August 2019 classes

1 August @ Borneo Yin Woh Sdn Bhd, Kota Kinabalu

7 August @ Dewan Sri Asnur, Tawau

10 August @ Calvary Educational Centre, Tawau

15 August @ E-Life Learning Centre, Lahad Datu

16 August @ MC Bakery, Bukit Garam

17 August @ Asrama Kompleks Sukan Sandakan

19 August @ Sage Cafe + Kitchen, Tawau

20 August @ Dewan Sri Asnur, Tawau

27 August @ Million Ocean Fisheries (M) Sdn Bhd

31 August @ Dewan Sri Asnur

Thanks for visiting our blog.  Welcome to check our future class schedule.  See you at September 2019!

Jacky C   

Anti-Typhoid Vaccination

Food Handlers who had attended Food Handlers Training course should get Anti-typhoid vaccination from registered clinic. 

 Typhoid is bacterial infection that can cause high fever, diarrhea, vomiting and so on. It is caused by the bacteria Salmonella typhi via contaminated food, contaminated drinking water, faeces (carried by pest).

Apart from the common signs of food poisoning, people who is infected by Salmonella typhi will suffer internal inflammation due to the broken of intestine.  the bacteria will enter blood system, causing complication of organs. It can be fatal if patient is not treated early.  

Hence, Vaccination of Food Handlers is essential to avoid food handlers infected with this bacteria and to prevent the infections to the public via preparing food and drinks. 

Food Handlers should obtain a vaccination card from the authority and accept Health  inspection and vaccination at registered clinic.    

After the registration, Clinic personnel will cop the date of vaccination and the next vaccination date (3 years from the date of vaccination date).  

Having done this,  do make sure the original copy of Health / Vaccination card and Food Handlers Training Course Certificate are kept in the food promise (do not put at home :) ) for premise inspection one day. 

All the best! 

Are you wearing correct clothing while handling food?

Food Handlers should wear appropriate clothing during handling food. As to avoid contamination from themselves into food, food handlers should wear clean, suitable and proper clothing.  Basically, every clothing should be in light-colour so that they are easy to be seen if dirty.  So, what are the suggested clothing? Here you go.  

Hair Strainer is worn to prevent hair from dropping into food.  Cap is fine but not good enough as there are hair (especially ladies) and sideburns not being covered.  Facemask is essential in high quality food processing such as in a food processing plant. Wearing facemask could prevent bacteria from mouth and nose contaminating the food.  Uniform / cloth WITHOUT POCKET and buttons only could be worn while handling food.  This is to ensure that no contamination from pocket to the food via hands.  Apron WITHOUT POCKET is worn for preventing dirts from the cloth to contaminate the food.  Pants should be long.  Food Handlers are not allowed to wear skirt while handling food.  Shoe / Boots only to be worn in handling food.  If you are working in wet area, such as seafood processing plant, boots should be your choice. 

Hair strainer, facemask, apron and boots should not be worn other than in food premises and shall be kept in a suitable cupboard or locker when not in used (i.e., when food handler is visiting toilet).  In a processing plant, supervisor / Quality Control Manager should make sure that all clothing are to be worn inside the processing plant only.

Clean clothing is one of the important element to ensure food hygiene.  Food handlers should implement it every day.   

Food Process Layout

When designing a process layout, we ought to consider the smoothness of each processing steps. The flow should be in one direction, no turning back, from raw material to delivering of final products. 

There are a few flow shapes for us to consider. Either, "I", "L", "U" or "S" shape. As you see, every shape show one way of process flow.  This is important as to avoid cross-contamination of the in-process products in between steps.

Besides, it is also essential to isolate dirty process steps from clean process steps.  If the flows are crossing,  there is hazards to contaminate products, either by food handlers, in-process products, the tools and so on.

The human flow should be designed so that all workers should change processing uniform in changing room, follow by do hand washing at washing station before entering processing area to process. Toilet should be constructed which is not facing processing area. 

Above are an example of a layout plan.  There is no standard way of designing processing flow, as long as the flow are clear and in one direction.

    

Our updated Certifications

Thank you for our customer's support.  We will continue to provide Food Handlers Training knowledge to all Food Handlers at Sabah. 

Food Handlers Training School (SLPM) accredited certificate

Trainer accredited certificate and card

Cleaning of premise

Cleanliness of premise is a basic requirement in food business.  A clean premise will avoid pest contamination on the premise, food contact surfaces and the food product, which would help to increase the confident of customers against the company and the products.  

Business owners should maintain the cleanliness and  tidiness of premise.  Avoid the accumulations of boxes, tin, empty bottles, rubbish or any other stuff which is not related to food processing to prevent the entrance and harbourage of pest. 

Cleaning should be done at least once a day.  Facilities and equipment are the 2 areas we should focus on.  Facilities are Wall, floor, internal ceiling, lights, door, ventilators, rooms and so on whereas equipment are like baskets, cooking apparatus, knife, thermometers, chopping board.  Each item have different cleaning method.  Generally, cleaning and sanitation steps includes the removing of dirts, washing (with detergent), rinsing, sanitize and drying.  

Equipment should be frequently check its functionality.  Broken facilities should be replaced.  Torn / broken equipment might have small particles or corrosion removed and contaminate food while using.  

Cleaning agents, tools and disinfectant should be adequate to ensure proper cleaning on equipment. Business owners should record the cleaning agent's specification and usage , and obtain Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) from supplier.  All cleaning agent should be labelled and should be stored at a place where it is away from food processing.           

Every washing and sanitation activity should be checked, recorded and documented.  So that it helps to verify the cleaning activity.    

Good Food Premise

There are a few concerns about setting up Food premise.  If you are setting up processing plant now, you need to see this.  Let's check it out..

Location. Your premise should be located away from sources of contamination including aeration ponds, septic tanks, waste disposal sites, industrial area or any area which might contaminate the food.

General design. Food premise shall be designed and constructed in a way that could ease cleaning and disinfection.  For instance, internal ceiling, wall and floors should be made of material which is easy to be cleaned.  The surfaces should be smooth and in light colour (for easier cleanliness visual checking).  Avoid using wood material in the premise, especially when the area would be always wet.  Let us look into deeper - 

1. Floor shall be

1.1 maintained in good condition, easily cleaned and where necessary, disinfected.

1.2 impervious, non-absorbent, washable and non-toxic.

1.3 adequately drain (no stagnant water).

2. Wall shall be

2.1 maintained in good condition, easily cleaned and where necessary, disinfected.

2.2 impervious, non-absorbant, washable and non-toxic, and require a smooth surface up to a height appropriate for food process

2.3 Angles between wall and floor shalled be sealed and coved to facilitate cleaning, where necessary.

3. Lighting shall be provided with adequate light and not causing contamination.  All light could be covered to avoid broken light bulbs to the food.

4. Ventilation system in food premise shall be suitable and sufficient without contamination to food. The device should be installed in a way to ease cleaning. The airflow of ventilation should be flow from contaminated area to clean area. 

5. Internal Ceiling should be constructed to avoid accumulation of dirt and shedding of particles and to reduce condensation and growth of undesirable mould. 

6. All furniture, fittings and food contact surfaces shall be well maintained and kept clean at all times. The material should be of impervious and easily clean.

Water supply should be adequate and in good quality.  Food business owner could install external Water Filter, such as Sand filter and Carbon Filter. To ensure adequate of supply, water tank and proper piping should be installed.  Such facility should be free from any contamination.  

It is essential to make sure all facilities are constructed / installed properly before commencing food processing so that maintenance of both facility and Food Safety system is easy.

     

July 2019 Classes

2 July 2019, Tawau

6 July 2019, Bandar Sri Indah, Tawau

12 July 2019, IJM, Sandakan

13 July 2019, Sibuga, Sandakan

21 July 2019, Tawau

26 July 2019, Hill Top, Tawau

27 July 2019, Tawau

30 July 2019, Sedco Light Industrial, Tawau

Duties of Food Business Owner

If you are about to start a food business, you may do final check on the followings: 

1. Registering premise registration (and do renewal after before 3 years).

2. Displaying 

2.1 certificate / slip of premise registration.
2.2 hand washing poster
2.3 poster disallow any persons from bringing any animal into the food premise.

3. Establishing food safety assurance program (food processor)

4. Establishing food traceability system (food processor)

5. Not employ or allow any food handlers who does not

5.1 bearing Food Handlers Trainer course certificate 
5.2 been medically examined. 

6. Maintain records of training, medical examination and vaccination certificate for every Food Handlers. (If you have Food safety Assurance program, you would have this record).

7. Maintain records of cleaning, packaging, processing, storing and distributing of food. (If you have Food Safety Assurance program, you would have this too).  

Is your Food Business company comply the above checklist? Should you need any inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Traceability of Food product

In the midst of establishing any food safety program, may it be HACCP, GMP or even MeSTI, you need to plan the traceability of your product. Traceability is the ability to find out how, where, when your products are made and distributed to. It also refer to the origin of your product -  the source of raw material, ingredients, etc etc.        

Under Reg 10(1), 2009 Food Hygiene regulation, a proprietor, owner or occupier of food premises shall provide a food traceability system in the food premises which able to identify one step back from where the food came and one step forward to where the food went at any specified stage of a food chain from production to distribution. 

What is the importance of traceability? When there is a need to recall (your products), traceability will ease the process.  The processor would be able to act quickly to identify the affected products and arrange to deliver them to the factory for re-processing or discard.  With this system, the food processor could also rebuild trust with public about their food safety concerns and controls.

So, what should you do to create traceability system?  First, your product should have a clear product specification, such as the features, weight, size, quantity etc etc.  Second, create batch code that representing supplier and production date.  For example, you may define a product code 1907220101 as below

• First 6 digit - YYMMDD of production date
• Seventh & eighth digit - Supplier A
• Nineth & tenth digit - Customer X

Bar code is an example of product code. It contain information like country, manufacturer, product spec, and production code.

Third, keeping complete records such as

1) Receiving records

2) Processing records

3) Maintenance & Cleanliness records

4) Packing records

5) Distribution records

and other relevant (to production) records.  

Fourth, when there is recall, processors will identify the affected products and trace the root cause of the non-conformance product along the supply chain, such as delivery method, production, inspection of raw material, Maintenance & Cleanliness of the facility and equipment.  The above records would verify the investigation during product recall. 

Each year,  food processor should implement a Mock recall on their own product to check the efficiency of their product recall system.  And this Mock recall should be documented for Surveillance audit.