard? Then wear a beard net over your beard too!
Make sure personal items, such as food and beverages and jewelry, do not enter production. This prevents, for example, a ring from accidentally ending up in production. Or that allergens from your sandwiches end up on your work clothes, and then in products.
Makeup, false eyelashes and resin nails are often not allowed, as these too can fall into products if you wear them in production.
Rules vary from company to company. Therefore, always ask about the specific company rules in your company.
Pests are a food safety hazard because they can cause physical and microbiological contamination of products. Your company has therefore taken measures to keep pests out. But you yourself can also help keep pests out:
Make sure you have a clean work area. If product residue is left for too long, microorganisms have a chance to grow and can contaminate products. Always work according to the cleaning schedule. This shows what, when and by whom cleaning is done. This prevents, for example, allergens from the previous production from getting into products from the new production.
Also, keep your workspace orderly. Clear away cleaning supplies when you are done cleaning and lubricants when you are done servicing. There are often special storage locations for these. This prevents these agents from getting onto the production line and contaminating products. Also, don't leave worn parts of machines and tools lying around, but store them in designated areas. Consider, for example, shadow boards for tools and collection bins for worn blades.
With the food safety (HACCP) e-learning, your employees will learn food safety and hygiene and become aware of food safety risks. Want to know more? View the Food Safety (HACCP) page or contact us at info@precongroup.com, NL +31 (0)30 65 66 010 or BE +32 (0)11 26 99 07.
Subscribe to our newsletter, our monthly look at food and non-food quality management.