Quality Assurance for Sanitation

 Quality Assurance for Sanitation

Since the late 1970s, the food industry has emphasized an organized sanitation pro-gram that monitors the microbial load of raw ingredients in production plants and the wholesomeness and safety of the finished products, in an effort to maintain or upgrade the acceptability of its food products. As a result of increased consumer sophistication, it is even more vital for the food industry to develop an effective quality assurance (QA) and sanitation program. Cleaning and sanitizing are the two most important elements that comprise a food sanitation program, and both should be performed in tandem to successfully achieve food safety and quality assurance goals.A QA program that emphasizes sanitation is vital to the growth of a food establish-ment. If foods are to compete effectively in the marketplace, established hygienic stan-dards must be strictly maintained. However, it is sometimes impractical for production personnel to measure and monitor sanita-tion while maintaining a high level of pro-ductivity and efficiency. 

THE ROLE OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

An effective sanitation program is a seg-ment of total quality management (TQM), which must be applied to all aspects of the operation within an organization. Total quality management applies the “right first time” approach. The most critical aspect of TQM is food safety. 

The successful implementation of TQM requires that management and production workers be motivated to improve product acceptability. All involved must be skilled and must understand the TQM concept. Computer software is available for training, implementation, and monitoring of TQM programs.

QUALITY ASSURANCE FOR EFFECTIVE SANITATION

Quality is the degree of acceptability. Component characteristics of quality are both measurable and controllable.

An effective sanitation QA program can achieve the following goals:Identify raw material suppliers that provide a consistent and wholesome product.Make possible stricter sanitary proce-dures in processing to achieve a safer product, within given tolerances.

Segregate raw materials on the basis of microbial quality to allow the greatest value at the lowest price.

Major Components of Quality Assurance

The following tasks should be included as components:

 Clear delineation of objectives and policies.

 Establishment of sanitation require-ments for processes and products.

 Implementation of an inspection sys-tem that includes procedures.

 Development of microbial, physical, and chemical product specifications.

 Establishment of procedures and requirements for microbial, physical, and chemical testing.

 Development of a personnel struc-ture, including an organizational chart for a QA program.

 Development, presentation, and app-roval of a QA budget for required expenditures.

 Development of a job description for all positions.

 Setup of an appropriate salary struc-ture to attract and retain qualified QA personnel.

 Constant supervision of the QA pro-gram with written results in the form of periodic reports.

The Major Functions of Quality Assurance and Quality Control

The major thrust of a QA organization is one on education and surveillance to ensure that regulations and specifications defined by the organization are implemented. Those involved with the QA program should be responsible for checking the wholesomeness and uniformity of raw materials assigned to manufacturing and for informing produc-tion personnel of these results. Further monitoring involves checks for good manu-facturing practices and the finished prod-ucts to ensure that they comply with specifications established under the QA pro-gram and are agreed upon previously by those involved with production or sales. If compliance is not attained, QA personnel should inform those who can implement corrections.

The Role of ISO AccreditationBecause of risks involved, many food companies are turning over their pathogen testing to contract laboratories to reduce the risk of cross-contamination from positive controls on-site and existing issues surrounding biosecurity. In response to this trend, more contract laboratories are pursuing accreditation by the International Standards Organization (ISO) to provide their customers additional confidence in the validity and accuracy of test results.

ISO accreditation exists in over 35 countries. All laboratories worldwide that are accredited to ISO, work to the same inter-nationally recognized standard, reinforcing the integrity and consistency of the testing or calibration that they undertake. ISO cov-ers every aspect of laboratory management such as sample preparation, proficiency testing, record keeping, and reports while ensuring that analytical results can with-stand regulatory and legal scrutiny in theevent of a dispute in the United States or other countries.

The Role of Management in Quality Assurance

The success or failure of a sanitation pro-gram is attributable to the extent to which it is supported by management. Management can be the major impetus or deterrent to a QA program. Managers are often uninterested in QA because it is considered a long-term program. Because quality assurance programs reflect a cost and dividends cannot always be accurately measured in terms of increased sales and profits, they are not con-sistently supported by management. Frequently, lower and middle management are 

unable to convey the importance of QA when top management does not fully com-prehend the concept.

ESTABLISHMENT OF A QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM

The establishment of an effective microbial food testing program requires a commit-ment to the use of good laboratory practices (GLPs) including an equipment calibration 

program, use of positive controls, adherence to CDC laboratory safety requirements, incorporation of rapid and automated tech-niques to identify microbial pathogens, choice of AOAC validated methods to strengthen the testing program, assignment of qualified microbiology and chemistry professionals in the laboratory through ensuring their proficiency (including contin-ued training to reduce the potential for costly errors and raise the credibility of attained results),. It is important that food processors stay abreast of new advances in laboratory quality assurance and technology and invest in the development of testing programs that will ensure the safety and wholesomeness of the products that they manufacture. Preparation of personnel for a more unified system of control requires a change in attitude, which must be handled diplomatically. To reduce resistance, all personnel should be told why the changes are being made. Company philosophy should be developed as part of the program to help establish the new attitude and new responsibilities that personnel need to attain the desired goals.

Elements of a Total Quality

Assurance System

For each production area, one person should be responsible for the controls or inspection, either a plant employee or an outside contractor. The frequency of thentrol or inspection check must be noted, as must the records to be kept. An outlinecan be converted into a written format, as though it were a set of instructions for plant employees. It can serve as the operating manual for the persons responsible for con-ducting QA.

Sanitation Inspection Procedure

A procedure to check the overall sanitation of plant facilities and operations, including outside adjacent areas and storage areas on plant property, should be included in a total QA program.In a total QA program, a designated plant official should make the sanitation inspection and record the results. If sanitation defi-ciencies are discovered, a plan for corrective action is necessary. Corrective action might include additional cleaning or closing off an area until a repair is completed. Frequent and systematic sanitation inspection proce-dures should be used when there is a possi-bility of product contamination, such as from container failure, moisture dripping, or grease escaping from machinery onto the product or surfaces that come into contact with thefood.

New Employee Training

Instruction should include basic information that any new employee needs to know about food handling and cleanliness. Employees should be informed of the importance of hygienic practices. A list of all of the items that need to be covered in employee orienta-tion should be developed including how and when the orientation will be performed. Employee training should include an ongoing program to remind employees continuously of the importance of good sanitation.

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Approach

An HACCP program should be incorporated as a QA function and as a system-atic approach to hazard identification, risk assessment, and hazard control in a food pro-cessing and/or foodservice facility and distribution channel to ensure a hygienicoperation. Potential product abuse should be considered, and each stage of the process should be exam-ined as an entity and in relation to other stages. The analysis should include the pro-duction environment as it contributes to microbial and foreign material contamination. 

Program Evaluation

It is essential to evaluate the sanitary phase of a QA program through reliance either on the senses or on microbial techniques. Most inspectors rely on appearance as an evaluation technique for cleanliness. To the average inspector, a production area with walls, floors, ceilings, and equipment that looks clean, feels clean, and smells clean is satisfactory for production. But an effective QA program must use more than the human senses. It should incorporate a concrete method to evaluate hygienic conditions. 

To more objectively evaluate sanitation effectiveness, microbial testing methods should be incorporated to detect and enumerate microbial contamination. Also, knowledge of the quantity and genera of microorganisms is important in the control of product wholesomeness and spoilage.