Meat + Poultry - October 2007 - 84

HYGIENE

"The steps in the production lines
after the product has been cooked and
just before it gets packaged are the most
critical points because there [usually]
are no more kill steps after packaging," Reynolds says. "The steps before
packaging in a raw plant are equally
as important."

In-house vs. third-party
training
Employee hygiene training can be done
by the processor or through a thirdparty vendor. Company trainers should
handle this educational process, says
Jarrod Miller, audit specialist for Food
Safety Net Services Ltd., San Antonio,
Texas. "[They have] better information
relating to the plant and plant-specific
procedures," he explains.
Others say such training isn't really
an either/or proposition.
"Both should be involved," insists
Boufford. "The plant needs to reinforce
their policies and hold their employees
accountable and oversee the entire program so often they'll start off the training. But third-party companies play a
valuable role in the whole process by
providing some of the actual training
but more on the technical side."
Both parties need to be involved,
agrees Dale Fredell, manager, education
& talent development, Food & Beverage
Division, Ecolab. "The company needs
to be involved to ensure their procedures, GMPs, etc., are being followed
because they can vary from operation
to operation," he adds. "Outside parties can offer the technical expertise to
provide materials, training and trainers to assist the plant with their training program."
Silliker is invited to provide training directly to employees, as well as to
train supervisors and managers to enable them to effectively train, Reynolds
says. "The key is how knowledgeable
are the trainers? Do they have a solid
practical knowledge of the topic? Do
they understand how adults learn? Are
they able to convey the appropriate information at the appropriate level and
in the appropriate language? In-plant
90

MEAT&POULTRY

October 2007

Maintaining proper employee hygiene is particularly critical on processing lines.
(Photo courtesy of Tyson Foods Inc.)

training also needs to be done in the
language spoken at a plant to ensure
a real understanding."
Frequent hygiene training of the employees in different departments of the
plant is a necessary reminder of how
crucial personal hygiene is to the production of safe food and to the success
of the overall food-safety program in
the plant, Sherman says.
"This type of training would be best
served being provided by the plant's
food-safety team, as well as the supplier of the cleaning and sanitation
program," he adds. "Since the plant's
food-safety team is better aware of their
HACCP program and its critical control
points, they can gear their training toward preventing food contamination
in these points to insure the success
of the HACCP program.
"Supplier training would then be
geared toward the practical application
of the different detergents and handwashing methods," he adds.
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Hygiene and training tools
Zep offers a variety of employee hygiene solutions and programs, including numerous antimicrobial hand-care
products (E-2 hand soaps and E-3 hand
sanitizers) in liquid, foam and gel forms;
laundry products for keeping work outer
garments clean and sanitized; accessory
items such as foot sanitization systems
that employ an effective, long-lasting
quat-based foam sanitizer that adheres
to workers' boots (as well as wheels of
carts and forklifts), thereby helping to
prevent the transfer of undesirable microorganisms into and throughout the
critical areas of the plant. Zep provides
bilingual signage and video training procedures on the proper means of using
all of the plant's hygiene solutions.
Food Safety Net Services offers training such as Micro 101. Meanwhile, Silliker entered into a strategic partnership
with Austin, Texas-based Alchemy Systems, a privately held professional development solutions company, to develop

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Meat + Poultry - October 2007

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