As I mentioned in my earlier blog, MeSTI system is a minimum Food Safety Assurance program that food business owner need to have. This system is about documenting the food safety practices of the whole matters in your food processing plant. Hence, it is a project that need precise planning and preparation. The set up would be easier when you had prepared the relevant documents and arrangement. By then, you are just like “assembly” everything to completing a manual of Food Safety Assurance Program.
For a start, get ready the following documents
1. Company Registration document
2. Premise Registration document
3. Food Handlers Training Course certificate
4. Health / Vaccination document
Make sure the food processing premise is an approved industrial area by local authorities. Do get ready any document to proof it. The premise should be free from any source of contamination (such as flood area, heavy industrial area, pest infestation and so on). The food processing plant should be designed well that
1. The plant is build in an enclosed style
2. Water pipe system, water filter and water tank is proper installed without contamination
3. Inner part of the plant is made of smooth, easy to clean material. The ceiling, wall and flooring shouldn’t be made by material that could contribute contamination. The connection of wall and floor should be in a curse shape to ease the cleaning.
4. There must be facilities such as maintenance room / area, Receiving area, Toilet, changing room, hand washing station, processing area ( differentiate dirty and clean area), packing area, raw material, work-in-progress, finish product storage room, equipment room / area, chemical room, store room.
5. The material flow and Human Flow in a processing plant should be clear and in one direction to avoid cross contamination.
Plan and prepare equipment for your food processing. All equipment in the food processing plant should be smooth and easy to clean. Therefore wooden equipment is not suitable to be used in food processing. Measuring devices should be able to calibrated for more accurate measurement. Make a list of both equipment and measuring devices.
You should also know your product well. List your product information such as the name, form, process type, size, weight, keeping condition / method, product identification and so on. Identify where and how the raw material is received. Take a nice view picture of the product, draft the process flow and check each processing step if they are food safety measures need to be address to.
Arrange a computer-literature personnel that is familiar with food processing in your plant to handle the documentation. The best fit for this job is the Quality Control. It is good that the personnel posses critical thinking skill too. We would train our client to work out the system and to improve the food safety of the processing via internal and external audits.
Preparation is important. It is just like building a strong foundation, a frame. When you have done this, the following steps would be easier as you had set your mind - this are the stuff that I need to assemble to form a system.
Jacky Chung
Trainer and Consultant
JACKYZ SOLUTION
https://mylink.la/jzsolution18
