In order to implement any sort of a food-safety program, retailers must first understand why it is necessary. Scientists and technicians at universities and food-related trade associations have long known the basics of food safety and what might be involved in producing products that are not safe for consumption.
However, the retail food industry has done a poor job of informing workers of what the problem areas are. It is understood that bacteria can cause food-borne illnesses, but what can be done to minimize the growth of bacteria and protect the food?
Workers must understand the basic way organisms multiply, survive, and are killed. This is essential information for us to do a good job in controlling these organisms in the food distribution chain. This information must be made available to workers prior to initiation of HACCP programs.
The same goes for metal pieces, splinters of wood, or undesirable caustic chemicals in foods. These, too, can be serious to consumers in regard to breaking off a tooth, lacerating the esophagus, lacerating a hole in the intestines, or poisoning due to the strong chemical.
Second, we must know what hazards to control in order to determine where the Critical Control Points (CCP) are within our operation. Are the products that we handle susceptible to the growth of microorganisms, particularly ones that are associated with food poisoning? Or are our products particularly prone to contamination with small rocks because of the harvesting conditions and the automatic harvesters that are used for our products at the farm? Or, are our products susceptible to chemical contamination because of their processing, fumigation, or sterilization? In all cases, we have to know what we have to control before we can establish programs to actually control it.
Third, it is necessary to know the limits that are needed to control the hazards. If something undesirable happens at every one millionth container, is that a level that we need to control? If we find metal shavings from our machinery at least once a day, is that at a level we need to be controlling?
In order to determine the limits necessary to control the hazards, standards are needed by which we compare our operation to industry-accepted conditions. Many regulatory agencies — the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), state inspection services, local departments of health, industry associations, and others — have developed many guidelines against which your operation can be measured. Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) affect many industry situations and give recommendations concerning equipment type, construction, and operation.
Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP) develop the basics for maintaining a food facility that has a clean, sanitary environment that is free from food hazards. In addition to these two regulatory programs, a company should establish its own Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP) where the company establishes how things are to be done, when they are to be done, who will do them, and at what levels of operation a procedure is out of control and needs to be properly adjusted.
An example is a cooler where fresh meat is stored. It might be your SSOP to completely scrub and sanitize your cooler weekly and to maintain a temperature no higher than 40ºF, with the temperature to be checked every four hours. During one of your regular temperature monitoring checks, it is found that the temperature is up to 45ºF. Your SSOP should indicate what you should do under these conditions and how you should do it in order to correct the problem. You should also indicate whether any action must be taken regarding the product that has been in the cooler where the temperature has risen.