Articles by Richard F. Stier, M.S.

Everyone entering a food processing facility needs to know and adhere to a set of rules that address food safety, basic sanitation, and safety. Plant rules for staff and visitors comprise elements of good hygiene culture and exist to minimize the potential for cross-contamination of foods, equipment, or utensils. Some of these elements have other roles, such as personal safety.

The objective of a glass and brittle plastic program is to minimize the potential for cross-contamination of food, ingredients, and packaging to ensure that foods and ingredients are safe and will not result in an injury or illness to end users.

It is up to each and every food processor, handler, and warehouser to develop, document, and implement a policy regarding photography of their operations. This is a much greater challenge today compared to 20 years ago because nearly every cellphone has a high-quality camera with the ability to capture both pictures and video. Operations that are regulated by FDA must also factor the agency into their camera policy.

Cleaning and sanitation are far more than just chemicals used for cleaning.

Food and beverage processors should encourage third-party audit firms to be more critical and eliminate checklists.