0.2 Food safety: introduction to product contamination control  (Page 3/4)

Cross-contamination of products can occur through these means:

• direct – raw material and cooked material in direct contact
• dripping – incorrect storage and packaging
• indirect – inadequate personal hygiene or inadequate cleaning of surfaces the food contacts.

Your staff should be made aware of their responsibility to prevent cross-contamination in the workplace.

Raw material contamination

There is increased risk of the presence of food poisoning microorganisms associated with the following products

• red meat
• poultry
• untreated milk
• raw eggs
• shellfish.

All raw food and ingredients must always be kept completely separate from ready-to-eat or cooked foods (high-risk food). Your staff should be aware that good hygiene practices must be in place to prevent any contact between raw food and cooked products; for example, the liquid from thawing foods, especially frozen poultry, must not be allowed to contaminate wiping cloths, high-risk food, or equipment used for high-risk food.

Raw materials that may contain foreign bodies, which will be undesirable in the finished product, require careful inspection prior to acceptance or must undergo specific preparation as part of the production process. For example, stones must be removed from fresh peas and fragments of walnut shells cleaned from diced walnuts.

Raw material control procedures

As a food safety manager, you should be aware of any potential chemical, physical, or biological hazards which may be present in specific raw materials. You need to have a pre-acceptance inspection system in place to assess the acceptability of raw material coming into your facility.

When you receive raw materials after the pre-acceptance inspection is done, a post-receipt inspection system must be in place to code the raw materials entering your premises so that they can be identified. This is a necessary step in preventing contamination issues later. Your traceability system should also include where and how the raw material is stored and where the raw material is eventually used.

When using raw materials, use color-coded wiping cloths and chopping boards. They are essential in preventing cross-contamination of products.

All staff must be trained in the prevention of contamination of raw material and made aware of the specific procedures in place to reduce contamination.

Product packaging

Packaging should be clean and free from contaminates such as dust. The packaging must also be stored under conditions to prevent contamination.

Indeed, packaging should be controlled in a similar way as any other raw material.

Packaging should not itself pose a hazard and should be suitable for its purpose. For example, packaging should be strong enough not to break during filling, processing, or storage.

Packaging used for the storage of raw materials is very important in preventing product contamination. There should be an appropriate barrier to prevent contact between raw materials, ingredients, and finished product.

During manufacture, any unused packaging that has been removed from its protective outer packaging should be suitably protected before being returned to storage.