DEC22 STUDENTS' FEEDBACK

I sincerely express my appreciation to December 22 students' feedback. Every feedback is a recognition + encouragement.  However, the most important is the teaching is able to help everybody in maintaining food hygiene and food safety for avoiding food poisoning on your customers. Keep going! 

HOW TO MAINTAIN FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT IN A FOOD PROCESSING FACTORY?

 

Facility is a system or a building that specific activities are performed whereas equipment is an physical stuff, device, machines for performing a specific purpose.  Facilities could be a assembly of varies of equipment.  There are numbers of facilities and equipment in Food processing factory. Each individual item’s functionality and cleanliness should be maintained well to avoid contamination while producing food products.
 
Besides Receiving steps, food handlers should process food product in the processing factory. They should make sure that doors are closed and food handlers who are working in the processing factory, wearing working attire, are not allowed to go outside of the facility.   If they are going outside (for visiting toilet etc), they should re-enter the factory following entrance procedure. So, when there is a need to bringing in or out of stuff, they should communicate and arrange personnel(s) to standby inside and outside of the facility to pass and receive the stuff. Doors are open for passing stuff only. After the task, the door should be closed immediately.  Closing doors could avoid pest or airborne contaminant flow into the processing factory and contaminate anything in the facility.
 
Maintenance for every facility and equipment is crucial. I always use example of car maintenance / service. How frequent we service our car (changing lubricant and oil filter)? Some saying 3 months, 6 months or every 5,000, 10,000 meter journey, depending on the car condition and the type of oil. Correct? Maintenance in processing factory is the same. For examples, maintenance personnel needs to apply grease in hand Jacks  or any equipment that has bearing.  Based on his experience of maintenance, the personal could decide the minimum frequency of maintenance so that  the equipment and facility would not broken down. Maintenance personnel should repair broken equipment and facility after the production, or repairing them outside of the processing area.  No cleaning on the broken items should be done before that.  
 
Facilities and equipment should be cleaned and checked in a period of time, depends on the necessity. For examples, processing tables is used in every processing day and food waste left on it. Thus, food handlers should clean it after production, before they are go home.  The cleanliness of processing tables are checked  before and after the processing.  Dirty equipment or facility could attract pest, causing contamination.  Wooden equipment and any wooden material of facility is not allowed in food processing factory.  Measuring devices, such as thermometer and scale should be calibrated.  Every activity of cleaning and maintenance should be documented.
                            
Maintenance and cleaning is an important element in MeSTI. It is when every facility and equipment is maintained and sanitized, then we will be able to avoid cross-contamination on  the food products.  
               
 
Jacky Chung
Trainer and Consultant
JACKYZ SOLUTION

 

PROCESSING PLANT LAYOUT AND WORKING FLOW

A good food processing plant have organized layout and working flows that could maximize food production as well as to avoid cross contamination.  While designing the layout of a food processing plant, we should consider the proper working flows that fulfill production efficiency and food safety measures.
 

Working flow should be in one direction. Normally showing “I”, “L”, “U” or “S” shape.  The purpose of having one direction working flow is to avoid cross contamination.  For instance, food handlers passing To and Flo while handling food could easily cause contamination.  Likewise, the raw material or dirty in-process product could contaminate finished products if both are moved facing each other.      
 

The orientation of facility should fulfill the correct sequence of  working flow. For instance, the toilet should be installed outside the processing plant and the door should not facing the production area.  The toilet door should be closed automatically.   After that, the changing room, hand washing station and then, the processing area.  Let's refer to an example of processing plant layout.  You might not design accordingly but just to make sure the one direction working flow and  to ease your operation.
 
Human flow is a working flow of food handlers from the point of entry to the processing plant until exit from the processing plant.  Food handlers should go through sanitation steps before entering processing plant. The sequence should be
 
1. Visiting toilet (wearing toilet slippers) or
2. Changing boots¹
3. Changing food processing attire at changing room
4. Stepping into footbath (with Chlorinated water)¹ and wash hand.
5. Dry hands and enter processing.
 
When food handlers come out from the processing plant to visit toilet, they should
 
i. Take off working attire
ii. Take off boots and change to toilet slippers to enter toilet.
 
After that, they would re-enter processing plant according to step 1 - 5 above.  Processing area would be divided to production (dirty) area and production (clean) area. Food handlers that work in dirty area should be isolated from those working in clean area.  They can be differentiate by attire colour.   
 
Material flow is the movement of raw material and products. When determining the material flow, you should had know your process flow very well. Raw material should be moved into processing plant from the entrance other than food handler’s entrance.  The door size could be smaller for raw material entrance only.  The raw material is then processed at dirty production area  before transferring to clean processing area and onwards. At last, the finished product should be distributed from another door.  If they are 2 kind of productions in the plant, such as fish and prawns,  we should try to arrange 2 sets of production facilities and equipment, to avoid cross contamination.
 
 

Other facilities such as packaging material store, equipment store, chemical store, water tank, water filter and so on should be located at the place that ease the operation. For example, packaging material store should be located at the place which is near the packing area / room.  Door which connecting the processing area should be installed plastic curtain to avoid penetration of pest and dirt.      
 

Based on the determined layout and working flow, QC can study and conduct discussion about the production work and food safety measures with food safety team.  When you had finalized your processing plant’s layout and flows, do submit to your local Food Technology officer for verification before submitting to MeSTI application.         
 
 
Note: ¹ For food processing plant that processing floor is wet
 
 
Jacky Chung
Trainer and Consultant
JACKYZ SOLUTION