When first shift arrives for the days’ production at the typical food manufacturing plant, line operators and managers see a gleaming, shiny line ready for the day’s work. If third-shift sanitation crews have done their job well, the plant environment—floors, walls, celings, etc.—and processing machinery will appear clean and sanitary at first glance. However, looks can be deceiving. Microorganisms, biofilms and chemical residues can survive the sanitation process if cleaning and sanitizing procedures have not been adequately followed. While the plant and equipment may appear to be clean and free of gross soils, how do we know that sanitation has been effective in removing potentially harmful microorganisms and other food contaminants that are not readily visible on plant surfaces?
Even with the most effective sanitation standard operating procedures (SSOPs) and highly dedicated sanitation crews who follow these protocols to the letter, it is important to institute a comprehensive environmental hygiene monitoring and testing program that verifies that the processing plant is as clean as it looks. The fact is that the sanitation department has only as much time as the operations and production departments give them to complete its job. No one makes money if the lines aren’t running but if the sanitation crew has to rush cleaning activities, those lines are probably not going to be as clean as they look and may not in fact be fit for production. Environmental hygiene monitoring and verification testing is not only important to ensure that cleaning activities were effective, but provides valuable data to the operations and production departments for use in establishing cleaning schedules and a departmental budget that facilitates adequate cleaning and maximizes production time.
Ultimately, the investment made to strengthen the sanitation program pales in comparison to the costs associated with ineffective sanitation to the company—production line shutdowns, product recalls, damage to the brand and potential litigation. Verifying that your sanitation program is effective is essential to ensuring that the investment you’ve made is sound and that the foods you manufacture are the safest possible. To get the most out of the environmental hygiene monitoring program, processors will want to conduct pre-operational monitoring, determine the locations, frequency and methods of sampling, and identify the appropriate screening and testing technologies for verification of sanitation efficacy.