Baking & Snack - February 2015 - 83

SANITATION STRATEGIES
Joe Stout
joe.stout@cf-san.com

Clean State of Mind
It takes determination and a positive attitude to create
a truly safe food manufacturing facility.

Sanitation is a word that can take on different meanings, depending on who uses it. It could be understood
differently in speaking or writing it in a document. For
some, it means trash or the process of collecting trash,
as in sanitation workers in the Sanitation Department in
New York City. For others in different parts of the world,
instead of using the word restroom or bathroom, they
use sanitation room. Even with our company, which is
called Commercial Food Sanitation, we get calls to bid
for the collection of trash, which we respectively decline.
As a result, many people in the food industry hesitate to
say they work in "sanitation."
In the food industry, sanitation means "the formulation and application of scientific methods designed to
protect public health in food processing, storage and
handling facilities." This is the definition that I associate with and am proud to be part of. The pride comes
from what the function does and the value it generates.
Without this work/activity, food would not be guaranteed as safe, and manufacturing plants would not be
considered sanitary environments. Food sanitation is
actually a disciplined process of transforming unclean
to clean. This takes a science-based approach that without it causes a process to be ineffective and inefficient
and a facility to be considered unsanitary. In this case,
as defined in regulations, a food that is processed, stored
or held in an unsanitary environment is considered to
be adulterated.
Transforming unclean to clean is the most exciting aspect of food sanitation. When I first started in sanitation
as a supervisor, I was disappointed in what condition
production left the plant for sanitation to clean. Often,
product lay on the floor, housekeeping was not tended
to and there was a general lack of order. Unfortunately,
bad habits and practices were hard to break. As a result,

our sanitation team had to focus on change via continuous improvement.
My granddaughter once came home from preschool
with a saying from her teachers that goes like this: "You
get what you get, don't throw a fit, life is not always fair
- deal with it." In the beginning, the best way I could
deal with it was to have a positive attitude and build up
the team to become experts on cleaning and continuous
improvement. Our goal: transform the facility and equipment to cleanliness and order prior to the end of the shift.
We rose to the challenge, impressing operations and plant
management. Once we earned credibility, and we were
able to influence operations on second shift to leave the
lines in respectable condition. We made a difference. This
was motivational to us as a team and to the entire plant.
Back then, the focus on food safety involved control of
foreign material and pest control. There was limited emphasis on allergens or pathogen control. Today, the industry is intensely focused on these factors and many other
areas involving food safety, enhancing the value of sanitation effectiveness and efficiency.
Transforming a food facility from unclean to clean is
not just the sanitation department's responsibility. Rather,
maintenance, production, human resources and quality
assurance all own a piece of the transformation. Without
a management team approach and correct sanitation
management - either from a scientific, program management, staffing or operational perspective - the facility
and equipment following sanitation might still be considered unclean, even after sanitation.
There is a saying in food sanitation that goes back
many years: "Clean is clean, and there is no in between."
If you think your plant is sometimes a "Tweener," 2015
is a good year to deal with it and move away from the
unclean status.

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Baking & Snack - February 2015

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