Meat&Poultry - October 2013 - 72

Food-safety vigilance
Sanitation should be an important part
of every plant’s food-safety practice
BY KIMBERLIE CLYMA
kclyma@sosland.com

veryone in the food industry has a responsibility for

dent of Commercial Food Sanitation LLC, “Pathogens

food safety. Management must provide across-the-

are enemies who are invisible, silent and deadly to people,

board commitment to food safety by establishing programs
throughout the facility that work toward keeping food safe,

companies and jobs.”
Pathogens to be on the lookout for include:

in addition management must provide the support needed

Staphylococcus aureus

to get the job done. This means providing necessary tools,

Clostridium botulinum

staff and training. And finally, management must ensure

Salmonella

every employee is accountable for food safety.

Listeria monocytogenes

Weber North America held a Sanitation Symposium

Yersinia enterocolitica

in Kansas City, Mo., in September to highlight the funda-

Campylobacter jejuni

mentals of sanitation, sanitary design and pathogen-con-

E.coli O157:H7

trol techniques, in addition to periodic equipment clean-

Vibrio parahemolyticus

ing and steaming equipment for sanitation.

In addition, microorganisms can cause spoilage that can

According to Dave Jones, vice president of operations,

impact the product’s shelf-life, reduce the wholesomeness

Plumrose USA, Downers Grove, Ill., food-safety pro-

of the product, produce off-flavors and colors and even

grams in meat and poultry production facilities aren’t

lead to mold or slime on the product. Any of these condi-

stand-alone programs, they are found within a number of

tions will lead to consumer dissatisfaction.

programs and practices already existing throughout the
plant. These practices include the plant’s Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), Standard Sanitation Operating
Procedures (SSOPs), Hazard Analysis Critical Control
Point (HACCP) programs and the sanitation process itself. Hand-in-hand with these programs, all plants need
to have a sampling program in order to monitor the ef-

Jones went on to explain why food safety is so crucial.
He presented the following facts:
•

There are 76 million food-related illnesses in

the US annually.
•

There are 325,000 hospitalizations from food-

related illnesses annually.
•

There are 3,000 deaths annually from food-re-

fectiveness of their sanitation and food-safety practices.

lated illnesses.

The enemy

food-related illness, including expenses from illness, health

When it comes to food safety, two important things to

care, lost production and direct cost to businesses.

•

consider are: pathogens that can cause illness, disease and
death and microorganisms that can cause spoilage. Ac-

$5 billion to $8 billion is spent annually from

The only way to survive in the food industry is to keep
food safe for everyone, Jones said. ■

cording to Joe Stout, an industry sanitation expert who is
also former director of global product protection, sanitation and hygienic design at Kraft Foods and current presi-

• Meat&Poultry • October 2013 • www.MeatPoultry.com

M&Ps Sanitation Tips are to be used only as guidelines for cleaning and
sanitizing processing facilities. Specific issues and questions should be
addressed by a sanitation crew supervisor.

http://www.MeatPoultry.com

Meat&Poultry - October 2013

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