This article discusses the value of 5S methodology applied to the sanitation team to effect organization, efficiency, efficacy, safety, and standardization.
General cleaning/sanitizing elements of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) should not be integrated into the "regulatory" requirements of Sanitation SOPs (SSOPs), but should be maintained as a separate plant operational set of documents. To further explain this the rationale for keeping these separate, this article reviews SSOPs to define their requirements and how these differ from general SOPs.
Implementing an effective Listeria environmental monitoring program enables knowledge of where Listeria can enter, harbor, and move through a facility, which is the first step toward keeping the pathogen on the run and not allowing it to impact production surfaces or finished product.
Sanitation is one of the most important, if not the most important, departments in the food manufacturing plant. The actions of sanitation personnel mean that production starts the day with clean equipment and a clean environment, and this helps maintain sanitary conditions during operations to prevent food safety hazards or quality failures.
From here we will go into the steps of building the plan to protect customers and consumers from food safety hazards and prevent damage to brand equity and company reputation. Of course, we’ll discuss the qualifications for writing the plan as well as confirm it is also for regulatory conformance; but the first two are the primary motivation for the plan.