Foodborne illness is a serious problem in the United States. Each year, it causes about 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths. The good news is that most foodborne illnesses can be prevented by using proper food safety practices.
One of the best ways to ensure consistent food safety is to use quality assurance tools. The thing is, food-based businesses can't afford to slack in any area of quality assurance and safe food manufacturing. Quality tools can help you ensure that your food safety practices are consistent and effective.
We're going to take a look at some of the most popular quality assurance tools and how to use them. Interested in learning more? Let's get started.
HACCP
The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system is one of the most popular food safety tools. It helps identify potential food safety hazards and outlines steps to prevent them.
Pest Management
Pest management is essential for food safety, as pests can contaminate food with bacteria or other contaminants. Having a designated plan in place often goes overlooked. A well-run pest management program will help keep your facility clean and free of pests.
Sanitation Programs
Sanitation programs are key to preventing foodborne illness. They involve cleaning and sanitizing all areas of your facility where food is handled, processed, or stored. Good sanitation practices are essential for ensuring safe food production.
Process Control
When you have a process that updates and interacts with shipments in real-time you can streamline your processes and ensure better safety practices. In the food industry, prevention and proactive actions are key to customer satisfaction, quality goods, and overall safety.
By using a process that is statistical you can easily identify potential issues before they affect any large orders.
Food Storage and Automated Alarms
Proper food storage is another important food safety practice. Foods should be stored at the right temperatures, away from other food items that could contaminate them and on shelves or in containers that will not allow for contamination.
Additionally, automating parts of the process can mean the difference between having to start over, or getting the manufacturing process just right. This can also reduce your task list. Automated alarms can allow you to take your eyes off of orders and stay on top of warnings, violations, control limits, etc.
Reporting Capability
Having access to genealogy reports, or other operation-based reports can make paper documentation simple again. This will allow you to have a close-up look at ongoing and outgoing products. This also helps with keeping track of inventory.
This can be especially helpful when dealing with raw food items.
Employee Training
Proper employee training is a vital part of food safety as well. This is a simple implementation so always ensure your employees understand all food safety protocols and procedures. This is so they can implement them in the correct way every time.
Sampling Reminders
Testing your food is a vital part of the process and food inspections can get complex if not done in the proper way. Use a dynamic sampling notification feature so that you can alleviate the need of having to scrap any good shipments.
Cloud-Based Quality Control
Essentially, putting everything in the cloud can make your job easier and also make documentation recall no hard task. Utilizing something like this can integrate communications across a supply chain. This is a great benefit for data visibility, compliance assurance, and food safety prevention.
Get the Quality Assurance Tools You Need
Ensuring the quality of your food products is essential to customer satisfaction and safety. At Paster Training Inc., we offer extensive experience and quality assurance tools with streamlined services that will help you produce high-quality items. Our team of experts can guide you through every step of the manufacturing process, from start to finish.
Want to ensure the safety and satisfaction of your customers? Visit our website today to learn more about how we can help you achieve success in food production.