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 There are several areas of concern in a food production process
where properly implemented and monitored GMP with appropriate
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) can effectively control
contamination of food or food-contact surfaces. (Examples such as
inadequate cleaning of food-contact surfaces, poor personnel
practices, inadequate plant construction or design, and inadequate
pest control.) At a minimum, food processors should consider
developing prerequisite programs for receiving and storage
procedures, temperature control, microbiological controls, pest
control, packaging procedures including methods and controls,
storage, transportation, date coding and recall procedures.
If employees fail to follow SOP, reasons for the deviation
should be clearly identified. For example, when a piece of
equipment break downs, the specific location, time and reason for
the equipment breakdown should be documented along with an
explanation of what was done to correct the breakdown. Each
employee should clearly understand every prerequisite program
involving themselves and their work area. This can be achieved by
implementing continuous training programs, another component of
prerequisite programs.
Sanitary Standard Operating
Procedures/ Master Sanitation (SSOP)
Important components of prerequisite programs are the SSOP and
Master Sanitation Schedules. They are instructions or procedures
for sanitary practices developed for each specific cleaning and
sanitation operation. They identify what to clean, how to clean
and sanitize, when to clean, and who should clean.
Why are they important? Proper sanitary controls and procedures
identify problems, such as microbial contamination of fresh
produce, and their sources, such as inadequately cleaned
equipment, before they cause illnesses and injuries. Once problems
are found, they can be corrected. Suitable cleaning and sanitizing
prevents product contamination from unclean equipment, utensils,
and facilities, thus reducing liability.
Next Lot and
Date Coding
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