Failures in refrigeration and maintenance units usually have costly consequences for businesses if not detected in time. Therefore, in order to safeguard the food of the business and its customers-consumers, the Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) has set specific standards that the business should adhere to.
Dr. Parigoridi Ioanna-Eupraxia, an approved registry trainer of the Hellenic Food Authority for food hygiene and safety of food businesses and control authorities, a consultant for food businesses for the design and installation of ISO22000:2018 safety systems, informs us appropriately about the health obligations of businesses:
The legal obligation for food businesses to train their staff in food hygiene and safety rules in accordance with Ministerial Decision 14708/17-08-07 has contributed to the reduction of unpleasant food poisonings, the reduction of fines to food businesses and the increase of consumer confidence. Rules are now being introduced, to which all those who work directly or indirectly with food are trained and apply them. Such rules include, for example, how to dress, when to change gloves, how to check that food is cooked properly, when and how to store/preserve food in the fridge, etc. no raw meat together with raw vegetables that will not be cooked, what are the dangerous temperatures at which micro-organisms develop in food, frequency of thermometry in refrigerators/freezers/warehouses, disinfection/cleaning, no arbitrary choice of chemical cleaning agents, legal documents that the company must have, food traceability, etc.
"However, the obligations do not stop at training alone, but require full control and recording of the above in records from which it will be determined if corrective action is necessary to avoid dangerous situations."
The above requirements, along with the control of the legality of the business, is the development and implementation of HACCP rules, which is a 'safety valve' for restaurants, confectioneries, bakeries, fast food, super markets, catering, canteens, cafeterias, cafeterias, warehouses of raw materials, small and large food production and/or processing businesses and in general all businesses dealing with food, based on the Regulation of the European Union 852/2004.
Business, consultant and food quality assurance tools in constant cooperation
Food businesses, with the help of the competent partner-consultant, ensure that they meet the above legal requirements, adapting the rules to the needs of their own business. A proper consultant-partner must create a manageable HACCP or ISO22000:2018 system so that it is not abandoned with the only results being wasted time, frustration and the bad consequences of not operating the business in a hygienically correct manner.
Appropriate tools for monitoring critical and prerequisite checkpoints can be key to the functionality of HACCP and ISO 22000:2018 system implementation. Simplifying record keeping e.g. temperature logs with automatic refrigerator, freezer and room temperature recorders, such as the HAM ThermoSense, helps professionals and saves staff time from obligations. Through such smart devices, the business owner can receive immediate notification, via SMS or even a phone call, for cases when the temperature in the cold room exceeds the upper permissible limit.
All food businesses, from the smallest neighborhood confectionery to large food production and processing companies, can at any time by a wrong action suffer a major financial loss from e.g. destruction of large quantities of the produced products due to carelessness of an employee who left the door of a refrigerated compartment open, the damage of a refrigerator, or even food poisoning consumers will discredit the business and point out sanitary malfunction of the business with complaints/complaints etc. For this reason it is necessary that the triptych of Business-Consultant-Food Quality Assurance Tools be in constant cooperation and coordination with each other.
About the author: Dr. Parigoridi Ioanna-Eupraxia is an approved registry trainer of the Hellenic Food Authority for food hygiene and safety of food businesses and control authorities and can be found at the following contact details:
- e-mail: parigoridi@yahoo.com
- FB: Ιωάννα-Ευπραξία Παρηγορίδη